A Christmas Carol (1843)I'll not insult you all by describing the action of this classic novella, nor belabor the lesson taught. I'm sure even Mowgli the Jungle Boy must have heard this story once a year growing up in the jungle. But with all the TV and movie and cartoon and Muppet iterations (the best of which remains the 1951 Alastair Sim movie version), when's the last time you went back and actually read the original book? Dickens is, of course, a wonderful author and earlier generations read everything that he wrote. Today, however, you read an obligatory novel or two in High School, breath a sigh of relief that's over and then blithely ignore him along with the rest of the ancients. But, as a reacquaintance with A Christmas Carol will remind you, he remains pretty accessible and his novels are often quite fun. What's more, there's even a Reading Version (available online, just click the hypertext) of the story that Dickens condensed himself for his numerous public readings of the tale. It's perfect for reading aloud to the family. Here's just a sample of the prose to entice you: On Scrooge before:
and Scrooge after:
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived
upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever
We, all of us, have a tendency to let the classics become so encrusted that we take them for granted and forget how good they really are; if this has happened for you with A Christmas Carol, do yourself a favor and dig out a copy and reread it this Holiday Season. I bet it becomes an annual tradition. (Reviewed:) Grade: (A+) Tweet Websites:-REVIEW : of 'Savage Reprisals: Bleak House, Madame Bovary, Buddenbrooks' by Peter Gay (Lorraine Adams, Washington Post) Book-related and General Links: -Charles Dickens (1812-1870)(kirjasto) -ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA: Your search: "charles dickens" -ETEXT: (Illustrated) -ETEXT: of The Reading Version -etexts of Dickens works -Charles Dickens Overview -The Dickens Page -Charles Dickens -Charles Dickens - Gad's Hill Place. -David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page -Charles Dickens (Most Web) -ARTICLE : The tale behind a Christmas classic (JEFF GUINN, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) -An Outline of the English Novel: The Short List (San Antonio College LitWeb) -Edgar Johnson: Dickens on the Barricades (NY Review of Books) |
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