The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by Rudesind

David Stockhoff · 07 Jul 2010, 02:27 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:27:21 -0400
Subject: (urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned
	by	Rudesind
In-Reply-To: <87bpaknjco.fsf at windlord.stanford.edu>
References: <SNT123-W23045DBF6AD8BB1B71411ECFB20 at phx.gbl>
	<87bpaknjco.fsf at windlord.stanford.edu>
Message-ID: <4C33E609.8040900 at verizon.net>

That's exactly the Lewis Carroll I had in mind. And yes, when a little 
girl goes through a looking glass ... it's not a Nabokov reference.

Still, there is a sinister touch to Thecla's tale. Naturally.

Russ Allbery wrote:
> Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> writes:
>
>   
>> Lewis Carroll was a lifelong bachelor who enjoyed taking nude pictures
>> of pre-pubescent girls. If you think Gene Wolfe is alluding to him with
>> Inire and his looking glass/mirrors and finds both a bit creepy I would
>> not disagree.  Still I must guess Wolfe admires Lewis Carroll as he does
>> other referenced authors such as J.L. Borges, Rudyard Kipling and Mary
>> Shelley.
>>     
>
> It's probably also worth mentioning that several modern historians believe
> this was nowhere near as shocking as it sounds to modern sensibilities.
> At the time, photography was very new and photography advocates and
> hobbyists were trying to treat it as an art form akin to painting, with
> very similar goals.  The classical nude, of a variety of ages, was common
> subject material for painting, and hence it's likely that photography
> enthusiasts considered it suitable subject material for photography as
> well, for a variety of artistic reasons that don't necessarily have
> anything directly to do with sex or eroticism.  There's also some evidence
> that child nudes were seen as a symbol of innocence and were simply not
> viewed with the approbation that they are today, to the extent that they
> may have appeared on Christmas cards and the like.
>
> For much more on this topic, see the work of Hugues Lebailly, who among
> others has been calling into question the traditional interpretation of
> Carroll's photographic subjects (which are far more varied than just young
> girls as is often believed).
>
> On a similar front, there's also some reason to believe that Carroll's
> supposed preference for young girls over other companions is way overblown
> and is based largely on a few written comments taken out of context.  See,
> for example, <http://carrollmyth.com/contrariwise/cldandfemales.html>.
>
>

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