Still She Haunts Me
The life of Rev. Charles Dodgson — shy Oxford mathematician, pioneer photographer and author Lewis Carroll — is studied in this novel of creeping obsession. In 1856, Dodgson meets Alice Liddell, the dean’s daughter, and is immediately attracted to this pure, virginal “muse.” Photographing the entire Liddell family, Alice soon becomes his main focus. Falling under her spell in the darkroom, he “possesses” his goddess on film, worshipping her as her features come slowly into view in the chemical bath.
As Dodgson’s obsession grows, he seems innocently childlike yet oddly sensual. Photographs of Alice soon become more intimate as Dodgson tells himself she deserves to be shown as she is. Out of the blue, a message arrives from Mrs. Liddell: “It is no longer desirable for you to spend time with our family.” He feels himself vanish into “a single point of pain.” Dodgson’s naiveté is his downfall, with his haunted love for Alice, reaching out to her, not realizing that she is no more than a self-absorbed child evolving into normal adolescence.
Although Roiphe writes beautifully about a touching subject and gifted man, readers will have to suspend disbelief willingly. She admits altering “geography, chronology and history where it served the purpose,” and diary entries are also invented. The author’s fictional projections may be a sharp disappointment to those who crave more of the truth in the mystery of Alice and the author.
