This week we got to read a great Victorian era story by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. I was actually really excited to re read this story because I haven't read this since I was little. My mom used to read this to me very Christmas, a few pages at a time before bed every night. I think the first time she read this to me I was 6 or seven years old. And I loved it. Which probably explains a lot about me and my love of Gothic and Victorian fiction.
I'm not going to do this post the way I normally do. Generally I talk about what I like and don't like about this, but today I am just going to talk about it a little bit because it's such a wonderfully layered story for being so short.
The first thing I want to talk about is the first line of the story. "Marley was dead to begin with," (Dickens, 16). That may be the single best first line in ever. I freaking love it. You know right off the bat what this story is about. Dead folks, lots and lots of dead folks. Well played Dickens well played.
A lot of the reasons I love this time period of fiction is because of the love of language and words that is present. To put it bluntly, no one writes like that anymore. And I'm pretty sure I know the reason. The period is characterized by repetition or the same or similar words, the tangents, and the references to Shakespeare, that characterized the genre and time period. They are all things that have fallen out of favor or a frowned upon in current writing practice. I know because I have been dinged on several of these areas in my own work. But when this era is my influence and style I think I may be existing in the wrong genre perhaps. The most obvious repetition in the book is in the very first chapter. We get "There is no doubt that Marley was dead," (Dickens, 16) or some variation of that over and over through out the first chapter. I find it funny that this book is held up as great literature but this sort of repetition or word echoes are so chastised in current writing. It doesn't seem fair to me as in my opinion I feel it is beautiful writing regardless of time period. And I feel like it sets the mood.
The flip side of this story being a shining example of it's time period is that it comes off a morality tale...a heavily Christian morality tale. If you're a Christian you may not even notice. But if you were to remove that element of the story there would be nothing except an angry old rich guy who never changes. I'm not saying this is bad, I'm just noting it because for me it became painfully obvious that's what this was. It's less (if at all) about haunting and more about telling a morality tale about not being a jack-A. Label it accurately people.
I'm still not quiet sure why I had to read this story for a genre in horror class...it's not horror...it just isn't. Victorian, yes. Gothic, you betcha (fog much?). Morality tale, absolutely. But horror...not by a long shot. I mean consider that this story has been adapted for children a hundred times. By Disney and Jim Hansen. My personal favorite being The Muppets Christmas Carol. I hardly think that it would have been adapted for children if it were horror. Sure he's haunted by ghost but in no way is it horror. If anything it's a ghostly shaming.
I'm not even sorry. Enjoy this song from The Muppets Christmas Carol.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. The Christmas Carol. London: Simon & Schuster, 2013. E-Book.
First off, A Muppet Christmas Carol is awesome! I definitely agree, but I also agree that the book was amazing with its beautiful language and powerful opening line. I think whenever someone talks about great opening lines in literature this is the one that everyone mentions. I did wonder though how this book relates to what we've been reading as it really isn't horror as you said, but maybe it's meant to fall into that category because of the moral that it shares with the reader about how not to be an a-hole. Maybe we are supposed to feel fear because of what could happen to Scrooge if he doesn't change and instead of this being a story about getting out of the hosue it's about getting out of ones own way. Who knows, but that's what pops to my mind. I definitely had the same question though after reading it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more about how the beautiful writing in this book would not be acceptable now, or how that is both sad and unfair. I'm fairly certain that most of the classics, if they were repackaged and sent to editors now, would be roundly rejected. But then, I'm sure in a hundred years what is considered good writing now we be equally rejected. What reading this story did show me, though, is that it isn't the writing, so much as the story that endures. The average person my not like the word choice, or the repetition, or might have issues with the references to things that no longer exist. But the core of the story is so fundamental that it has carried through over a century and numerous adaptations. I think that is what makes real literature.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is a morality story. The version I read had a sidebar talking about how this one story helped to re-difine the Christmas holiday. I had no idea that it was actually outlawed for a time in England and not practiced here in the states. And while the Christian theme is prevalent, especially in some of the conversations, the basic moral of generosity and caring for your fellow man is wide enough that even Disney can feel free to make two adaptations.