Skip to footer

Neil Gaiman dresses as Charles Dickens to read 'A Christmas Carol'

At the New York Public Library, Gaiman read an edition of 'A Christmas Carol' that Dickens himself had edited for live readings.

|
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Neil Gaiman is the author of such works as the 'Sandman' series and the new novel 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane.'
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Charles Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol” is being performed just about everywhere this time of year. So what was so special about the recent reading of the Christmas classic at the New York Public Library?

The story was being read by bestselling author Neil Gaiman decked out in Victorian garb, complete with Dickensian beard.

Gaiman read the story at the NYPL on Dec. 15 and performed the version that Dickens himself had arranged for reading live. “He even managed to make the crowd at the New York Public Library fall silent for over an hour ... which, considering how many children were in the audience, was a miracle on par with Scrooge’s change of heart,” New York Observer writer Drew Grant wrote.

Gaiman spoke with the Observer about how the story is so ingrained in pop culture now that those hearing Dickens’ tale for the first time may be surprised how familiar it is to them.

“It’s like people who read Tolkien now and complain that he uses all the cliches from fantasy novels,” he said. “With Dickens and 'A Christmas Carol,' everybody’s now encountered that story a hundred different ways, maybe ‘Scrooged,’ maybe ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol,’ that by the time you get to Dickens, you’re like ‘Oh my God, that’s the cliché.’”

Check out Gaiman dressed as the famous author on the industry newsletter Shelf Awareness.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Neil Gaiman dresses as Charles Dickens to read 'A Christmas Carol'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/1217/Neil-Gaiman-dresses-as-Charles-Dickens-to-read-A-Christmas-Carol
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe