A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens. It was first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843. The book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled “staves” A Christmas Carol captured the zeitgeist of the mid-Victorian revival of Christmas.
About A Christmas Carol in brief
A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens. It was first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. The book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled “staves” A Christmas Carol captured the zeitgeist of the mid-Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. The treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself are the key themes of the story. There is discussion among academics as to whether this is a fully secular story, or if it is a Christian allegory. It has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages. The story has been adapted many times for film, stage, opera and other media. In 1849 he began public readings of thestory, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death. The first edition sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844 thirteen editions had been released. Dickens went on to write four other Christmas stories in subsequent years. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth and by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes him to a joyous market with people buying makings of Christmas and to celebrations of Christmas in a miner’s cottage and in a lighthouse.
A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit with his family on the Christmas Eve before Tiny Tim will die unless he changes the course of the events of the day. The third spirit takes him back to his childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like a son. The last spirit takes Scrooges to Fred’s Christmas party, where he is shown ending their relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as he loves money. In the end, the story ends with a happy family on Christmas Eve, with a now-married Belle with her large, happy family, and Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill, who is taken seriously ill by the spirit of Tiny Tim and will die in the next few days. It is published on 19 December, 1843, by Chapman and Hall, and is available in hardback and paperback for £16.99. The novel was written during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as Christmas trees. Dickens had written three Christmas stories prior to the noveella, and was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London’s street children. He took legal action against the publishers, who went bankrupt, further reducing Dickens’s small profits from the publication.
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This page is based on the article A Christmas Carol published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
