Dickensblog

Dickens on the New Year

It's pretty late in the month for this, but I wanted to share this lovely reflection by Melisa Kaya on the Dickens Society blog, "A New Heart for the New Year: Dickens, Renewal, and the Victorian Tradition of Transformation." An excerpt:

Dickens’s fascination with renewal extended far beyond fiction; the New Year was a recurring motif in his writings and essays. In an 1836 piece titled The New Year, Dickens painted an ideal picture of the celebration—not a solemn occasion of fasting or introspection, but a lively gathering of friends, music, and conversation. “We cannot but think it a great deal more complimentary, both to the old year that has rolled away, and to the New Year that is just beginning to dawn upon us, to see the old fellow out, and the new one in, with gaiety and glee,” he wrote, emphasizing the importance of welcoming change with optimism and connection rather than somber reflection (Perdue). For Dickens, the New Year was less about lamenting the past than about embracing the future with cheer and connection.

Thanks to the person on Bluesky who recommended the piece; I wish I could remember who it was. (I'm all tied up at the moment finishing a book manuscript; when it's done, I hope to be a little less scatterbrained, and to start posting on this blog more often!)

More on the new Oxford editions of Dickens

Joel J. Brattin, co-editor of the new Oxford University Press edition of Nicholas Nickleby, talks here about the process and goals of creating the edition. He also mentions that "a paperback edition for casual reading" is in the works!

Behind the scenes of 'In Dialogue with Dickens'

At OUPblog, Rosemarie Bodenheimer and Philip Davis have an interesting post up about how they co-wrote their new book In Dialogue with Dickens: The Mind of the Heart. The book has been published already in the U.K.; the U.S. version will release on May 29. I enjoyed Bodenheimer's book Knowing Dickens and am looking forward to this new one!

Dickens at the Swan

Script Haven bookshop in Worcester, England, is applying for a blue plaque to commemorate Dickens's visit to their building in 1858, when it was the Swan Hotel. Best wishes to their endeavor!

Dickens and the magic of Christmas

"Dickens really loved Christmas. It’s a theme he wrote about regularly. In 1851, eight years after 'A Christmas Carol,' he published an essay on what Christmas means as we grow older.* In particular, he tries to identify where the magic goes as we age. Is Christmas less special as we get older? ...

"He worries that we might regret the lost magic of childhood, asking, 'Do we mourn the lost dreams of our youth?'

"'No!' he answers, but we must be attentive to where the magic shifts. ...

"Bring all the joy with you, says Dickens. Celebrate all the Christmases at once, past, present, and future. 'Let us be more thankful,' he says, 'that the circle of our Christmas associations and of the lessons that they bring, expands! Let us welcome every one of them, and summon them to take their places by the Christmas hearth.'"

--Fr. Michael Rennier, "Charles Dickens on what Christmas means as we grow older," Aleteia, December 24, 2023

*If you have trouble with the link to Dickens's essay, as I did, try this one instead. It's not very well formatted, but at least it works and it's legible. And a very merry Christmas to you all!

Happy 180th birthday to 'A Christmas Carol'!

In honor of this venerable story, the blog Letters from Gondwana has a post about what may have made the weather so foul during a Dickensian Christmas, while over in the U.K., Simon Callow debates a Guardian editorial writer over whether Scrooge's redemption was personal or social.* (My hot take: Why not both?) There's forever something new to learn about the Carol!

*You may need to register for free to read the Guardian, though I was able to see both articles without doing it. 

'Collider' ranks Dickens film adaptations

This list of the top 20 features a few films I haven't seen yet, and a couple that I don't really care for, but I'm happy to see the 1958 A Tale of Two Cities, 2019's The Personal History of David Copperfield, and the 1951 Scrooge on there. The listmaker, Jeremy Urquhart, knows his Dickens films, and has put much more thought into this than such lists usually get.

'A Christmas Carol' honored with 180th anniversary magazine

Published by a360media, this commemorative magazine features a wealth of articles about A Christmas Carol and its many adaptations, along with some wonderful illustrations and movie stills. You can buy it at the link above, or look for it at your local grocery store, bookstore, or wherever else you buy magazines.

Happy 50th anniversary, Dickens on the Strand!

That's right, the annual Dickensian Christmas festival in Galveston, Texas, turns 50 this year! The Houston Chronicle reports that nine members of the Dickens family will be on hand for this year's festivities, taking place December 1-3. Go to the official Dickens on the Strand website to learn more. And here's wishing them a very happy anniversary!

Charles Dickens, king of video games

Ebenezer and the Invisible World isn't the only game paying tribute to Dickens right now -- this ScreenRant article talks about how and why Starfield is also giving Dickens a prominent role.