We all know the story. Most of us have seen at least one movie version of it or perhaps a community play of the same title — A Christmas Carol.
It was written a long time ago, some 179 years, and published on this date, December 19, 1843. Of course, the great author, Charles Dickens, is responsible.
In case you don’t know him all that well, here are a few more tidbits about him. Dickens was born in England in 1812 and, early on, attended school in Portsmouth.
For whatever reason, his father, a clerk in the navy pay office, had money trouble, trouble, trouble. Dad Dickens was thrown into debtors’ prison in 1824. And as a result, the young 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a factory.
So. It should be no surprise that the miserable treatment of children and oppressive institutions such as the debtors’ jail became topics for Charles’ novels later in life.
I suppose Charles decided factory work was not for him because he became a reporter in his late teens. He also started writing and publishing short stories.
In 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth. No doubt, Charles and Catherine had sex. And a lot of it. They ended up having nine children in all. So yes, they got busy.
Dickens started writing these whimsical stories about a kindly character named Samuel Pickwick. Charles quickly became the most popular author of the day.
He started cracking out some of his most famous novels shortly after that. Titles we all know, like Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities.
In 1858, Dickens separated from his wife. I don’t know who started it, but they split. It might have been Charles because he had begun a long affair with a young actress named Ellen Ternan.
Many people don’t know that Charles Dickens was a member of The Ghost Club, along with many other notables of that time, such as Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Nandor Fodor, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Charles died in 1870 at the age of 58 while he was with his mistress, Ellen Ternan. He had been working on his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, still unfinished. He was also still highly active in The Ghost Club. The club fell apart shortly after his death. I speculate as to why.
So, there is Charles Dickens. Perhaps A Christmas Carol is his most widely known novel of all. A story about ghosts, really.
One thing is for certain. He wrote it super quick. Charles started A Christmas Carol in October 1843 and wrote obsessively for six weeks. He finished the story at the end of November so it could be published in time for Christmas. Maybe a spirit was helping him. But. It is not surprising that A Christmas Carol sold out in three days after hitting the shops on December 19, 1843. All of this without Amazon.
He did public readings of the story and had quite a routine he followed on the days of his readings. To begin, Charles would drink two tablespoons of rum mixed with cream for breakfast, along with a pint of champagne. Then, about half an hour before he went on stage, he would knock back a sherry with a raw egg beaten into it. Liquid courage, I suppose. Some biographers say he was an alcoholic. It is clear that he was a heavy drinker, either way. And a womanizer, to boot.
Back to A Christmas Carol. Who am I to judge Dickens? However. I think he got the title wrong. A Christmas Carol just seems unfitting. And many people have renamed his work when they create movie versions of the tale. Like Scrooged. Or Ebenezer.
So there it is. A little Christmas past. This time on Dickens.
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“I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.”
— Bernard Manning
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“What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.”
— Phyllis Diller
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“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” — Charles Dickens
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The wrong title for Christmas Ghosts.
