LEWIS CARROLL

             Lewis Carroll was the pen-name of Charles L. Dodgson, the man who wrote a famous book for children «Alice’s Adven­tures in «Wonderland ».

            Charles L. Dodgson was born in England in 1832. He got his early education at a public school. Then he became a stu­dent at Oxford. Charles studied mathematics and later taught this subject in the same college.

            Charles Dodgson had no family, but he loved children very much. He often visited his friend, who had a large family. There were three little girls in the family. One of them, Alice, was four years old.

Dodgson liked Alice very much and he often told her inte­resting stories which he made up himself. Charles told Alice Liddell about the adventure of a little girl, and she liked the stories very much.

            When Alice Liddell was about ten years old, she asked Charles to write down the stories for her, and he did so. He called the heroine of his book also Alice. This hand-written book had many pictures made by Charles himself. They were not very good pictures but the children liked them.

One day a friend of the Liddells, a writer, came to see the family. He saw the hand-written book made by Charles Dodg­son and began to read it with great interest. He read the book to the end and said that it was good and that all the children in England must read it.

            Charles decided to publish the book but he did not want to do it under his own name. So he took the pen-name of Lewis Carroll. The book came out in 1865 and all the people who read it liked it very much. Later the book was published in the United States, in France and in Germany. The first Rus­sian translation of «Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland» came out in 1923.

             In England the book was published very many times du­ring the author’s life and you can aways find it in the book­shops today. «Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland» is still a favourite children’s book.

QUESTIONS:

1. Where was L. Carroll born?

2. Where did he get his education?

3. Who did he often visit?

4. What did Charles tell Alice Liddell about?

5. Why did he call the heroine of his book Alice?

6. When did the first Russian translation come out?

VOCABULARY:

pen-name — псевдоним

public school — частная школа

wonderland — страна чудес

to make up — создавать

the heroine — героиня