BOOK IT!
Being cranky at this time of year only seems natural, particularly as we align ourselves with the most cantankerous holiday character of all time, Ebenezer Scrooge. A wealthy old man who rejects mankind, Scrooge is the quintessential Christmas curmudgeon. He sternly discards all requests to give to the poor and treats his clerk, Bob Cratchit, gruffly. Scrooge is the ultimate bad-tempered antihero. But no matter what we think of Scrooge at the beginning, in the end we admire his willingness to change and feel encouraged to do the same.
Originally named ‘A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas,’ Charles Dickens’ famous 1843 holiday tale came out of a time of hardship in Britain, a period known as the Hungry Forties. Working conditions in the factories were grim, and hunger was pervasive. The potato famine, in particular, was widespread and child labor was of great concern. Dickens, concerned for the poor, particularly impoverished children, spoke out against the appalling factory environment and advocated for educating the needy. Out of this setting and building on a tale from his first novel ‘The Pickwick Papers,’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ was born.
In the story, Scrooge is visited by three spirits representing Scrooge’s past, present, and future. He is flown, by a touch of a robe or by taking a hand, to places of his childhood and work. After each visit, he pieces together the events in his life, ultimately realizing his transition from a loving young man to a crotchety old tyrant.
The first release of ‘A Christmas Carol’ came out as a Christmas gift book, adorned with gilt edges and detailed illustrations by Dickens’ friend John Leech, who was an artist at the popular British weekly, Punch. The book cost five shillings, a hefty price at the time. But considering the audience Dickens wanted to reach — Britain’s wealthier class — the cost did not matter. He wanted the upper class to experience, even if through fiction, the struggles of the lower class. The ‘little’ book was an instant success and sold 5,000 copies by Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, its publisher was planning reprints. Since its inception, ‘A Christmas Carol’ has never been out of print.
‘A Christmas Carol’ is mostly associated with the play or movie, even cartoon versions, and indeed Dickens encouraged its progress through performance. Between 1853 and 1870, Dickens read his book in public — at first for charity and then professionally — in one-and-a-half-hour readings. Later, he would add other Christmas stories.
Reading the original story, in all its Dickensness, brings the holiday magic alive. Detailed descriptions of Victorian London in the 1840s (yes, there are even chestnuts roasting on an open fire), each ghost’s character, and the images of poverty transport the reader to another time and another place — to Dickens’ world, in which he writes, ‘It is required of every man … that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.’
The Penguin Classics version, ‘A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings,’ offers the Christmas story in its original form with original artwork: black and white drawings of each ghost, a spirited dance in Scrooge’s youth, and the conclusive picture of Scrooge sharing a drink by the fire with Bob Cratchit. This volume offers seven Christmas stories other than ‘A Carol,’ which provides plenty of reading during the holiday season. As Dickens wrote, ‘It was always said of him [Scrooge] that he knew how to keep Christmas well … May that be truly said of us, and all of us!’
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