Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” didn’t so much invent Christmas as we have come to know it as take it back to its medieval roots.
Tag Archives: Charles Dickens
Dickens Returned Xmas to Medieval Roots
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christmas, Christmas Carol, Marmion, Pickwick Papers, Sir Walter Scott Comments closed
The Magic Spell Cast by Stories
In “1Q84” Murakami describes novels as holding out the promise to solve our problems only we can’t quite make them out.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1Q84, children reading, Haruki Murakami, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Oliver Twist, Ozma of Oz, Twelfth Night Comments closed
Trump & Bounderby: Cut Taxes or Die
In Monday night’s debate, Donald Trump warned that companies would take their business elsewhere if taxes and regulations on them weren’t lowered. As Dickens noted in “Hard Times,” businesses have been threatening this, like, forever.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged business regulations, Donald Trump, Hard Times, Hillary Clinton, presidential debates, Tax Policy, tax reduction, Taxation Comments closed
Savaging the Poor Left and Right
Supply-side economics has been ravaging the economies of such states as Kansas, Louisiana, and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin. The GOP governors sound like the poor house’s Board of Directors in “Oliver Twist.”
Dickens Improved the Lives of the Poor
Charles Dickens had a tangible impact on how the poor were treated. “Oliver Twist,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” and “Christmas Carol” literally changed public policy. Few other authors can boast so much.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist Comments closed
Our Christmas Owes Much to Walter Scott
While Charles Dickens can be credited with resurrecting Christmas, Sir Walter Scott paved the way in “Marmion” with his depiction of Christmas and pre-Christmas banquets.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christmas, Christmas Carol, Marmion, origins of Christmas, Sir Walter Scott, Victorian Christmas Comments closed
Cruz as Beowulf? Try Grendel
Thursday Normally I would be delighted with a New York Times article that matched up presidential candidates with works of literature, such as Ted Cruz with Beowulf, Hillary Clinton with Persuasion, and Bernie Sanders with Around the World in 80 Days. This piece, however, strikes me as so uninformative that it’s all but useless. I’ve tried […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Around the World in 80 Days, Beowulf, Bernie Sanders, Carla Fiorina, Democrats, Donald Trump, Election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Huckleberry Finn, Jane Austen, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne, Mansfield Park, Marco Rubio, Mark Twain, Mike Huckabee, Oliver Twist, Persuasion, politics, Rand Paul, Tale of Two Cities, Ted Cruz Comments closed
