Milwood Classics Book Club

Begun in October of 1843, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published on December 19th of that year. Yes. Dickens believed in the idea of Christmas as a commemoration of giving and kindness. He also needed money desperately. To formulate the story, Dickens wandered the streets of London at night, sometimes as far as twenty miles. He talked to himself. He cried. He laughed. In general, writing this book, in a matter of six weeks, getting the illustrations finished, and compiling the whole manuscript for print, drove him a little crazy.

The result is one of the best-known stories in history. Certainly, the most adapted. Hundreds of films, television programs, stage plays, radio dramas, comic books, manga, and more have been produced from this one work.

As a tale of redemption, this is a very uplifting story. But at its heart, it is a ghost story filled with apocalyptic imagery and the threat of eternal damnation looming overhead. It might be a Christmas carol, but it is a spooky tale of both psychological hauntings as well as actual ones. Turn down the lights, pull up the blankets, and get ready for the most famous ghost story ever told. 

And just to get you in the spirit, consider this quote from page 29:

"'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!' cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. 'Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.'

'Have they no refuge or resource?' cried Scrooge.

'Are there no prisons? said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. 'Are there no workhouses?' The bell struck twelve."

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