A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was first published in London on 19 December 1843. It has become a classic as a book and has also been produced as a play performed before Christmas. There have also been films based on the novel, including The Muppet Christmas Carol and television productions. Other authors have also based books on Dickens' work.

In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by Marley's Ghost who warns Scrooge that he will be visited by The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Future. When each ghost appears Scrooge is taken to view events from his past, the present and the possible future if he does not change his miserly ways. Through these visits Scrooge learns not only the true message of the Christmas season but how life should be lived.

This novella of eighty-five pages includes a mixture of humor and compassion as Scrooge realises that he has to change his ways in order to live a good life. Two of my grandchildren have shared the reading of this book with me as part of their year seven reading. 

Demon Copperhead

The winner of the 2023 James Tait Black award for fiction is Demon Copperhead by American author, Barbara Kingsolver. The writing of this book was inspired by Charles Dickens' novel, David Copperfield published in 1850 which traces the life of the main character as he struggles to grow up and survive during difficult times in Victorian England. He gradually learns that despite the difficulties that he faces there are people who will try to help him.

In Demon Copperhead Damen's father dies before his birth and his mother attempts to bring him up in a community of poverty in Virginia. This had been a mining area but by the beginning of the twenty-first century the mines are closed and the people who remain in the area struggle to survive. Much of the population, including Damen's mother, are addicted to a variety of substances and when Damen becomes an orphan he becomes a victim of a foster care system where boys spend time with adults who are only interested in the money they receive for fostering a child, not helping a child in need.  

As in David Copperfield there are people prepared to help Damen but he is not always ready to accept assistance when it is offered. This is a story of poverty, unemployment, drug and alcohol addiction, death and a failed foster care system, but at the end it also a story of survival against all odds.

My father once told me that when reading a book you should read at least forty pages before deciding to go no further. I seriously thought of giving up on this book, especially in the early chapters, but once the author concentrated on letting the main character tell his story in real time, instead of providing description of his environment and early years, I decided to keep reading and did finish this long story. 

The book is only 546 pages but I am sure that it would have been more readable at 300 pages. There is only so much repetition of misery until, in my opinion, it becomes too much. However the many good reviews of this novel show that other readers have a different opinion.

Estella

Estella is a retelling of the story of Charles Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, by Australian author, Kathy George. This version is told from the viewpoint of Estella, the adopted daughter of Miss Havisham. Estella arrived at Satis House when she was three and has no knowledge of her parents. To say that Miss Havisham lives in the past would be an understatement as she has never moved on from the time that her future husband left her before the wedding. Miss Havisham brings up Estella 'to break men's hearts'.

This version of the story relates Estella's early upbringing at Satis House, her later education in France and then her time in London where she is to learn about society and find a husband. Estella finds the London social life exhausting as she is pursued by a number of young men and makes an unfortunate decision in order to escape the London social scene. 

Throughout the novel is woven Estella's relationship with Pip, the young lad who Miss Havisham also appears to be grooming. It is many years before Estella discovers how she really wants to live her life and who her real friends are. The ending of the story is different from that of Charles Dicken's novel.

The Dickens Boy

In The Dickens Boy, Tom Keneally has proved once again that he is a great storyteller as he weaves a narrative around the experiences of two of Charles Dickens' sons in Australia.

Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens, better known as Plorn, arrived in Melbourne at the end of 1868 to try to prove to his father and, more importantly, to himself that he could be successful and was not worthless as his father seemed to imply. Sixteen year old Plorn travelled to a large sheep station near the Darling River in northern New South Wales where he had to adjust to a very different environment compared to England and learn many new skills.

His brother, Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens, was already in Australia working on another property. The brothers were not the only sons of well known English writers in Australia as the son of Anthony Trollope was also trying his luck in the colonies.

A major issue faced by Plorn was that he had managed not to read any of his father's books before leaving England, although he knew a little about most of them. When he came to New South Wales he discovered that his father was revered by everyone he met and people wanted to know what it was like being the son of a great writer. Plorn attempted to explain how he only knew his father as a person. Plorn and Alfred's relationship with their father was complicated as Charles Dickens had separated from their mother and was in a relationship with another woman. The boys needed not only to reconcile the world view of their father with the person that they knew but to establish their own identity in a new land.

As the cover of the book suggests, cricket was one of the occasional past-times between teams from neighbouring properties and towns. The cover is of a well known painting by Russell Dysdale painted in 1948.

There are parallels between Plorn's experiences described in this novel to part of my family story as my great, great grandfather, aged nineteen, arrived in Melbourne from England in August 1869 to learn to work, like Plorn, on sheep stations in Victoria and New South Wales.

References:

Adrift in Australia: Charles Dicken's youngest son finds a new story  - review - SMH 22 May 2020 [also same review published in The Age 23 May 2020 with title A Son Grows out of his Father's Shadow]

Mr Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens (1852-1902) - Parliament of NSW

Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens - Monument Australia

Unlucky Plorn Dickens - SMH 4 November 1939 - Trove

The Tale of Edward Dickens - ABC Late Night Live (audio) 1 April 2020

Dickens of a Time - SMH 24 December 2002

The Children of Charles and Catherine Dickens 10 - The Victorian Web

Charles Dickens and the great theatre of the world

2012 celebrates two hundred years since the birth of one of the most influential English writers, Charles Dickens. In this book, Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World, Simon Callow looks at the life of Charles Dickens not only as a popular writer but also through his involvement with the theatre. 

Dickens loved acting and the theatre and at one stage envisaged becoming a professional actor. Producing and acting in dramatic productions for family and close friends and also as a fund raiser for special causes became an important part of his life. In his later life he spent much of his time entertaining audiences with dramatic readings from his books. Dickens' love of the theatre can also be seen in the dramatic character of his novels, many of which were adapted for the theatre. 

Callow provides us with a greater understanding as to what drove Dickens to undertake the challenges of writing so many books along with contributions to magazines and newspapers along with live performances for his legion of fans. His works were not only entertaining but provided social commentaries on aspects of life in Victorian England. 

At the time his written work received mixed critical acclaim but his audiences largely loved it providing him with celebrity status in the UK and America. Today his works are still widely read, critically studied and transferred to film.