Spoofing proofing : the logical-narratological construction of Carroll's Alice books

• Main Author: Duggan, Jennifer
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43019

This paper explores Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s (Lewis Carroll’s) use of a reductio ad absurdum proof in both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872). It seeks to show that Dodgson used this proof as a framework for the first novel in order to mock “new mathematics,” including but not limited to n-dimensional theories of space, imaginary and negative numbers, and non-Euclidean geometries. It also problematizes this reading of Wonderland through its exploration of Dodgson’s continued used of reductio ad absurdum as framework in Looking-Glass, in which he explores theoretical mathematics for which he held genuine interest. In doing so, the paper reviews Victorian developments in mathematics and the epistemological and theological shifts that these developments presaged. It also examines Dodgson’s particular interests, and in particular, his contradictory views in mathematics. It therefore seeks to undermine the canonical view of Carroll as a simple, less-than-brilliant mathematician through its examination of his most famous books’ fictional explorations of the worlds of mathematics.