Tag Archives: Christmas Carol

Sir Gawain and the Winter Solstice

By Robin Bates | Published: December 20, 2023

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” pits paganism’s Winter Solstice against Christmas. But reconciliation is possible.

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Dickens’s Evolving View of Christmas

By Robin Bates | Published: December 19, 2022

Dickens didn’t so much invent Christmas–or even reinvent it–as supercharge it. “A Christmas Carol” was key in the endeavor.

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Scrooge, a GOP Hero

By Robin Bates | Published: December 28, 2020

Republicans are once again defending Scrooge and for good reason: when it comes to wealth inequality, he’s their model.

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Remember the Real Meaning of Christmas

By Robin Bates | Published: November 28, 2020

Jim McPherson’s “Christmas Humbug” reminds us what the Advent season should really be about.

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Biden-Trump Invites Dickens Comparisons

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2020

If one thinks of the 2020 election in Dickensian terms, several novels come to mind.

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Democrats Have Dickens, GOP Ayn Rand

By Robin Bates | Published: March 19, 2017

We see the hand of Ayn Rand in Trump’s proposed budget cuts. Charles Dickens would understand what’s going on.

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Dickens Returned Xmas to Medieval Roots

By Robin Bates | Published: December 22, 2016

Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” didn’t so much invent Christmas as we have come to know it as take it back to its medieval roots.

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Dickens Improved the Lives of the Poor

By Robin Bates | Published: February 17, 2016

Charles Dickens had a tangible impact on how the poor were treated. “Oliver Twist,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” and “Christmas Carol” literally changed public policy. Few other authors can boast so much.

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Our Christmas Owes Much to Walter Scott

By Robin Bates | Published: December 23, 2015

While Charles Dickens can be credited with resurrecting Christmas, Sir Walter Scott paved the way in “Marmion” with his depiction of Christmas and pre-Christmas banquets.

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