Inventing Scrooge

Synopsis

Inventing Scrooge uncovers the real-life inspirations from Charles Dickens' own world that led to the fascinating creation of his most beloved tale: A Christmas Carol.When Charles Dickens conceived the story that would become A Christmas Carol, little did he know that his "ghostly little book" would reinvent the way we keep Christmas. From a graveyard in Edinburgh to the Marshalsea Prison in London to his schoolboy years in Chatham and even his lifelong fascination with dance, so much of Dickens' past and present are woven into the characters and themes of A Christmas Carol. And by understanding the story behind the story, readers will come to embrace the holiday classic all the more. To this day, we look to the Christmas season as a time of warmth and celebration among family, friends, and strangers alike. And every year at Christmas, not only do our lives get better for all the festivity, but we get better, as people. Just like Ebenezer Scrooge.e at a time, was not the way to reach his audience and spread his meaning. It was too piece meal and took too long. It was on this train ride to make this speech that the first ideas came to Dickens to instead, write a story that might advance his cause in a much more effective way. As the train lurched by the engine works at grimy Camden Town, Dickens thoughts must have tripped backwards in his mind, to a time in his youth, when he and his many brothers and sisters lived all jammed into a small home, where the Dickens family led a meager and lean life, as his father struggled with mounting debt. On this eight-hour ride, the seeds for one of his most famous stories came to life - A Christmas Carol. Dickens became obsessed by the story. He wrote that as the tale unfolded he 'wept and laughed, and wept again' and that he 'walked about the black streets of London fifteen or twenty miles many a night when all sober folks had gone to bed.' And almost every aspect of the story came to him as it pulled it from his life. * The nephew, Fred, who comes to see Scrooge is a carefree spirit, who lives what Scrooge considers to be a spendthrift existence, much like Dickens own brother Fred was in real life. * Fred is the son of Scrooge's sister, Fan. In real life, Dickens' favorite and closest sibling was Fran (or Fanny). * Tiny Tim was modeled on Dickens' nephew Henry Burnett Jr., who was small and handicapped. * The Cratchits were the Dickens family of Charles' youth. The Dickens lived in Camden Town, eight to a small, row house, with little money. * Much like Ebernezer Scrooge, Dickens own real life wife Catherine Hogarth, tried to break off their engagement citing that Dickens was more obsessed with making money than spending time with her. Dickens took up all these threads, and wove them into one of the most magical tales of all time. And it all came from this trip to Manchester.

Copyright:

2014

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

256 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781604335552

Related ISBNs:

9781604337792

Publisher:

Cider Mill Press Book Publishers, LLC

Date of Addition:

05/16/23

Copyrighted By:

Carlo Devito

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.