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The Wonders and Secrets of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: A Masterclass with Simon Callow and John Mullan

Art &
Culture

A celebration of the most beloved of Dickens’ stories

What is it about Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that has enchanted the public since its publication in 1843? Few people are as well placed to answer that question than John Mullan and Simon Callow. Mullan is a professor of English literature, whose recent book, The Artful Dickens, reveals the tricks and ploys of this most eccentric of literary geniuses. Callow, renowned actor, director and author, has written two books on Dickens, portrayed him on film and television, and has been thrilling audiences since 2011 with his sold-out one-man performances of A Christmas Carol. 

In December 2022 Mullan and Callow came to Intelligence Squared to celebrate this most beloved of Dickens’ stories and discuss how a work which Dickens originally intended to be a political tract about the misery of the Victorian poor became one of the most enduring Christmas classics. With discussion and readings from the book, Mullan and Callow brought us Ebenezer Scrooge, the curmudgeonly businessman who decries Christmas with ‘Bah! Humbug!’, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future, who take Scrooge on a journey through his own life, and the kindly clerk Bob Cratchit and his sick son Tiny Tim. 

Praise for John Mullan’s The Artful Dickens: The Tricks and Ploys of the Great Novelist

‘Splendid. Mullan’s book is too rich to capture in a review. Each chapter shoots off in a fresh direction and illuminates it. You must, and should, read Mullan’s book. Even if you know a lot about Dickens you will find revelations in it, and if you know nothing about Dickens and want to learn what makes him great it will be the perfect appetiser’ – John Carey, The Sunday Times

‘The Artful Dickens is both an exposure of the trickster’s methods and a celebration of close reading . Enlightening . If Mullan put into his hat a creator of gargoyles and spinner of melodrama, he pulled out an innovator who broke all the rules. The Artful Dickens made me feel that I had been in some form of trance during my earlier reading of these novels’ – Frances Wilson, The Guardian

‘The most enlivening book about Dickens in the last thirty years, and very warmly recommended’ ― Standpoint

 

Event Name

The Wonders and Secrets of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: A Masterclass with Simon Callow and John Mullan

Intelligence Squared+
Online Event
WATCH ON DEMAND
Speakers for the motion

  • John Mullan

    Professor in the English department at UCL and and author of The Artful Dickens: The Tricks and Ploys of the Great Novelist

  • Simon Callow

    Acclaimed actor, writer and director

Speakers

Speakers

John Mullan

Professor in the English department at UCL and and author of The Artful Dickens: The Tricks and Ploys of the Great Novelist

Professor in the English department at UCL. He writes the regular 'Guardian Book Club' column on fiction in the Guardian and frequently appears on the BBC's Review Show. He was a judge of the 'Best of the Booker Prize' in 2008 and a judge of the Man Booker Prize itself in 2009. He has lectured widely on Jane Austen in the UK and also in the US, and makes regular appearances at the UK literary festivals. His latest book is The Artful Dickens: The Tricks and Ploys of the Great Novelist.  

Simon Callow

Acclaimed actor, writer and director

One of the country’s most celebrated stage and screen actors, best known for his performances in films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, A Room with a View and Shakespeare in Love. His many books include biographies of Oscar Wilde and Orson Welles, and a highly acclaimed biography of Dickens, Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World. He has written and starred in several one-man plays, including Inside Wagner's Head, based on the life of composer Richard Wagner, and A Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel.