The LRB Podcast What Dickens taught Mariah Carey
Dec 24, 2025
Colin Burrow, a literary scholar from Oxford, and Clare Bucknell, a fellow and literary critic, dive into the complexities of Dickens's A Christmas Carol. They explore how Dickens commercialized Christmas while critiquing societal issues like the 1834 Poor Law. The duo discusses Scrooge's Malthusian views and his redemption, examining the narrative structure from ghostly visits to the blending of fairy tale elements with a dark urban backdrop. They also highlight Dickens's call for empathy through abundance and the ethics of sharing.
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Pickwick Prototype For Scrooge
- Dickens recycled a successful Pickwick Christmas episode into A Christmas Carol.
- Gabriel Grubb, a prototype of Scrooge, inspired Dickens' later miser figure.
A Commercially Crafted Christmas Book
- Dickens deliberately designed A Christmas Carol as an affordable luxury to make money.
- He aimed for high production values (gilt edges, hand-colouring) while selling it as a cheap festive gift.
Early Sales And Costly Piracy
- The book sold 6,000 copies in six days but Dickens' profit was small due to production costs and piracy.
- A lawsuit to suppress a cheap pirated edition cost him nearly all his earnings.