Dickensblog

R.I.P. Albert Finney

The acclaimed British actor, who played the title role in the 1970 film musical Scrooge, passed away on Thursday at the age of 82. 

BBC Dickens miniseries news

My friends, I've failed you badly. I promised you book reviews, and then I left you dangling. For that I sincerely apologize. I have so many books that are due (overdue, really) for reviews, I couldn't seem to get all the reviews written! I haven't given up on that project, but today I have something else to share: news of the upcoming series of BBC Dickens adaptations.

Steven Knight, who will co-produce these with Tom Hardy, has told Collider that their Christmas Carol script is "largely done," that Hardy will star (whether as Scrooge or another character is not known), and that they're aiming for Christmas 2019. He also had some general thoughts on the other adaptations they plan to do. Like most adapters these days, he speaks of wanting to make them "modern" and gritty and so forth; as with most adapters, we'll have to wait and see exactly how these particular projects end up interpreting those terms.

We've been having a good discussion of the news in the Dickensblog Facebook group (thanks to Art for getting that started). Which reminds me, if you're a fan of this blog and you're on Facebook, please come join us there! 

Merry Christmas!

"Christmas has become the most industrialized bacchanalia of the year, in which the gluttony is amped up now by the ease with which once exotic goodies are commonplace on the gourmet websites. . . . Much of the blame for initiating this is often given to Charles Dickens, mostly on the basis of one voluptuous paragraph from his magical moral fable A Christmas Carol. . . . 

"However, blaming Dickens is misleading and unfair to him.

"Dickens had not set out to write a blurb for gluttony. His idea was driven by a Christian impulse to awaken his readers to the vast social inequities of his time. Walking at night through some of London’s poorest neighborhoods he said he had composed the story in his head “weeping and laughing and weeping again” at sights of grinding poverty and stubborn spirits. The spirits he embodied in the family of the clerk Bob Cratchit and the uncaring greed in Cratchit’s employer, Ebenezer Scrooge. . . .

Dickens’s narrative genius was underpinned by an instinctive empathy for his subjects. A Christmas Carol was the most sentimental of his works. The dark actor, Scrooge, repents as few greedy men in the real world ever do. A few years on, as Dickens found success and wealth, he embraced the story’s final celebratory flourish and began his own family’s Christmas feasts with the toast right out of the mouth of Tiny Tim, Cratchit’s lame son: 'God bless us every one!'"

That's from an article by Clive Irving in The Daily Beast. I recommend reading the whole thing -- it's rather rambly but very good. I had hoped to write something for you myself on the recent spate of Dickens-related Christmas-themed cookbooks, but in truth, I just haven't had the time to do it. (Also, I'm not exactly Martha Stewart, so anything I wrote about cookbooks wouldn't be all that trustworthy.) I am on vacation the rest of the week, though, and I plan to take some time and write some Dickens-related (but non-cooking-related) book reviews for you all, so I hope that will be enjoyable. And I hope you've had a merry Christmas.

Revisiting Scrooge (and the maid!)

I'm quoted in this CBC piece by Mark Gollom about the 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol (a.k.a. Scrooge). Also quoted is our old friend Theresa Derrington Cozens-Hardy, who played Fred's maid and whom I interviewed for this blog several years ago! It was wonderful to hear that she's still going strong and sharing fascinating memories of the filmmaking! 

Happy 175th birthday to 'A Christmas Carol'!

The tributes and honors have been pouring in from all over! Here's a roundup:

• The Paris Review, Vox, and The Christian Science Monitor all have articles about the anniversary. BuzzFeed has a Christmas Carol quiz. BBC News offers suggestions of celebratory Dickensian food and a gin punch recipe in honor of the day.
• The Dickens Museum held an unabridged reading of the book, hosted by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, and also asked various Dickens experts to weigh in on the question of which movie adaptation is the best. 
• The New York Public Library is hosting an exhibition on the book and also released an Insta Novel version.
• And finally, here's my own tribute.

It's lovely to see Dickens's "ghostly little book" still so loved and appreciated all these years later for all it's given us. If you've seen any tributes that I missed, please post them in the comments!

Commentating on Scrooge

I'm a guest on the latest episode of the podcast "The Commentarians," in which two people discuss a movie while watching it. In this episode, host Joe Zaragoza and I discuss the 1951 film of A Christmas Carol, a.k.a. Scrooge.You can find it on iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcasts!

Dickens autograph sold at auction

The signature, accompanied by a quote from A Christmas Carol, brought over $23,000.

Celebrating 'A Christmas Carol'

In honor of the book's upcoming 175th anniversary, The New York Times has a lovely illustrated timeline about its history of covering the book over the years. And The Weekly Standard has a reflection -- inspired by the Muppet version, interestingly! -- on some of the deeper and darker themes in the story.

'A Christmas Carol' on TV

In accordance with our usual tradition, here is this year's list of Christmas Carol airings! As always, keep checking back for updates, and let us know if you come across any that I've missed. All times are Eastern.

• Scrooge (1935, starring Seymour Hicks): December 23 at 6 a.m., TCM
• A Christmas Carol (1938, starring Reginald Owen): December 2 at 8:30 a.m. and December 24 at 10 p.m., TCM
• Scrooge, a.k.a. A Christmas Carol (1951, starring Alastair Sim): December 23 at 10 p.m., TCM; December 24 at 6:50 p.m., 8:40 p.m., and 10:30 p.m.; December 25 at 12:20 a.m., 2:10 a.m., 3 p.m., 4:50 p.m., 6:40 p.m., 8:30 p.m., and 10:20 p.m., and December 26 at 12:10 a.m. and 2 a.m., FXM
• A Christmas Carol (1984, starring George C. Scott): December 3 at 6:45 and 9:45 a.m.; December 11 at 2:25 and 5:25 p.m.; December 14 at 8 and 11 a.m., HBO2; December 24 at 5:15 p.m and 8:15 p.m., HBO Signature; December 25 at 6:55 a.m. and 9:55 a.m., HBO Family
• A Christmas Carol (1999, starring Patrick Stewart): December 3 at 8 p.m., December 23 at 4 p.m., and December 24 at 9 p.m., Get TV; December 21 at 10:15 p.m. and December 22 at 6 p.m., TNT
• Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009, starring Jim Carrey): December 7 at 9:50 p.m.; December 8 at 2:20 p.m.; December 12 at 9 p.m.; December 17 at 4:20 p.m.; December 24 at 4:10 p.m.; December 25 at 12:40 p.m., Freeform

Recent Dickens mentions

A number of good new "books about books" have recently come out, quite a few of which offer Dickens recommendations. (I've read all the way through the first two -- with the others, I've just read the Dickens sections so far!)

• My friend Karen Swallow Prior, author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me, has a new book out called On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books, in which she uses various novels and short stories to highlight different virtues. A Tale of Two Cities illustrates the concept of justice. (I got to read an early version of the chapter and offer feedback, which was an honor and a treat!) Karen's excellent book recently was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by Publisher's Weekly.
• In I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life, Anne Bogel (who blogs at Modern Mrs. Darcy) names David Copperfield as one of the books that helped her to come of age as a reader.
• Book Girl: A Journey through the Treasures & Transforming Power of a Reading Life  by Sarah Clarkson states, "There is no one quite like Dickens" and names him one of the author's "most beloved" writers. Clarkson pays tribute to David Copperfield for its striking imagery and understanding of human nature, Bleak House for its quietly faithful heroine, and Oliver Twist for its suspense. And she quotes a friend who recommends Dombey and Son and Martin Chuzzlewit. 
• James Mustich's 1,000 Books to Read before You Die: A Life-Changing List has a great chapter on Dickens. "It's as if the author has not set out to write a novel," he observes, "but has been dropped into a pulsing reality he has to write his way through, much in the way we must construct a life." Mustich specifically recommends David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, A Christmas Carol, Dombey and Son, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations.