Merry Christmas, one and all
The true story of how Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol
Fantasy rooted in reality
This newsletter reaches you on Christmas Eve 2023. Season’s greetings to you all.
As you settle down with your mince pies and something festive to drink, you might be tempted to read, watch or listen to a Christmas story.
They don’t come greater than Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It is of course a cautionary tale, a story that teaches, a narrative with a timeless message. It is a story of redemption and salvation that urges us to be compassionate to others, especially those less fortunate than ourselves.
As with most things Dickens wrote, he didn’t just pluck the idea out of thin air. When you look at the source of inspiration you will find it is rooted in reality.
Dickens the social campaigner
On the days when I am working in Manchester in the north of England, I step off the tram in St Peter’s Square. Ahead of me is the exquisite Central Library and the Midland Hotel where Mr Rolls first shook hands with Mr Royce over afternoon tea.
Close by is the wonderful Manchester Art Gallery (well worth a visit if you’re ever in town). The modern incarnation of the gallery incorporates the former Manchester Athaeneum, a building built by a philanthropic intellectual organisation that sought to help the working poor.
It was here, in October 1843, that Dickens spoke alongside Radical and Liberal politician Richard Cobden and Conservative politician and future British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
The discussion that evening was wide-ranging and had a sense of urgency about it: something had to be done to tackle the twin problems of Want and Ignorance that were rampant in the slums of England’s emerging industrial cities, especially in the north.
So, on his return to London, Dickens began to cogitate on a story. During long, long night-time walks of up to 20 miles, he worked out the structure of his story. Six weeks later the ink was drying on the manuscript of A Christmas Carol, having been written in a white heat.
The story included a scene with a little boy called Want and a little girl called Ignorance. Those twin concerns first raised at Manchester Athaeneum had become personified.
The story is among Dickens’ crowning glories, a gift to humankind that changes the heart and mind of everyone who reads it.
It is one of the great fantasies of literature.
And it all began in the day-to-day reality that Charles Dickens saw around him.
A very merry Christmas to one and all!
Please note: there won’t be an A-B-C Midweek Bitesize this Wednesday.
