Christmas with Mr. Pickwick

by Charles Dickens, Fritz Kredel (Illustrator)

Christmas with Mr. Pickwick combines three of Dickens' sketches especially appropriate for this holiday season.

77 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Dickens was famous for his uplifting Christmas stories and articles. He wrote The Pickwick Papers as a young writer, and Mr. Pickwick's Christmas is an excerpt of the middle three chapters which were set at Christmas.

Mr Pickwick and his friends traveled to Dingley Dell for a wedding and Christmas celebration full of good cheer. It was a Christmas Eve tradition to tell stories of the supernatural. In the middle chapter, the grandmother told a story about a mean sexton who was carried off on Christmas Eve by the goblins who showed the sexton the error of his ways.

There was quite a contrast between the cheerful, helpful Mr Pickwick and the surly sexton, Gabriel Grub, in the supernatural story. All three chapters are humorous, while "The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton" shows the sexton changing his life.

Although I was not reading it at Christmas, I felt that this excerpt would warm people's hearts any time of the year.

[Hegazy Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

مذكرات بكوِك» هي أولى روايات تشارلز ديكنز التي كتبها في الرابعة والعشرين من عمره، وقد حقَّقتْ نجاحًا منقطع النظير بين العامة والنقاد على حد سواء. وتحكي الرواية عن «بكوِك»؛ ذلك السيِّد الموسِر الذي يتحلَّى بالبراءة والكرم وحب الخير، والذي أسَّس ناديًا أطلق عليه اسمه. ويروي لنا الكاتب الرحلات والمغامرات التي خاضها بكوِك مع أصدقائه في رحاب الريف الإنجليزي بأسلوبٍ شائق يعتمد على إيراد صورٍ مسلية لأنماطٍ من الناس، ورسوم فَكِهَة لصنوفٍ من الوقائع والأحداث؛ وقد وصف الكاتب الريف الإنجليزي وطبائع الناس فيه وصفًا يجسِّد عمق النظرة السردية لديه.

[Jo-Ann Leake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Dickens never disappoints me. Wonderful holiday read, highly recommended!