December 2012
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Review By Layton Percy Jones
When the book group choose Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol for December’s reads my heart just gave a down beat thud. I only ever remember having to have to read Nicholas Nickleby when I was about 14 in comprehensive school and remembering how I hated Dicken’s language. However as an adult I’ve been beyond obsession with Dickens on the TV and on the big screen – The BBC’s adaption of Little Dorrit was exceptional. And I’ve enjoyed the many versions of Great Expectations (my favourite being David Leans version starring Alec Guiness, John Mills, Bernard Miles and the wonderful Martita Hunt as the great monster that is Miss Haversham). But the good think about being a part of a democratic book club like ours (Sweet Reads) you get to read books that you wouldn’t normally go for – Some surprised me like A Christmas Carol and some disappointed me like Terry Pratchetts The Colour of Magic – But I would have probably not even bothered to read either.Anyway back to the review – Started reading A Christmas Carol turned to page two and read this paragraph.“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, `My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?' No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, `No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'”After this I was hooked – I was transferred into the pages back to Dickensian times – The book had – I haven’t been so enthralled with a book since my teens when I read Agatha Christies Ten Little Indians. I could not put it down – The first night I was up until 2.30am reading it. I was in work the next day boring everyone to death on how wonderful it was. The story is a simple story about retribution and Dickens writes so well about the under classes of society at that time. After finishing the book I was so sad (which these days I’m just so glad the book as ended normally) I went out and bouth the complete works of Dickens I have just finished Great Expectations and last weekend I started to read Nicholas Nicklby again (the book that put me off Dickens) If you – like me think I can’t be arsed to read a dickens try it you will be pleasantly surprised. I understand know why Dickens is the master of literature.
Charles Dickens
(taken fom wikipedia.com)
Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.
Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Although he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. Over his career he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, 5 novellas and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens sprang to fame with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback.For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens went on to improve the character with positive lineaments.Fagin in Oliver Twist apparently mirrors the famous fence Ikey Solomon; His caricature of Leigh Hunt in the figure of Mr Skimpole in Bleak House was likewise toned down on advice from some of his friends, as they read episodes. In the same novel, both Lawrence Boythorne and Mooney the beadle are drawn from real life – Boythorne from Walter Savage Landor and Mooney from 'Looney', a beadle at Salisbury Square. His plots were carefully constructed, and Dickens often wove in elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most influential works ever written, and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to G. K. Chesterton and George Orwell—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism.
