Lewis Carroll Letter Points to Pedophile Leanings

Writes real Alice of his fondness for children
By Ambreen Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 20, 2008 4:44 AM CST
Lewis Carroll Letter Points to Pedophile Leanings
Lewis Carroll's "Alice In Wonderland" comes to the stage at the Scala Theatre, London, in 1944.   (Getty Images)

Alice in Wonderland's author is sending a message from the grave to the literary experts who have long wondered whether he was a pedophile. A privately held letter has emerged in which Lewis Carroll tells real-life Alice—a child friend 18 years his junior—about his fondness for kids and a preference for girls over boys, the Daily Mail writes.

The Oxford math don was good friends with Alice’s family until relations mysteriously cooled when she was 11. In the correspondence, written when Alice is 25, Carroll defends his fondness for children, particularly young girls whom he often photographed naked. The soon-to-be auctioned note provides a rare glimpse into the author’s shielded life. (More author stories.)

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