The history of Lewis Carroll biographies has had several stages. The first was the period immediately after his death, when none of his papers had been published. A few decades after that, a few more letters had come to light, but still nothing of his diaries. Then his diaries were released in a somewhat bowdlerized form, then finally the surviving volumes were released in full -- including the curious fact that several pages had been cut out.

The first period was one of lionization. Dodgson's/Carroll's nephew wrote a biography full of praise, and everyone sought to emulate that. The second phase saw a mass of wild speculations, about being in love, or lust, with Alice Liddell, and other goofy ideas. The third saw things settle down a little, but no one realized how much was yet to be revealed. Now, we are seeing a new sort of speculation, less psychosexual (all the serious biographers have dropped that) but revealing much more just how unusual Dodgson was. (The explanation is pretty clear; he was autistic. But no biography, to date, has really taken that into account.)

This biography is one of the leading productions of the third period. Anne Clark still has an immense respect for Dodgson, and she still suffers from the problems of not having the complete diaries. Sometimes, as a result, she makes assertions which seem pretty unlikely in light of what we now know. But none of her ideas are crazy in the way the early twentieth century speculations were crazy. It merely seems as if she likes Dodgson a little too much.

Her feelings, and the information to which she doesn't have access, mean that this is certainly not the first biography one should turn to. (That distinction probably belongs to Morton N. Cohen's.) But if you are willing to read three or four biographies, this is a very useful work. It's like reading the perspective of one of Dodgson's personal friends: A little too complimentary, a little too incomplete, but very cozy. Just remember that there were more secrets to come. ( )