Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings

A CHRISTMAS CAROL AND OTHER CHRISTMAS WRITINGS

CHARLES DICKENS was born at Portsmouth on 7 February 1812, the second of eight children. Dickenss childhood experiences were similar to those depicted in David Copperfield. His father, who was a government clerk, was imprisoned for debt and Dickens was briefly sent to work in a blacking warehouse at the age of twelve. He received little formal education, but taught himself shorthand and became a reporter of parliamentary debates for the Morning Chronicle. He began to publish sketches in various periodicals, which were subsequently republished as Sketches by Boz. The Pickwick Papers was published in 18367 and after a slow start became a publishing phenomenon and Dickenss characters the centre of a popular cult. Part of the secret of his success was the method of cheap serial publication which Dickens used for all his novels. He began Oliver Twist in 1837, followed by Nicholas Nickleby (18389) and The Old Curiosity Shop (184041). After finishing Barnaby Rudge (1841) Dickens set off for America; he went full of enthusiasm for the young republic but, in spite of a triumphant reception, he returned disillusioned. His experiences are recorded in American Notes (1842). Martin Chuzzlewit (18434) did not repeat its predecessors success but this was quickly redressed by the huge popularity of the Christmas Books, of which the first, A Christmas Carol, appeared in 1842. During 18446 Dickens travelled abroad and he began Dombey and Son (18468) while in Switzerland. This and David Copperfield (184950) were more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early novels. In later works, such as Bleak House (18523) and Little Dorrit (18557), Dickenss social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage. In 1850 Dickens started the weekly periodical Household Words, succeeded in 1859 by All the Year Round; in these he published Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (186061). Dickenss health was failing during the 1860s and the physical strain of the public readings which he began in 1858 hastened his decline, although Our Mutual Friend (18645) retained some of his best comedy. His last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was never completed and he died on 9 June 1870. Public grief at his death was considerable and he was buried in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey.

MICHAEL SLATER is Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a past President of both the Dickens Fellowship and the Dickens Society of America. He is also a former editor of The Dickensian and has published a number of studies of Dickens, including Dickens and Women (1983), and has edited, with John Drew, the four-volume Dent Uniform Edition of Dickenss Journalism (19942000). His most recent publication is Douglas Jerrold 18031857 (2002).

CHARLES DICKENS

With Introduction and Notes by
MICHAEL SLATER

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India
Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

www.penguin.com

Christmas Festivities first published 1835; The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton
first published 1836; A Christmas Episode from Master Humphreys Clock first published
1840; A Christmas Carol in Prose first published 1843; The Haunted Man first published
1848; A Christmas Tree first published 1850; What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older first
published 1851; The Seven Poor Travellers first published 1854
First published 2003
1

Introduction and notes copyright Michael Slater, 2003
All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

EISBN: 978-0-141-93473-0

18127 February Charles John Huffam Dickens born at Portsmouth, where his father is a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. The eldest son in a family of eight, two of whom die in childhood.

1817 After previous postings to London and Sheerness and frequent changes of address, John Dickens settles his family in Chatham.

1821 Dickens attends local school.

1822 Family returns to London.

1824 Dickenss father in Marshalsea Debtors Prison for three months. During this time and afterwards Dickens employed in a blacking warehouse, labelling bottles. Resumes education at Wellington House Academy, Hampstead Road, London, 18257.

1827 Becomes a solicitors clerk.

1830 Admitted as a reader to the British Museum.

1832 Becomes a parliamentary reporter after mastering shorthand. In love with Maria Beadnell, 183033. Misses audition as an actor at Covent Garden because of illness.

1833 First published story, A Dinner at Poplar Walk, in the Monthly Magazine. Further stories and sketches in this and other periodicals, 18345.

1834 Becomes reporter on the Morning Chronicle.

1835 Engaged to Catherine Hogarth, daughter of editor of the Evening Chronicle.

1836Sketches by Boz, First and Second Series, published. Marries Catherine Hogarth. Meets John Forster, his literary adviser and future biographer. The Strange Gentleman, a farce, and The Village Coquettes, a pastoral operetta, professionally performed in London.

1837The Pickwick Papers published in one volume (issued in monthly parts, 18367). Birth of a son, the first of ten children. Death of Mary Hogarth, Dickenss sister-in-law. Edits Bentleys Miscellany, 18379.

1838Oliver Twist published in three volumes (serialized monthly in Bentleys Miscellany, 18379). Visits Yorkshire schools of the Dotheboys type.

1839Nicholas Nickleby published in one volume (issued in monthly parts, 18389). Moves to 1 Devonshire Terrace, Regents Park, London.

1841 Declines invitation to stand for Parliament. The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge published in separate volumes after appearing in weekly numbers in Master Humphreys Clock, 184041. Public dinner in his honour at Edinburgh.

1842JanuaryJune First visit to North America, described in American Notes, two volumes. Georgina Hogarth, Dickenss sister-in-law, becomes permanent member of the household.

1843 Speech on the Press to Printers Pension Society, followed by others on behalf of various causes throughout Dickenss career. A Christmas Carol published in December.

1844Martin Chuzzlewit published in one volume (issued in monthly parts, 18434). Dickens and family leave for Italy, Switzerland and France. Dickens returns to London briefly to read