How long is charles dickens a christmas carol

Contact us at letters time. Marley's ghost appearing to Scrooge. By John Broich. Related Stories. Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription.

Need help? Visit our Help Center. Go here to connect your wallet. While the purpose here is that Scrooge uses his wealth to become a giving person at the holiday season, I was touched by the theme of redemption. Judaism also speaks of one's potential to repent for one's bad deeds either through prayer or charity so I used this as a basis for the redemption of Scrooge on his journey with the spirits. Most world religions have a supernatural element, and I believe that the spiritual aspect of A Christmas Carol has allowed this tale to remain on the forefront of society's collective pathos.

That the story takes place during the holiday season only increases the likelihood of one's exposure to Scrooge and his path toward redemption.

Dickens' story is short enough that children can read it either alone or with a parent. The version I read was actually shelved at my library as juvenile fiction and contained a forward by Newberry winning author Nancy Farmer.

Farmer writes in her message to young readers that she read A Christmas Carol for the first time in one evening when she was a child. She enjoyed the spookiness of the ghosts while also being moved by Scrooge's ability to reform and give assistance to those in need. The reading guide at the end of the book also encourages people to donate either their time or money to charity during the holiday season. While not everyone is able to give at Scrooge's level, Dickens does encourage those who can to assist those who may be lacking.

Thus, A Christmas Carol speaks to another universal theme, one that is timely in light of the many natural disasters that have occurred recently, that of charity. While I am not likely to reread A Christmas Carol each year at the fireside, I did enjoy the universal message of a person having the ability to reform oneself before it is too late.

Scrooge has become such a part of vernacular that no person wants to be referred to as a Scrooge or coldhearted person. Yet, that misses the essence of this tale because Scrooge did indeed see the light and become kind at the close of the story.

I do love the timelessness of Dickens tale and that his work is accessible to all. As I am always looking for hidden classics by authors the world over, I sometimes neglect in reading the masters of western cannon, Dickens included. Perhaps, this is a wake up call to me to read more Dickens in the years to come because I did enjoy A Christmas Carol immensely. View all 38 comments.

I have to admit that, at the ripe old age of 66, I finally listened to the full text as Dickens wrote it. It definitely deserves all the accolades it has ever deserved.

I recommend it not just for graceful language, but for continued relevance to our day and age. A Christmas Carol is a very short book, easily read or listened to in just a few hours. Even if you've experienced the story via a dozen different movie versions and spin offs, I think getting back to the original is well worth your time.

View all 4 comments. The very name "Scrooge" has entered the vernacular to indicate a mean-spirited skinflint. But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint. A Christmas Carol is one of Dickens' most endur "Bah! A Christmas Carol is one of Dickens' most enduring and well-loved tales. He wrote it in six weeks, and it was originally published in the Christmas of It evokes perfectly the sensations of a Victorian Christmas, but its lasting appeal lies in its power to speak to us today, years later.

In fact it has never been out of print. Starting with this tale, Dickens wrote longish themed stories annually and the five were subsequently published together as "Christmas Books". He also of course wrote many more shorter Christmas stories. Dickens loved to paint a picture. Everything in this story is heightened; the descriptions are so vivid that in places they are almost surreal, and inanimate objects take on a life - and personality - of their own.

A church bell is "always peeping slyly down at Scrooge…[it] struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there.

Even today when we think of Christmas we may think of a Dickensian Christmas; he seems to have invented the archetypal Christmas, alongside Prince Albert and his Christmas tree. How has an author managed to do this? To have had such a massive influence on how we celebrate Christmas?

And with a secular tale at that, which speaks to people both in and outside the religion which traditionally celebrates this particular festival? Well everything in Dickens is larger than life. Everything in this tale, at least, has to be the best or the worst. The "wonderful" pudding indicates that the food is the tastiest there has ever been. The carols are sung more enthusiastically and more in tune than they ever could be, the ice on the pond is thicker than ever before, and glinting more spectacularly in the sun, the shops are filled to bursting with good things to tempt and delight the shoppers.

This exaggeration bursts through our gloom at the perfect time of year. When in Great Britain in reality we have have cold dreary weather and long dark nights, we also have in imagination Dickens' heightened perception to uplift us.

No wonder then that it stays in our memory and in the memories of generation after generation. And no wonder there have been - and continue to be - such a plethora of adaptations of this wonderful tale world-wide.

The original illustrations by John Leech complement Dickens' story to perfection, but there have been many subsequent dramatisations, readings, retellings, films, musicals, cartoons - some more faithful than others, but all paying homage to and honouring this original story - or at the very least its concept. The writing has a very light touch and Dickens' trademark humour is present on every page.

Yet to hammer the moral point of the book home, we are assured of its veracity. The opening lines, "Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that," carry the reader through the story, daring us to disbelieve in the events which follow, and the ghastly phantoms which are about to appear. The author's voice is there at every turn. One part which gave this reader a bit of a jolt, is the arrival of the first Spirit when the curtains of Scrooge's bed were drawn aside.

He was thus face to face with the apparition, "as close to it," Dickens says, "as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow. Dickens' preoccupations are evident in this tale. It is in part an indictment of 19th century industrial capitalism, and part a nostalgic wish to return to earlier times and traditions of merriment and festivity, just as ironically today we wish to return to our perceptions of a "Dickensian Christmas". There are also the recurring themes of Dickens' sympathy for the poor, his social conscience and his ever-present memories of the humiliating experiences of his childhood.

The novella has a simple structure. There are 5 "staves". The first introduces Scrooge himself in all his miserliness. This character is one of Dickens' masterpieces. He is so mean that his clerk has to warm his hands by the one candle Scrooge allows him. And indeed he allows himself little better, "Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.

We delight in his ridiculous meanness, and the way he has impoverished his own life by such strictures. And after our very first contact with this tale, we delight in our expectations of what is going to happen to this sorry character. And the final stave, which I defy you to read without a big fat smile on your face, describes Scrooge's redemption, which is all the more marvellous and outrageous because of his earlier spite and vituperation.

Oh, it is a wonderful book! A simple morality tale but a moving tale which makes the reader chuckle and shudder by turns. Thank you, Mr Dickens. I would like to shake you heartily by the hand. Thank you for giving me my favourite story.

And thank you most for making millions of people world-wide smile too, and maybe reflect and think a little. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.

I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. The Christmas reading par excellence! A truly Christmas classic. And this one of the few books that I think one hardly can deny that it's the novel that defines a genre, in this case: The Christmas reading par excellence! And this one of the few books that I think one hardly can deny that it's the novel that defines a genre, in this case: Christmas. In popular genres like Science-Fiction and Horror, there are several books competing for the title of the lead book in the genre.

While in other genres like mafia, we have The Godfather ; and in epic fantasy we have The Lord of the Rings , that there is a more common acceptance that those books are the lead ones on each genre. And certainly, in books about Christmas, the impact and relevance of A Christmas Carol , not only put the season back in the conscience of people but define the very spirit and message of the holidays.

And Scrooge changes a lot in this story, so he didn't only became a popular character but the embodiment of a type of human personality. I was so familiar with the story that I could "tell" it to anyone by memory, however I never actually read the original book.

I knew the story only from the several adaptations in media. So, I thought that it was a very good moment to read the classic novel.

I loved it. First, I didn't know that the chapters weren't named like that but instead, Dickens opted to named them "staves" since it was a "carol" xmas song what he was writing. Moreover, the division of the story is just perfect since Dickens used the right number of "staves" to tell the story, denoting the perfect structure of the storytelling.

Great details that you only get on the reading experience of the story. Also, not only I re-experienced yet again the immortal story but I met some details that I didn't recall to be mentioned in the adaptations that I have watched. The very notion of living in a mansion where a ghost acompanies you every night without your knowledge is way scary!

Also, I found quite interesting and impacting the part of the "children" named "Ignorance" and "Want". I don't remember to know about those details in the media adaptations. So, it was priceless to know "new" facts about a story that I have met so many times in my life. God bless us, everyone! And Merry Christmas! Heartwarming, atmospheric and sweet Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in!

I found it a lovely, atmospheric read, with a satisfying turn around of Scrooge from his initial chagrin. Maybe in a book such a full reversal would be deemed saccharine and for naive children but I feel Charles Dickens did an excellent job of o Heartwarming, atmospheric and sweet Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in!

Maybe in a book such a full reversal would be deemed saccharine and for naive children but I feel Charles Dickens did an excellent job of offering hope of redemption and betterment in this novella. What could be more Christmas like? And besides, he is genuinely funny, making Scrooge for instance almost say the following to a supernatural apparition: He then made bold to inquire what business brought him here. Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end.

View all 7 comments. I'm sure everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol, so I won't go into the story, just to say Dickens story telling ability is up there amongst the best. His descriptive powers are wonderful and you feel like you are there in Victorian London.

Also his handling of human interactions and emotions is just so enjoyable to read. A fantastic short ish story that makes me want to read more Dickens, which is a real problem as I want to read more of everything.

View all 19 comments. This is my absolute favorite Christmas story for the season that I enjoy reading every year. The audio for this version is perfect too.

View all 11 comments. Aug 07, James rated it really liked it Shelves: 3-written-preth-century , 1-fiction. And we've all seen some form of this in a TV show, movie or another book, given how familiar the three ghosts of Christmas have become. Why This Book I honestly don't recall how I stumbled upon this book, perhaps by watching one of the movie versions as the first foray.

Sacrilegious, I know. But once you see it on a TV screen, the story compels you to want to read it. And when it's the great Charles Dickens, how can you say no, right?

I was 17 when I read the book And I often wonder if I missed out by not reading it when I was younger Overview of Story A quick summary, as I'm sure we're all familiar. Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge run a business. Bob Cratchit works for them and several young kids. Marley dies. Scrooge is a penny pincher. He forces Cratchit to work too hard and the man is already so poor and loving to his family.

One night, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, forewarning him to be a nicer person and to listen when "they" come. Scrooge laughs. And then it happens A reflection pool of the inner workings deep in your mind you've refused to hear or see for far too long.

And when Scrooge sees poor Timmy, Bob Cratchit's son, and the maladies surrounding him, Scrooge realizes he, too, must re-learn his lessons. Strength In true Dickens style, the words are beautiful. The story reads itself, not the reader.

And you find such broad strokes of characters and morals within these pages. Did you know… Dickens didn't make very much money from early editions of A Christmas Carol. Though it was a runaway best seller, Dickens was very fastidious about the endpapers and how the book was bound, and the price of materials took a big chunk out of his potential profits. Did you know… Upon publishing the first edition of A Christmas Carol , Dickens had his page heavily revised handwritten manuscript bound in crimson leather and decorated in gilt before gifting it to his friend—and creditor—Thomas Mitton, whose name was also inscribed on the cover in gilt.

You can see a digital copy of the manuscript on the Morgan Library and Museum website. Did you know… There are two ballet and four opera versions of A Christmas Carol , including The Passion of Scrooge , a chamber opera for one baritone and chamber orchestra. Just how well do you know the details of A Christmas Carol? Take our quick, question quiz to find out.

How long did it take Dickens to write A Christmas Carol? Why did Dickens describe Marley being as dead a door-nail? Learn the answers to these questions and more on the Christmas Carol Trivia page. Are you mulling over a yes or no question? Then you've come to the right place. Ebenezer Scrooge is here to help! Enter your question and see what Scrooge says.

Imagine that you have a very crabby uncle. One day he says he saw ghosts. Not one ghost, but three ghosts. Now he's a changed man.