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.
On December 20 Mullan and Callow come 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 will bring 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. Join us for our final event of the year as Scrooge finally sets aside his mean-spirited ways and embraces the true generous spirit of Christmas!