title: Violence and mental illness: what Lewis Carroll had to say.
abstract: In 1873 Skeffington Lutwidge, a Lunacy Commission inspector of asylums in England, was killed by an asylum patient. Lutwidge was the uncle and close friend of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll. One year later, Carroll began writing The Hunting of the Snark, a poem whose meaning has mystified Carroll enthusiasts. In fact, the poem is a description of the Lunacy Commission inspection team and reflects Carroll's personal understanding of, and reaction to, the killing of his uncle by an individual with a severe mental illness. Carroll's close relationship with his uncle also explains the prominence of psychotic thinking in Carroll's work, including the Mad Hatter's tea party.
authors.affiliation: The Stanley Medical Research Institute, 8401 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 200, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, United States. Electronic address: torreyf@stanleyresearch.org.
authors.forename: E Fuller
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Torrey
authors.affiliation: The Stanley Medical Research Institute, 8401 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 200, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, United States.
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D004739:England; D005197:Famous Persons; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006708:Homicide / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D011037:Poetry as Topic / Q000266:history*
keywords: Homicide; Psychosis; Schizophrenia