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by - December 19, 2007 - 4:16 PM
by Terry Fernandes
During this season to be jolly, we are commonly entertained by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Anyone with a shred of literary acuity, however, knows that Mr. Dickens penned a great deal more than this perennial holiday favorite. Here are some Dickensian tidbits that you might not have known, but that can be used to enlighten your theater companions during intermission at this year’s presentation of A Christmas Carol (which, by the way, was first published on this date in 1843).
1. Dickens (1812-1870) put his pen to paper at an early age, submitting accounts of fires and other mishaps to the British Press starting at the age of 12. As a young man, Dickens was a tremendously successful reporter.
2. His early pseudonym was “Boz,” and most of what he wrote under this moniker was later published in a collection called “Sketches by Boz” in 1836. A lesser known (and lesser used) pseudonym was “Timothy Sparks.”
3. Dickens’ novel Nicholas Nickleby was one of many Dickens works that were published serially. Theater-goers, however, have had the dubious privilege of seeing the entire story presented in one fell swoop. Playwright David Edgar and the Royal Shakespeare Company brought it to the stage in London’s West End in 1980, with a production that lasted 10 hours (including intermissions and a dinner break). Whew! Nevertheless, the daunting length was no setback, as the production drew critical acclaim and moved to Broadway the following year. You can schedule your own potty breaks when you opt to watch it on DVD.
4. A Christmas Carol is actually the short title for A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. It has been made into countless theater productions and films. Oldsters remember the Mister Magoo version in 1962, with the voice of Jim Backus as Mister Magoo and Ebenezer Scrooge. Thirty years later Michael Caine supplied the voice of Scrooge in The Muppets Christmas Carol with Gonzo as Dickens the narrator. But Thomas Edison had a leg up on both of these; he filmed a version in 1908.
5. Dickens loved animals, particularly dogs. However, one of his favorite pets was a raven he called “Grip.”
6. With his wife, Catherine Hogarth, he had 10 children, several of whom were named after writers he admired, such as Alfred Tennyson, Henry Fielding, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
7. Dickens was a details guy, and his last will and testament was no exception. Noting that he had expended quite a lot of money in maintaining his large family and providing for his wife, from whom he separated after 24 years, he instructed thusly (and, in typical fashion for wills at the time, with a dearth of punctuation):
I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive unostentatious and strictly private manner that no public announcement be made of the time or place of my burial that at the utmost not more than three plain mourning coaches be employed and that those who attend my funeral wear no scarf cloak black bow long hatband or other such revolting absurdity.
[Read the full text of his will here.]
If this post has you craving Dickensian fun, opportunities abound. Take a trip to Dickens World theme park in Kent, England…
…or play Fagin’s Gang, winner of the Best New British Board Game at the UK Games Expo of 2007…
…or add the Charles Dickens action figure to your collection.
Terry Fernandes is an occasional contributor to mental_floss.
Comments (15)
Comment
Hi. I’ve just ‘discovered’ this blog and am loving it. Need all the trivia I can get my hands on for the coming holidays.
My mom is working on her will at the moment. I’m going to forward her the link to Charles Dickens’ one.
posted by Amanda on 12-19-2007 at 5:04 pm
I heard once that Dickens was the first author to demand payment up front, before he’d even written whatever he was serializing at the time… anyone know if that’s true?
posted by erm on 12-19-2007 at 5:34 pm
I’m currently re-reading “Oliver Twist” and it’s absolutely hilarious. Dickens has always been one of my favorites.
posted by Laura on 12-19-2007 at 5:59 pm
I think it would be more accurate to say that Michael Caine played or portrayed Scrooge in “The Muppets Christmas Carol”, as it was a live-action film. It’s also one of my mom’s favorite movies.
posted by Daylightrambler on 12-19-2007 at 7:54 pm
erm: I work in a library, and I was researching a question about Dickens’ bibliography today, so I will see if I can find a quick answer to your question. I think that’s true, though.
Terry: the closest thing I could find to the actual publication date was “about ten days before Christmas”. May I ask how you knew it was actually the 19th? Wikipedia sez so, too.
posted by Christine on 12-20-2007 at 12:03 am
I sometimes think some of
Dickens novels would still work better if one could read them serially
over the course of a year or two.
posted by csrster on 12-20-2007 at 4:14 am
Amanda, Personally, I would never advocate my mom using Dickens’ will as a model… And if Mom dies in winter, I’ll wear a scarf if I want to!
posted by Terry on 12-20-2007 at 7:45 am
I once heard that Dickens’s novels were so long because he was paid by the word. Dunno if it’s true…
posted by Rich on 12-20-2007 at 8:16 am
Has anyone read or seen the DVD version of Hogfather?
posted by Matt on 12-20-2007 at 8:22 am
Matt, Terry Pratchett is a genius.
posted by Ashley on 12-20-2007 at 9:08 am
Just don’t bother reading Dickens’ *other* Christmas stories. They have not aged well and generally come across as overly-sentimental Victorian glurge.
posted by Coeli on 12-20-2007 at 2:05 pm
Rich, Some critics at the time called Dickens a “penny-a-liner,” and there have been other references to the author being paid by the word or line. However, even if it were sometimes true (and I have no proof that it was), it was certainly not the case throughout most of his career. If there’s a reason why his novels are long (other than that he liked them that way), I’m inclined to suggest it had more to do with the fact that his work was often serialized.
posted by Terry on 12-20-2007 at 3:14 pm
Dickens is honored at the Philly Public Library with his own room in the rare book department. Many of the furniture he used in real life is there as well as many first additions of his works. Grip, his pet raven, is also there, stuffed of course, in a display case. When Grip died Dickens said that someone poisoned the bird because he succumbed rather fast. It is also believed that Grip was the model for Poe’s “The Raven”. Dickens and Poe were friends. It is said that Grip would chase the kids biting their ankles and his favorite saying was “Hola”
posted by Owen on 12-20-2007 at 5:14 pm
Owen, thanks for the info on the Philly library display. Yes, there are quite a few interesting anecdotes about Grip, and I sometimes wonder if Dickens was fonder of the bird than of his wife. There was actually a second Grip, but not as beloved as the first.
posted by Therese on 12-21-2007 at 7:47 am
If you love Dickens or are just an avid reader give the author Jasper Fforde a shot… hilarious tales of Thursday Next of the “fiction police” who tirelessly works to maintain the integrity of books from within.. and Jack Spratt the sometimes bumbling detective who solves those nasty nursery rhyme crimes…
posted by Laura on 12-26-2007 at 7:25 am