Lewis Carroll, Linguistic Nonsense, and Cyberpunk

What does 20th-century cyberpunk literature have to§do with a mild mannered 19th-century British don who§hid his shyness behind the façade of a children s§writer? At first glance, it seems as though the two§have absolutely nothing in common. But, when one§realizes the don in question is none other than the§Reverend Charles Dodgson, better known to the world§as Lewis Carroll, author of such classics as Alice s§Adventures in Wonderland and Alice s Adventures§Through the Looking Glass, the connection becomes§slightly more focused. There is no doubting that§Carroll s creatures continually appear in popular§culture from music videos to video games to works of§science fiction. What is in question is why. Why do§Carroll s characters figure in science fiction? Is§it just the oddness and the bizarre quality of his§works that cause popular culture to reach back to§them? Or, is it possible that Carroll s influence§penetrates deeper than just his psychedelic§characters and surreal plot twists? The goal of this§work is to find an answer that goes beyond§the superficial weirdness of Carroll s worlds.