{"id":34563,"date":"2019-12-16T12:22:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T17:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=34563"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:13:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:13:46","slug":"a-christmas-carol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=34563","title":{"rendered":"The universal appeal of \u2018A Christmas Carol\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 176th anniversary of its publication, experts on British literature and acting explain the enduring appeal of Charles Dickens\u2019 \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Christmas
An illustration from the first publication of “A Christmas Carol” in 1843 shows Marley’s ghost visiting Scrooge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMarley\u2019s Ghost.\u201d \u201cScrooged.\u201d \u201cThe Man Who Invented Christmas.\u201d Whether musicals, Muppets or miniseries, multiple adaptations of Charles Dickens\u2019 classic Christmas tale abound.<\/p>\n

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge, first published on Dec. 19, 1843, is a mainstay of the holiday season. But people know it best from movies and plays and can learn more by reading the original slim novella, \u201cA Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least, that\u2019s what Laurie Langbauer<\/a> finds when she teaches The British Novel course at Carolina.\u00a0 Langbauer, a professor of English and comparative literature, gets students to cast fresh eyes on Dickens\u2019 most famous work. She sees many reasons why \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d is so malleable and has remained so appealing across decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s persisted because it\u2019s just such a good story by an excellent writer,\u201d Langbauer said. \u201cDickens was trying to capture quintessential questions about human fellowship that we\u2019re still concerned with now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Langbauer said that the novella\u2019s lasting power and allure also come from how Dickens wrote, not only brilliantly, but also as a cultural filter. Indeed, the cold-hearted Scrooge could just as easily be a 21st<\/sup> century business tycoon as a 19th<\/sup>-century miser, and Bob Cratchit\u2019s working-class struggle continues to resonate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe caught what were not just particular economic and societal questions during the \u2018hungry \u201940s\u2019 that persisted during the Victorian era and even now as the Industrial Revolution passes into the Information Age,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d also lives on because it\u2019s a ghost story in the tradition of British tales dating to medieval times. In trying to revive that tradition, Dickens was keenly aware that he was writing a modern fairy tale, according to Langbauer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe caught that almost crystalline structure of the fairy tale that makes it easy to grasp but infinitely malleable and important for what it captures about psychology as well as culture,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The story\u2019s simple structure is key, according to Ray Dooley, a professor of acting and member of Carolina\u2019s PlayMakers Repertory Company. Dooley has twice performed a one-man version of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d<\/a> and played roles in larger productions, so he knows the story by heart. He compares the plot\u2019s architecture to that of a house built on a strong foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can paint the house any color you want, but the house is always going to be there,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can do most anything with it, and the foundation will support you, and result in some delightful alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case in point: one of Dooley\u2019s favorite adaptations is the 1962 animated Mr. Magoo version.<\/p>\n

Dickens\u2019 writing, while elegant, also imbues the characters with nuances and mannerisms that give actors license to interpret.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving put 90 minutes or more of it into my mind and mouth on two occasions, I can say that the writing itself is elegant,\u201d Dooley said. \u201cThe sentences are beautifully balanced, the paragraphs flow with great coherence. There\u2019s specificity and individual things about the characters like \u2018Bah! Humbug!\u2019 or Fred\u2019s \u2018Oh, come now, Uncle\u2019 or Bob Cratchit\u2019s \u2018Oh, my dears.\u2019 Those let you know who\u2019s speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audiences also respond to the transformation of Scrooge, whom Langbauer describes as an atypical villain, but she also sees a more important theme that resonates with people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that Scrooge lives in a world in which redemption is still possible,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that things will work out from the beginning with a narrator who\u2019s genial, really avuncular, a kind of expansive narrator who makes jokes and has a worldview that tells us this is a world in which people are sometimes not kind, but kindness is still the most important thing. People want to continue to believe that they live in that kind of world, especially during the dark days each year.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019A Christmas Carol\u2019 is resolutely \u2500 though not completely \u2500 secular,\u201d Langbauer said. \u201cIt\u2019s associated with this time of year when we want to believe that the world is good and that people will treat each other well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That seemingly universal appeal is personal for Dooley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certainly better for having spent so much time with the story,\u201d he said. \u201cAnybody who comes in contact with it leaves feeling a little better and a little more resolved to keep Christmas all the year, as Scrooge says near the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hear and read related stories:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n