To celebrate the holiday season in literature, The duty plunges back into the tales and legends that have rocked our collective imagination since the 19the century. First text of a series of three.
A quick web search is enough to see that many of the traditions and values associated with Christmas in North America are attributed to Charles Dickens and his illustrious tale. A Christmas Carol (A Christmas Carol), published for the first time in 1843. It is to the British writer that we owe the adoption in the use of the expression “Merry Christmas”. It is also associated with the consolidation of the Christmas spirit, generosity, family harmony and the fraternity that it underpins.
All of this is of course a bit exaggerated. If he did not really invent family reunions, the exchange of gifts and generosity towards the poorest, Charles Dickens nevertheless managed to capture and crystallize the changes that took place in England during the Revolution. industry and the renewed interest of a nascent bourgeoisie in Christmas celebrations.
Set in Victorian London, A Christmas Carol tells the story of an old grumpy and solitary miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, visited successively, on Christmas night, by three ghosts: that of past Christmases, that of present Christmases and that of Christmases to come. By showing him the prospects of happiness that elude him, as well as what awaits him if he refuses love and charity, the three spirits effect a change in the old man, who then chooses to convert to the spirit of Christmas.
An undeniable success
Upon its publication, the tale was a phenomenal success. In a few months, more than 15,000 copies found takers, an extraordinary number for the time. “Dickens made public readings of them,” says sociologist Martyne Perrot, author of The Christmas present. History of an invention (Otherwise, 2013). In London, Cambridge, Boston and Paris, huge crowds lined up in the cold and snow to hear his story. People were moved to tears. The writer’s biographer says that one of the great industrialists of the time was so affected that he gave all his workers a day off. »
For more than a century, A Christmas Carol captivated English, French and North American audiences, slipping, like the Bible, into every library in the United States. “He became part of the festivities. Many families still tell this story to children on Christmas Eve. President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt made it a real ritual,” she adds.
Social criticism
Ironically, rekindling the romance around the Christmas party was not one of Charles Dickens’ goals. It was the publication of a report on the deplorable working conditions of children in factories – a report which also made Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels react – which constituted the spark behind the character of Scrooge.
“A great defender of education as a means of combating poverty, Dickens wishes first and foremost to make a social critique, underlines the historian Evelyne Ferron. He tries to raise awareness, pointing the finger at manufacturers, who treat their employees like objects. Christmas, a religious holiday associated with charity and generosity, becomes for him an emotional pretext, a favorable context for touching a sensitive chord. He said, “Your traditions are so sweet, but while you spoil your children, other people’s children get cold and die.” »
Crystallize his era
By staging certain traditions that flourished in Victorian England, Dickens contributed in spite of himself to crystallizing the values conveyed by the bourgeoisie of the time, reinforcing the secularization of the Christmas celebration.
We thus see one of the first Christmas trees in English literature – popularized in the country by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, who imported the idea from his native Germany. It also evokes the turkey and the goose shared with the family, and the exchange of gifts intended for toddlers.
“The success of his tale goes hand in hand with the shift from public life to the home, domesticity and the family,” says Kim Gladu, associate professor in the Department of Letters and Humanities at the Université du Québec à Rimouski. It also reflects the new importance given to children, who have recently been at the heart of the festivities, in particular because their status is changing within society. We see the first studies on the development of children appear, and we consider them as beings who have rights and who need certain conditions to flourish. »
The spirit of Christmas as depicted by Dickens – which is rooted in particular in Christianity – has also survived to us. “Even if the holiday season is today more associated with excess and consumerism, generosity and fraternity are still highlighted. Aid organizations collect many more donations in December, and initiatives are multiplying,” says Martyne Perrot.
Loss of meaning
Although Christmas has changed a lot and is now more of a commercial holiday, interest in A Christmas Carol shows no sign of running out of steam, as evidenced by its many stage, television and film adaptations, as well as the comic strips, ballets, operas and video games that have been made from it.
“I think this enthusiasm reflects a nostalgia for childhood, but also the simplicity and magic of a Christmas that has lost much of its meaning. Even if we complain about the drudgery of gifts, we make it a point of honor to get together as a family, to spend time together. Dickens’ tale still represents the hope, compassion and magic that we seek to recreate during this time of year,” concludes the sociologist.