The Old Curiosity Club discussion
A Christmas Tree
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A Christmas Tree
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I read this yesterday so am pleased you posted this thread Peter :) And of course I endorse fully all your first comments. I've not been very active here this year, but value you all as my true friends.As for this story, I loved the background info, thank you! But I'm still mulling over my own reactions, before reading your "thoughts" section, so that I get mine clear :)
To be honest, I did wonder how you, Tristram or Kim could possibly summarise this one, as it is such a peculiar story! Then of course I realised that there would be no need to summarise it, really, as it's complete. All a summary is really for, in these threads, is so that we don't inadvertently "spoil" anything, with our comments (if we have naughtily skipped ahead a few chapters!) I don't think it's meant to be a precis, is it, just a quick reminder, as you did here in two sentences :)
So, A Christmas Tree starts off as a beautiful description, with such vivid images of all the tree decorations. Charles Dickens really gets into the mind of the child, doesn't he, and it conjured up for me just how real all those ornaments were. It was magical, and wonderful :)
Then more contemplative ... he's musing. Has he had too much mulled wine, or is he just drowsy from Christmas figgy pudding? He shows us his theatrical ideas, too. At any rate, I quite liked the rambling transformation, and the upside down tree, as he went into ghosts and ghouls mode - and included a bit of the Christmas story too. That is in all the Christmas stories we've read so far, but not overt, and hard to tease out sometimes.
I think I would have liked a conclusion though, rather than what seems to be an experiment with different voices, and various types of writing.
Perhaps I need to think about this some more, and then come back to your first comment, and any others, after I've done some (mulled-wine free) musing of my own :)
By the way, I think our group cover painting "Dickens's Dream" by Robert William Buss, (which I saw in real life in the Dickens Museum this year :) ) is a perfect accompaniment to this story! It seems to encapsulate all of it, rather than the cover of several editions, which focuses on a family round a Christmas tree.
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Jean
Yes. That makes sense. Someday I hope to return to the Dickens Museum. Is the Buss a permanent exhibit at the museum?
Yes, it hangs opposite his desk :)
"A Christmas Tree" was less a story than a bullet list of images, recollections, and the feelings they evoked. I spent a LOT of time googling as I read through Dickens' lists of things on the tree! In many cases, even Google was stumped. I imagine Dickens reading a similar treatise written by me, reminiscing about the growing hair on my Crissy and Velvet dolls, or the smell of the Creepy Crawlers as they were being made. He would be equally lost. But there is a universality to Christmas as far as the childlike wonder and feelings of nostalgia that it invokes that transcends the ages, no matter what memories are being fondly recalled. Peter wrote: "Is there a Christmas ornament on your tree which holds a special significance to your childhood?..."
I was able to inherit most of the ornaments from our childhood, and (in an effort to keep up with Kim) I have three trees up in my house in order to hold all of our ornaments - almost each one of them a gift from someone special, a memory of a pet or other family member, or a memento of an outing or trip together, from Graceland to Mount Vernon to St. Paul's Cathedral. Our family history is told on our tree(s).
Peter wrote: Which memory of the narrator did you find most engaging? Why?...
I'd read "A Christmas Tree" once before, but the only thing about it that stood out in my memory was this passage:
Good for Christmas-time is the ruddy colour of the cloak, in which— the tree making a forest of itself for her to trip through, with her basket—Little Red Riding-Hood comes to me one Christmas Eve to give me information of the cruelty and treachery of that dissembling Wolf who ate her grandmother, without making any impression on his appetite, and then ate her, after making that ferocious joke about his teeth. She was my first love. I felt that if I could have married Little Red Riding-Hood, I should have known perfect bliss. But, it was not to be; and there was nothing for it but to look out the Wolf in the Noah’s Ark there, and put him late in the procession on the table, as a monster who was to be degraded.
I just love the idea of a young boy reading Little Red Riding Hood and falling in love with her enough that he remembers it decades later. So sweet.
In my re-reading, I enjoyed the humor here:
“A was an archer, and shot at a frog.” Of course he was. He was an apple-pie also, and there he is! He was a good many things in his time, was A, and so were most of his friends, except X, who had so little versatility, that I never knew him to get beyond Xerxes or Xantippe—like Y, who was always confined to a Yacht or a Yew Tree; and Z condemned for ever to be a Zebra or a Zany.
I never before bothered to think what X might have been prior to x-rays. Xerxes and Xantippe were two of the many things I had to look up as I read. Surely a xylophone would have been a more child-friendly option?
Peter wrote: Why might ghost stories have appealed so much to a Victorian audience? Would telling a ghost story to a child or grandchild be popular today? Why?
I have no idea why they were so popular, and would be careful about what ghost stories I might share, and with which children, today. I've always been intrigued by benevolent ghost stories (Casper, the spirit of dead relatives protecting and comforting those left behind, etc.), but no longer care for the scarier type. Even the little snippets of ghost stories Dickens gave us here gave me goosebumps, like that creepy kid in the closet!
(An aside: a friend just moved into a 18th century house on the Antietam Battlefield [the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War] and has a stain on her floorboards that, according to local lore, is the blood of a Confederate soldier who died there. Try as they might over the years, the stain won't come out. I was tempted to send her the text from this story that shares similarities, but I decided it might freak her out. She has to live there, after all. I did ask, and so far she's seen no ghosts.)
Peter wrote: There are clear and obvious references to the story and life of Christ in this story. That said, Dickens does not refer to Him directly. Why might that be?
I wonder whether or not not naming Him was intentional. Gospel stories were, I think, much more in the way of common knowledge back then, and most readers would probably have known exactly what Dickens was referring to when he wrote, for example, about "a crowd of people looking through the opened roof of a chamber where he sits, and letting down a sick person on a bed, with ropes..." Even today, I hope most would recognize the subject of the narrative from references to the manger and the cross. Despite that, though, it does seem odd that he wouldn't refer to Christ or Jesus. Could this have anything to do with the Jewish tradition of not calling God by name? Interesting question, Peter. I'm thinking that he did the same thing in "A Christmas Carol" in this passage:
He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.
But Dickens doesn't tell the reader who that is. Regardless of the reason, I thought the essay - for I think that's a more accurate label than "story" - was a nice balance of spirit, spiritual, and secular.
Peter wrote: "The Christmas tree in the story triggers the author’s imagination. It seems each light, toy, book, and decoration unfolds and triggers memories of the past. Is there a Christmas ornament on your tree which holds a special significance to your childhood?"This doesn't exactly answer your question, but yesterday I looked at our tree and my 9 year old had made and hung about 8 origami paper ornaments in varied colors all around the center of it and I love them so much. I just keep looking at them.
I've begun to look forward to the annual break for a Dickens Christmas read. Thank you all for reading and commenting together all year!
Peter wrote: "A Christmas TreeMy friends, the Curiosities
On behalf of Tristram and Kim I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday, and a safe and healthy New Year. I often marvel how ..."
I thought it was interesting that it's not only a German tree, but there are German castles for ghosts. Which probably ties in to the fashion of German gothic literature? I was teaching an 1800 piece by Wordsworth last term in which he complains about "sickly and stupid German tragedies," but it looks like they weren't so sickly that they couldn't last a few decades more so Dickens could write about them too.
Mary Lou - "the growing hair on my Crissy and Velvet dolls, or the smell of the Creepy Crawlers as they were being made." What on Earth ... this completely stymies me!...which of course is the point you were making :) The reason I was so enchanted by the early part of this tale, was not only the vividness of Dickens's detailed descriptions of the the ornaments, but the veracity of them too.
So many of them I recognised with wonder and joy, and was immediately transported in my mind to my own childhood. My grandma was born in 1880, so not too far away from Dickens himself - or Prince Albert, the German consort of Queen Victoria - who, as you say Peter, was responsible for the annual tradition of having a fir tree in the house, at least in England. Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree into England in 1840.
So my grandma, born just 40 years later, had many of these wooden ornaments - more like toys than any now - and sweets, and even fabric flowers. Reading Dickens's descriptions was a delight, and an immediate and powerful nostalgia fix for me :) It's so interesting that it works on that level too, for those who do not remember such ornaments, and shows Dickens's power of persuasion.
I never actually fell in love with the little people on the tree, but they were certainly real to me! And they were my friends :) I was terribly upset - mortified and horrified - by Hans Christian Andersen's story of The Brave Tin Soldier. It gave me nightmares. Even now, I have a sort of phobia of mannequins. Yet like most children, I used to have dolls. This surprised Chris until I explained that to me, they were real little people :)I quite like the way that morphed into plays and the theatre. It's the same sort of apparent reality. Spurious, but real for as long as it lasts.
So I guess that answers your second question too Peter, as well as Mary Lou's point :) And how about you? Which part did you enjoy best?
I too chuckled at the initial letters, and was put to remembering alphabet books from school. Some would be geared to a particular culture, so you could have "M for Mango" or "S for Sitar", but in my own childhood, it was invariably "A for Apple, to "Z for Zebra". And "X" was always "Xylophone". (We all had metal xylophones, to drive our parents round the bend :) )This did not help at all when trying to tell a child how to pronounce the letter "X" though :(
"Why might ghost stories have appealed so much to a Victorian audience?" My grandma had just one light in each room. Originally they had been gaslights. I don't think you could sustain reading under these, in the long evenings. In fact they had sort of built-in dimmers to save money :) So there were far more games, conversation, and yes, telling of spooky stories, than now. M.R. James carried on this marvellous tradition every Christmas.I'm interested in people's reactions to the religious content. I know Dickens was a committed Christian, though I think he had some differences with the Church. As I said before, sometimes you have to look quite carefully for the Christian references - even in all preceding 5 Christmas books!
But I have no hesitation in recommending them to non-Christian friends, precisely because of the general feelings evoked, and their morality is pretty much universal.
So I think you were on the right track Mary Lou, with your idea of keeping the omnipotent figure vague. Dickens had Jewish friends, for example. And also, far more of the general public were church-going, so it didn't have to be spelt out.
It's more of a musing than anything. The different voices though, make me think of it as a story, rather than an "essay" Mary Lou. "Dickens's Dream", the title of that painting, would fit it perfectly in my book :) But did anyone feel, like me, that it lacked resolution. Did he perhaps wake up from his mulled wine induced reminiscences? I was taken back to a part of A Christmas Carol, where the spirit takes Scrooge all over the ocean to view the sailors celebrating. The detailed references to ghost story themes in A Christmas Tree felt very like this part. And of course the titles are similar - neither seem to describe what follows. Are they metaphorical?
Come on Peter, let's have your thoughts too ... "which memory of the narrator did you find most engaging?" And my main question, what did you think to the lack of a conclusion?
I did read this story twice, because my mind somehow had to adjust to how different the story is from both Martin Chuzzlewit, and the other book I'm reading. It was nice to read it twice though. I did wonder at the mention of leaves of the Christmas tree, instead of pine needles, like I'm used to hear them referred to. Which is not a big thing, just something I wanted to mention.
To be honest, however wonderful the reminiscing about his youth and the toys was, I enjoyed the ghost stories most. When talking about ghost stories, I might have fit right into the Victorian era very well, they just have a certain kind of pull. I agree that their love for those stories might have to do with not having enough light to read, so that there's more time for games and stories. Combined, of course, with the sometimes eery atmosphere a single, dimmed, gaslight lamp could give, and the lengthening nights that would start to get shorter again after around Christmas. To be sure, the time of year when nights are longest, is the ideal time to make ghost stories extra creepy! And they would tell stories just like we read: for getting into the world of the story for the moment.
I wouldn't tell a lot of ghost stories to my children, but on the other hand, if they're like I was as a kid they will ask for them anyway. I remember trying to get my hands on any ghost story I could since the moment I could read, especially those from my area.
To be honest, however wonderful the reminiscing about his youth and the toys was, I enjoyed the ghost stories most. When talking about ghost stories, I might have fit right into the Victorian era very well, they just have a certain kind of pull. I agree that their love for those stories might have to do with not having enough light to read, so that there's more time for games and stories. Combined, of course, with the sometimes eery atmosphere a single, dimmed, gaslight lamp could give, and the lengthening nights that would start to get shorter again after around Christmas. To be sure, the time of year when nights are longest, is the ideal time to make ghost stories extra creepy! And they would tell stories just like we read: for getting into the world of the story for the moment.
I wouldn't tell a lot of ghost stories to my children, but on the other hand, if they're like I was as a kid they will ask for them anyway. I remember trying to get my hands on any ghost story I could since the moment I could read, especially those from my area.
Jantine wrote: "To be honest, however wonderful the reminiscing about his youth and the toys was, I enjoyed the ghost stories most. ..."Same here. And I liked how there was kind of a collection of them.
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I would agree that Dickens did not mention Jesus's name because it must have been crystal clear to the contemporary Victorian reader whom he was referring to. I'd say it was not so much a case of not using the Lord's name in vain but simply of not having to use it because it was so obvious. The major reason probably was that the vast majority of Victorians was Christian.
I noticed when watching the Jim Carey movie adaptation of A Christmas Carol that the quotation from Tiny Tim given by Mary Lou in posting 6 was changed in that the reference to Jesus was replaced by the thought that people seeing Tiny Tim in church might be moved to donate money to disabled and needy people. Of course, it's just me but I did not really like this modification because after all, Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of our Saviour and apparently that was also something Dickens was well aware of and wanted to bring home to his readers.
As to ghost stories, it's probably the fact that at this season the nights are very long and dark (and stormy ;-)) which makes people feel so inclined towards ghost stories. And as the nights around Christmas were holy nights in which ghosts and witches and evil spirits had no power to harm people - at least that's what the folks in Hamlet say -, maybe people in those days felt safe enough to indulge in horror stories at that very time of the year?
I love a good ghost story, and I also tell my children ghost stories. In the Baltic Sea village where we often go on holiday there used to be a very old and derelict house, which has now been torn down. But my son and I used to call it the Haunted House, because it was really quite creepy from the outside - and many was the evening we passed it, and I told ghost stories about that house - all made up on the spur of the moment - to my son and my daughter, and since my stories were not too gruesome (and also a little bit funny), they actually enjoyed the stories and were not too afraid. My niece, however, was but that's because my sister molly-coddles her. And since my children know A Christmas Carol both from book and film, they are quite familiar with ghost stories.
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In case I won't be here tomorrow, let me tell you now how much I enjoyed our past year of exploring Dickens. It's really great knowing you all, and as Peter said to me the other day, it's marvellous that Dickens, who died so long ago, still has the power of bringing people together like this.
A Merry Christmas to all of you!
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The Children's private View of the Christmas Tree
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper January 4, 1879
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A Christmas Tree
Albert Chevalier Tayler
What I know about him for the moment, I'll forget by tomorrow:
Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862–1925) was an English artist who specialised in portrait and genre painting, but was also involved in the plein air methods of the Newlyn School. He studied at Heatherley's School of Art, Royal Academy Schools and with avant-garde painters in Paris. He was educated at Bloxham School in Oxfordshire. He is most known for his twelve-year involvement with the Newlyn School of painting. The Newlyn school was spawned after many international artists followed the "En plein" air school in France, whereby artists would leave Paris and take up rural life in small colonies of kindred painters. Thence, as artists returned from France to their own countries, they sought out remote locations to congregate and pursue the En plein air method. The Newlyn School is also known as British Impressionism.
A typical painting of this early period is A Dress Rehearsal (1888), hung in the National Museums Liverpool. This painting makes use of light and shadow and is based upon a genre scene as might have occurred in Cornwall. The Newlyn School drew their subjects from everyday life in the local area. Other associate artists of the Newlyn School were Henry Scott Tuke, Thomas Cooper Gotch, Caroline Gotch, Stanhope Forbes, Leghe Suthers, Walter Langley and Elizabeth Armstrong.
Since there is no mention of Dickens I doubt the painting was originally for the story but what do I know.
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Osborne House Christmas Tree illus. in Godey's Lady's Book" December 1850
In 1848, the Illustrated London News published a full-page engraving of the royal family celebrating around a decorated Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, a tradition reminiscent of the Prince's childhood in Germany. The custom took hold immediately and trees bedecked with candles and decorations began popping up in homes on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Christmas tree tradition “officially” arrived in America around 1850 for English speakers with the publication of Godey’s “Lady’s Book” which featured the same illustration published in the Illustrated two years earlier. English-speaking Americans quickly adopted the English craze.
Again, there is no mention of Dickens' story, but it was used for it in a later edition.
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A Christmas Tree
Illustrated in color by H. M. Brock
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This is an illustration of Dickens writing the story by Robert Ingpen
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Marvellous! Thank you so much Kim. I always like Robert Ingpen's work, and now I want to track this book down! The copy I have is illustrated by H.M. Brock (your post number 21), but the illustrations are nowhere near as atmospheric, as I remember. (It's actually in the caravan so I had to buy it again on kindle to join in. Talk about good organisation :( ) H.M. Brock was a British illustrator and landscape painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He contributed to "Punch" magazine, and worked in advertising, as well as creating a lot of posters for the "D'Oyly Carte Opera Company". He also regularly exhibited his drawings and watercolours at the Royal Academy, and other prestigious galleries.
He illustrated quite a few classic Victorian and Edwardian novels, including Great Expectations, and produced four colour plates for a 1935 edition of A Christmas Carol, so I'm guessing that these also date from the 1930s.
If you get back on the computer, will you tell us what you thought to the story?
I was surprised that several here enjoyed the ghostly mentions best, as I found them a bit disappointing - just referenced, rather than told in detail. In a way I think Dickens may have been covering all the bases here, and making sure his story appealed to all!
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What a delightful compilation of pictures. I’m in the Christmas spirit now.
As for the story A Christmas Tree it triggered many memories. As a child I remember little about the exact decorations we had on the tree. The one exception was our angel which was rather old and tattered. Our family tradition was we would place it on the tree as the last decoration. Then and only then would my mother plug in the lights. We always hoped that the string of lights would go on, as in those days if one bulb was out none would go on. Still, I recall the lights always went on.
It was not till years later that I began to wonder if my mother would secretly test the lights without my knowledge. Thus the first marvel of the Christmas season was always the lights going on in our darkened room.
Oh, this is such a lovely memory Peter. Thank you for sharing it :) It actually triggered similar memories for me. We too had a tattered angel (though for some reason we called her a "fairy") on top of the tree each year, with a sparkly pale blue dress and wings, placed with great ceremony at the top of the tree, just before the fairy light were lit :) I never doubted that the magical lights would work.
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We too had a tattered angel (though for some reason we called her a "fairy") on ..."
Ah, Jean
Christmas is a time for memories. When I was in my early teens we would place our presents under the tree Christmas Eve. One year my Christmas “wish list” was only a list of books. Does anyone remember the “Everyman Edition?” They were the size of a paperback, but were hard backs. Since they were hard backs and wrapped with paper (decades before bags became popular) you could feel the book under the paper. One stiff side and the other three sides of the paper would contract a bit.
Anyway, only two presents under the tree felt like books. All the rest were boxes of differing sizes. Christmas morning I opened the books first, and there were two of the books I had asked for on my list. Then I with false cheer opened the first box and inside - yes you guessed it - was another book. Every other box contained another book I had asked for. That Christmas I only received books for Christmas.
I sit here now with a tear in my eye remembering my mother, her kindness, and the delight she gave me so many years ago.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Kim, those pictures are simply delightful, thank you!
And so, as Tiny Tim said, 'A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, everyone!'
And so, as Tiny Tim said, 'A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, everyone!'
Peter wrote: "When I was in my early teens we would place our presents under the tree Christmas Eve. One year my Christmas “wish list” was only a list of books ..."This such a poignant and wonderful memory that I have read it several times; thank you for sharing it Peter :) I do indeed remember the "Everyman" books, many of which are still fairly easily available in antiquarian bookshops here. And now my association is overlaid with fond thoughts of our dear friend, who took the name for himself.
What a good soul your mother was, and how well she understood. This is a precious moment indeed :)
Merry Christmas, folks!This was a nice Christmas story. I like how Dickens takes you into the scene and goes from one vivid impression to the next. I call it Dickens Impressionism. I thought it got rambly at times, but I like how Dickens makes the toys come alive with his storytelling.
There was an interesting contrast between the bright, lively imagery of the ornaments in the first half and the dark, deathly imagery of the ghost stories in the second half. I don't know what to make of the contrast, but I found it interesting. Thank goodness Dickens ended on a high note, because I thought the ghost stories, as enjoyable as they were, were getting too gloomy for Christmas.
Why did the Victorians tell ghost stories? According to an article I read, the ghost story or "winter's tale" goes back to Shakespeare times and even to pagan times. On the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, it was believed that the boundary between the spiritual world and the physical world was thinner than usual, allowing ghosts to come through. Also, people liked to tell stories for entertainment around the wintertime fire. Here's a link to the article:http://blog.tavbooks.com/?p=545
Peter wrote: "Christmas is a time for memories. When I was in my early teens we would place our presents under the tree Christmas Eve. One year my Christmas “wish list” was only a list of books..."Aw, that is such a sweet story, Peter. I like the element of surprise with the different sized boxes, but you still got what you wished for.
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Your story reminds me of a Christmas Eve of mine that my mother keeps talking about and that I, too, remember quite vividly. In Germany, the presents are opened on Christmas Eve, either in the late afternoon or in the evening, after dinner. The latter procedure requires a lot more of self-discipline from the children because since the presents are put under the Christmas tree, of course, they would in most cases be visible to all those at the dinner table - and what child would be able to enjoy their Christmas goose when at the same time counting the minutes lying between now and the moment they could open their Christmas presents?
Be that as it may, I must have been twelve or so, and I when we were allowed into the living-room where all the presents were lying under the tree, I opened the first two parcels, which contained books I had wished for for some time. I was so happy that I started going through the pages, looking at the illustrations when I suddenly noticed my mother tapping on my shoulder and asking me incredulously whether I would not want to have a look at the other presents. Saying this, she pointed at a new bike that was standing behind me - had I moved backwards, I would have touched it - and which I had not seen because my eye was trained to focus on parcels that were likely to contain books.
My mother never believes me - she doesn't today - that I did not see the bike, which she had carried up two flights of stairs to put next to the Christmas tree. She always used this episode as proof that I was besotted by books. But I swear that I did not see the bike at all, although I was mighty glad to have it afterwards.
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Alissa
Thank you for posting this article. Whether published in 1850 or 1859 does not matter. During this season the ghosts and spiritual figures are always in a festive mood.
I’m just glad daylight will be increasing a bit each each day. Now, where did I put my sun tan lotion?
Tristram wrote: "But I swear that I did not see the bike at all, although I was mighty glad to have it afterwards. ..."So you could ride it to the bookstore? ;-)
Oh Tristram, I just love your story too :)
Re: the story - I was surprised at how much fear there was in Dickens's Christmas. The ghost stories, of course, but he also talked about toys and masks and things on the tree that he remembers as being frightening. I don't recall ever having fear as a part of my Christmases, but I know there often is an element of anxiety, even if it's just worry that you'll get a lump of coal or a switch in your stocking. Perhaps Tristram can enlighten us all about Krampus. Jean - are there any scary aspects of Christmas that are common in the UK? I saw a current photo of a Christmas parade in an English town in which some of the participants wore masks that looked like those beaked things doctors wore when dealing with plague patients way back when. It seemed like an odd, but popular choice.
Mary Lou wrote: "Jean - are there any scary aspects of Christmas that are common in the UK? ..."I can't think of any, except the ghost story aspect. I did include some of my own memories in my review of A Christmas Tree
( LINK HERE in case anyone is interested), but the scariness for me comes mostly from the imagination, as I said earlier.
There may be Scottish traditions about Hogmanay - but I think that's really more about eating, drinking and dancing than spookiness! Oh and poetry, of course!
Oh yes, I'd love to hear more about Krampus!
I will keep my mouth shut about the atrocity that we Dutch have in Krampus' place. Let's hope it's gone into oblivion soon, to make place for greater things and true traditions like Krampus.
I will keep my mouth shut about the atrocity that we Dutch have in Krampus' place. Let's hope it's gone into oblivion soon, to make place for greater things and true traditions like Krampus.
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Tristram wrote: "I am sorry I have to disappoint you, Jantine and Mary Lou, but Krampus is a tradition that belongs to the southern part of Bavaria, the Alps region, and I have never actually seen a Krampus, let al..."Thanks, Tristram. It seems as if there are lots of cultural differences between the different regions of Germany, which surprises me since the entire country is the size of only one of our larger states. I've never heard of Knecht Ruprecht, but the whole set up reminds me of Pancks and Mr. Casby from Little Dorrit. Casby, you'll remember, was the slum lord of Bleeding Heart Yard, who presented himself as a benevolent soul, while Pancks was forced to do his dirty work.
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As to the different regional traditions in Germany, this is probably also because of the country's history: When England and France were national states already (unified under a crown or a guillotine respectively), Germany was still a quilt of independent principalities, some of which not above the size of a town, and it was not before Napoleon that some Germans became aware of traditions and cultural features that united rather than separating them. One of them being the German language, although even this is something of a chimera because the German dialects used to differ a lot in the 18th and 19th centuries. People from the Northwest would have sooner understood a Dutchman speaking than a Bavarian. In the south, the dialects are still upheld with pride, by the way.
In the North too. I clearly remember a holiday in Ost Friesland, and the renter of our vacation home and my dad realizing they shared almost the same dialect, both of their home dialects rooting from Saksisch. It was quite fun hearing them talk, I never realized my father spoke dialect so well - although I could've known, my gran is one of the last people who really don't speak Dutch, only dialect.
The Old Curiosity Club
Books mentioned in this topic
A Christmas Tree (other topics)Great Expectations (other topics)
A Christmas Carol (other topics)
A Christmas Tree (other topics)
A Christmas Carol (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert Ingpen (other topics)Henry Matthew Brock (other topics)
M.R. James (other topics)
Hans Christian Andersen (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
My friends, the Curiosities
On behalf of Tristram and Kim I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday, and a safe and healthy New Year. I often marvel how fortunate I am to be able to read and discuss the works of Charles Dickens with so many wonderful, witty, engaging, and insightful people. I have only met one of you in person and yet I feel we would all get along famously. Thank you all for your friendship.
Our story is titled A Christmas Tree. At the time of its writing England was just getting used to the idea of Christmas trees as a part of the holiday celebration. Perhaps we should thank Queen Victoria, who married Prince Albert, who brought the idea and tradition of the Christmas tree to England. I recently read an article that disputed the role of Albert as the one who should claim introducing the tree tradition to England, but this is Christmas so rather than debate the origins of the tree as a tradition I will turn to our story in which early on I found the phrase “the pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree.”
Our story was first published in “Household Words” in 1850. Previously, Dickens had published five Christmas novellas beginning with the much beloved A Christmas Carol in 1843. Our story is much shorter than any of the Christmas novellas, but it still contains the magic and the wonder of the holiday season. The story serves as a remembrance, the narrator looking back into a time and place where the sights, sounds, aromas and laughter of childhood still dwell in his mind and heart.
A Christmas Tree offers us a festive treat of descriptive language, images, and scenes. It also reminds us of the Victorian culture's love of telling ghost stories especially during the holiday season.
Thoughts
The Christmas tree in the story triggers the author’s imagination. It seems each light, toy, book, and decoration unfolds and triggers memories of the past. Is there a Christmas ornament on your tree which holds a special significance to your childhood?
Which memory of the narrator did you find most engaging? Why?
Throughout this story our senses are awakened and tantalized. Which of the senses mentioned in the story did you find most evocative? What are your favourite sounds and aromas of the Christmas season?
There are many ghost stories in this Christmas tale. Why might ghost stories have appealed so much to a Victorian audience? Would telling a ghost story to a child or grandchild be popular today? Why?
There are clear and obvious references to the story and life of Christ in this story. That said, Dickens does not refer to Him directly. Why might that be?
Merry Christmas everyone.