In addition, he invented many ingenious table games and puzzles, and an
examination of some of these has suggested to the editor that in all
probability he was the real inventor of “Cross Word Puzzles.”
As, however, this introduction is concerned principally with the
humorous literary achievements and characteristics of Lewis Carroll,
anything more than a passing reference to matters outside that scope
would be inappropriate, particularly since time has to a great extent
already endorsed the uncompromising prophecy which appeared at the end
of a wonderful laudation of Lewis Carroll in “The National Review” a
few days after his death, which stated: “Future generations will not
waste a single thought upon the Rev. C. L. Dodgson.”
In 1855 appeared “A Tangled Tale,” in which Mr. Carroll successfully
combined mathematics and nonsense in a series of ingenious problems;
and at the end of 1889 “Sylvie and Bruno,” on which he had been
engaged for several years. “Sylvie and Bruno Concluded” followed in
1893.
Neither of these stories achieved anything approaching the success of
the “Alice” books or “The Hunting of the Snark,” for in them he made
the mistake of endeavouring to combine a fairy-tale with a serious and
controversial novel full of religious and political arguments; and
commendable though this may have been from the Christian and ethical
standpoint, it made neither for unity nor clarity. Mingled with this
extraneous matter, however, is some delightful nonsense, equal to
anything in the “Alice” books, particularly in respect of the Mad
Gardener and his weird optic delusions; while his heroine, Sylvie, is
an idealistic and entrancing creature who appeals to the very best that
is in humanity, which brings me to the question: “What is it precisely
which delights and amuses us in Lewis Carroll’s fantasies?”
It is a difficult question to answer, for his humour is of that
rare quality that is intangible and, so to speak, incomplete. It
approximates to that of Shakespeare in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
and Barrie in “Peter Pan.” I can think of no others. His quaint
conversations and fantastic scenes abound in ideas that seem to vanish
before we can quite grasp them--like the Cheshire Cat, leaving only
the smile behind, or like our conception of his immortal Snark, that
was not strictly a Snark because it was a Boojum! He never makes the
mistake of less responsible and less “designing” writers of satiating
us with good things; on completing a story by him we are always left
with the impression that, had he felt so disposed, he could have
added another chapter or two as alluring as the previous matter. And,
more than any other writer, he has fathomed the mysterious depths of
childhood that lie within us--even within the hearts of those of us who
are but children of a longer growth. It is these various propensities,
together with his command of language and “technique”--noticeable
even when his imagination and fancy run at their most preposterous
riot--which surely provide the answer to the question as to what are
the constituent factors responsible for Lewis Carroll’s popularity; and
I disagree emphatically with the opinion in a recent anthology compiled
by a distinguished and charming foreign writer who considers that “the
poetry of nonsense as Carroll understood it is entirely irresponsible,
and the main point about it is that there is no point.”
This gentleman has, I venture to think, made the mistake of attempting
to regard Lewis Carroll from a literal point of view (which, of course,
cannot be done) instead of from a literary one, for such a description,
if true, would reduce his work to the level of the “eenar deenar dinar
doe” gibberish of the nursery, or to the unconscious nonsense babblings
of idiocy. To carry the argument a step further, any combination of
words picked haphazard from the dictionary might be called a nonsense
story!
The present writer agrees that legitimate Nonsense Verse and Prose
appears to be entirely irresponsible, but surely that is one of the
phrases of paradox which make the fantasies of Carroll and Barrie so
elusive and so charming to every individual between seven and seventy
who retains anything of the divine spark of childhood within his heart,
whether he realises the reason for his enchantment or not.