A Sketch About Boz
There are two men I think about a great deal this time of year, for obvious reasons. The first is, of course, Jesus Christ--preacher, prophet, Redeemer of Humanity. (Oops, did I just offend you? If "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah" offends you, you...need...help.) This season, despite the bloodsucking efforts of retailers and advertisers and the vicious Soviet-style political correctness campaigns of the ACLU, is about Christ and Christ alone.
There is, however, a second individual I think of at great length this time of year, one I feel slightly more qualified to write about: my favorite author and literary idol, Charles John Huffam Dickens, the great English novelist and moralist. (He began his career with the pseudonym "Boz"...in fact, his first major work was a collection of his London newspaper stories called Sketches by Boz). This is largely because of his 1843 masterpiece A Christmas Carol, the dramatic and beautiful redemption story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. In addition, Dickens wrote a number of touching short stories and novellas related to Christmas, some of which I have read. There was once a time in my life when, every winter, I would either reread A Christmas Carol or read at least one of Dickens' other books--Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, even his travel narrative American Notes. In fact, I can remember feeling very disappointed one winter in high school when I finally failed to read an entire Dickens novel.
But this Dickens-Christmastime association is more than merely an attempt to enjoy the holiday season in style and tradition. After all, the very spirit and purpose of Dickensian literature is in line with the meaning of the season: generosity, compassion, love, peace, justice, morality, indeed salvation. Sure, this sounds quite sappy, especially for someone like me who rarely sheds a tear about anything. Dickens was a man who loved Britain and its heritage, but who acknowledged its many sins and shortcomings, and demanded change.
Dickens used his brilliant plots, genius in creating colorful characters with wonderful names (e.g. Chuzzlewit, Gradgrind, Pickwick, Pecksniff, Scrooge, and Mr. Bumble, to name only a few), and his God-given ability to write for the good of others. His legacy lives on even today, not simply in his cozy, convicting holiday tales, but in epic novels like A Tale of Two Cities and Barnaby Rudge, and in nonfiction social commentaries like American Notes. I think it is fair to say that, not only was C.D. the best British writer of the 19th century, but he was perhaps the second best crafter of the English language in its history...second only to Shakespeare, in my opinion. Who says second place is worse than last, given that company?
Quote of the Day: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." - Charles Dickens, first paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities. Every part of that selection applies to our current national and international situation, as I suppose it would to any time in history. Like all his novels, ATOTC has universal meaning and appeal. Like every great philosopher, Dickens understood that human nature, for better or worse, never changes.
There is, however, a second individual I think of at great length this time of year, one I feel slightly more qualified to write about: my favorite author and literary idol, Charles John Huffam Dickens, the great English novelist and moralist. (He began his career with the pseudonym "Boz"...in fact, his first major work was a collection of his London newspaper stories called Sketches by Boz). This is largely because of his 1843 masterpiece A Christmas Carol, the dramatic and beautiful redemption story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. In addition, Dickens wrote a number of touching short stories and novellas related to Christmas, some of which I have read. There was once a time in my life when, every winter, I would either reread A Christmas Carol or read at least one of Dickens' other books--Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, even his travel narrative American Notes. In fact, I can remember feeling very disappointed one winter in high school when I finally failed to read an entire Dickens novel.
But this Dickens-Christmastime association is more than merely an attempt to enjoy the holiday season in style and tradition. After all, the very spirit and purpose of Dickensian literature is in line with the meaning of the season: generosity, compassion, love, peace, justice, morality, indeed salvation. Sure, this sounds quite sappy, especially for someone like me who rarely sheds a tear about anything. Dickens was a man who loved Britain and its heritage, but who acknowledged its many sins and shortcomings, and demanded change.
Dickens used his brilliant plots, genius in creating colorful characters with wonderful names (e.g. Chuzzlewit, Gradgrind, Pickwick, Pecksniff, Scrooge, and Mr. Bumble, to name only a few), and his God-given ability to write for the good of others. His legacy lives on even today, not simply in his cozy, convicting holiday tales, but in epic novels like A Tale of Two Cities and Barnaby Rudge, and in nonfiction social commentaries like American Notes. I think it is fair to say that, not only was C.D. the best British writer of the 19th century, but he was perhaps the second best crafter of the English language in its history...second only to Shakespeare, in my opinion. Who says second place is worse than last, given that company?
Quote of the Day: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." - Charles Dickens, first paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities. Every part of that selection applies to our current national and international situation, as I suppose it would to any time in history. Like all his novels, ATOTC has universal meaning and appeal. Like every great philosopher, Dickens understood that human nature, for better or worse, never changes.
posted by Douglas Schrock at 6:47 PM
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