Charles Dickens and Gerald Charles (AFT) Dickens - A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories

Pages: 224, Mass Market Paperback, Signet Classics

A Christmas Carol has gripped the public imagination since it was first published in 1843, and it is now as much a part of the holiday season as is mistletoe or Santa's reindeer. Here is a wonderful collection of Dickens' Christmas stories, graced with many of the original drawings thatappeared in the first edition. Pride of place goes to A Christmas Carol, of course, but the book also includes four other marvelous tales: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. All five stories show Dickens at his unpredictable best, jumbling togethercomedy and melodrama, genial romance and urgent social satire. The volume also features an excellent introduction by Robert Douglas- Fairhurst, who offers invaluable background to the Christmas stories, illuminating the social questions they address, outlining their reception and the enduringpopularit y of A Christmas Carol, and highlighting how their style and themes resonate in more complex ways in his major fictions. In addition, the ...