Karoline Leach

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Karoline Leach
Karoline Leach.jpg
Born (1967-07-20) 20 July 1967 (age 56)
Liverpool, UK
OccupationWriter
PeriodEarly 21st century
GenreBiography, stageplays

Karoline Leach (born 20 July 1967) is a British playwright and author, best known for her book In the Shadow of the Dreamchild ( ISBN   0-7206-1044-3), which re-examines the life of Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . This book and her subsequent work on what she terms the "Carroll Myth" have been major sources of upheaval and controversy in recent years and she has produced very polarized responses from Carroll scholars and lay enthusiasts.

Contents

Leach was born in Liverpool. She studied acting and worked as both actress and director in British theatre before becoming a writer.

Theatre work

Her first professional produced work as a writer was an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen , commissioned by Orchard Theatre Company in 1989. [1] "The Mysterious Mr Love" was produced in London's West End in 1997. Under the new title of Tryst that play opened off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, on 6 April 2006, and has subsequently been produced in many cities around the world, including Athens, Warsaw, Houston, Los Angeles and Montreal. [2]

The Carroll controversy

Leach's theory of a "Carroll Myth" created a furore when first suggested, and continues to divide scholars, though has gained the support of authors such as Carolyn Siger offering it support.[ citation needed ] Authors including Morton N. Cohen and Martin Gardner downplayed or dismissed her importance. Cohen, who was also a Dodgson biographer, repudiated Leach's position as being simply a plea for the defence, and, in a 2003 article in the Times Literary Supplement , labelled Leach and her supporters as "revisionists" attempting to rewrite history. [3]

In 2004, Leach founded the Association for New Lewis Carroll Studies, that aims to promote reassessment of Carroll's life in light of the alleged 'Myth'. Its membership, as of 2010, includes scholars such as Hugues Lebailly, Carolyn Sigler, Sherry L. Ackerman, John Tufail and Cristopher Hollingsworth. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Hunting of the Snark</i> 1876 nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll

The Hunting of the Snark, subtitled An Agony, in Eight fits, is a poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorised as a nonsense poem. Written between 1874 and 1876, it borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

<i>Alices Adventures in Wonderland</i> 1865 childrens novel by Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 English children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics don at Oxford University. It details the story of a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. The artist John Tenniel provided 42 wood-engraved illustrations for the book.

Alice (<i>Alices Adventures in Wonderland</i>) Character from childrens novel

Alice is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Lewis Carroll's children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). A child in the mid-Victorian era, Alice unintentionally goes on an underground adventure after falling down a rabbit hole into Wonderland; in the sequel, she steps through a mirror into an alternative world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Liddell</span> Basis of the character in "Alice in Wonderland"

Alice Pleasance Hargreaves was an English woman who, in her childhood, was an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boating trip became the classic 1865 children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She shared her name with "Alice", the story's protagonist, but scholars disagree about the extent to which the character was based upon her.

<i>Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend</i> 1996 true crime book by Richard Wallace

Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend is a 1996 book by Richard Wallace in which Wallace proposed a theory that British author Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles L. Dodgson (1832–1898), and his colleague Thomas Vere Bayne (1829–1908) were responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders.

Roger Gilbert Lancelyn Green was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic who formed part of the Inklings literary discussion group along with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He had a positive influence on his friend, C.S. Lewis, by encouraging him to publish The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn Gage</span> American actor, writer and director

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<i>Dreamchild</i> 1985 British film

Dreamchild is a 1985 British drama film written by Dennis Potter, directed by Gavin Millar, and produced by Rick McCallum and Kenith Trodd. The film, starring Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley, is a fictionalised account of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Morton Norton Cohen was a Canadian-born American author and scholar who was a professor at City University of New York. He is best known for his studies of children's author Lewis Carroll including the 1995 biography Lewis Carroll: A Biography.

The Lewis Carroll Society of North America (LCSNA) is a learned, not-for-profit organization dedicated to furthering interest in the life and works of the Rev. Charles L. Dodgson, known to the world as Lewis Carroll, through its publications, and by providing a forum for speakers and scholars, and helping collectors, students, and other Carroll enthusiasts connect with each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Gertrude Thomson</span> British artist and illustrator (1850–1929)

Emily Gertrude Thomson (1850–1929) was a British artist and illustrator.

Sherry L. Ackerman is an American academic and dressage clinician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Carroll</span> British author and scholar (1832–1898)

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician and photographer. His most notable works are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems Jabberwocky (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isa Bowman</span>

Isa Bowman (1874–1958) was an actress, a close friend of Lewis Carroll and author of a memoir about his life, The Story of Lewis Carroll, Told for Young People by the Real Alice in Wonderland.

<i>Lewis Carroll: A Biography</i>

Lewis Carroll: A Biography is a 1995 biography of author Lewis Carroll by Morton N. Cohen, first published by Knopf, later by Macmillan. It is generally considered to be the definitive scholarly work on Carroll's life. Cohen's approach is mainly chronological, with some chapters grouped by theme, such as those on Carroll's religion, his love of little girls, and his guilty feelings. Cohen, a Carroll scholar for 30 years, opts to use Dodgson's first name, Charles, throughout the work, because it "seems most appropriate in a book dealing with the intimacy of his life".

In the Shadow of the Dreamchild: A New Understanding of Lewis Carroll is a 1999 book by British author Karoline Leach that posited the concept of the "Carroll Myth": the idea that many of the most famous aspects of Lewis Carroll's biography, including his supposed adoration of Alice Liddell, are more legend than fact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Dodgson (priest)</span> Anglican clergyman, scholar

Charles Dodgson was an Anglican cleric, scholar and author, who was Archdeacon of Richmond. He was the father of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrice Hatch</span> Muse of Lewis Carroll

Beatrice Sheward Hatch was an English muse of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. She was one of a select few children that Dodgson photographed naked, therefore making Hatch the subject of much contemporary study and speculation. Photographs of Hatch still inspire artistic work in contemporary times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Hatch</span> Friend of Lewis Carroll

Evelyn Hatch was an English child friend of the adult Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name of Lewis Carroll. She was the subject of photographs by Dodgson and is often part of the contemporary discussion about Dodgson's relationship with young female children. She also acted as editor for a book of Dodgson's letters after his death called A Selection From The Letters Of Lewis Carroll To His Child-Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Huxley</span> British biographer and writer

JuliaHuxley was a British scholar. She founded Prior's Field School for girls, in Godalming, Surrey in 1902.

References

  1. "Karoline Leach | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  2. Donnelly, Pat (14 March 2009). "Bravura, buttoned-down drama". Montreal Gazette. Canwest. Retrieved 27 March 2009.[ dead link ]
  3. Cohen, Morton N. "When Love was Young", Times Literary Supplement, October 2003
  4. , wild-reality.net; accessed 13 March 2016.