Almost every Christmas season in Kansas City, the KC Repertory Theatre (why must we Americans always spell theater the English way?) puts on "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens (depicted here).
It's a nice way to remind ourselves to "keep Christmas in our hearts," whatever exactly that means. And, indeed, Dickens managed to capture the right spirit of the season.
What was it about Dickens -- whose 200th birthday will happen next month -- that gave him that insight and that drove him to be as productive as he was?
This intriguing piece in The New York Times attempts an answer. Except it's one that suggests this: "In death, Charles Dickens still keeps his greatest secret to himself — the essence of his energy."
Even odder, when we think about Dickens and "A Christmas Carol," we must wonder at why a man who had walked away from traditional Christianity decided to write this play. As this Unitarian site notes, "Although Dickens was baptized and reared in the Church of England and was a nominal Anglican for most of his life, he turned to Unitarianism in the 1840s as a Broad Church alternative. He associated with Unitarians until the end of his life."
Perhaps it's one more example of how deeply the norms of Christendom once infused the culture of Western Europe. Christendom -- meaning the religion's overwhelming presence in society and its tacit (and sometimes open) support by the government -- is dead in Europe and slowly dying in the U.S.
But Dickens, bless his soul, lives on.
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IS THIS AUNTY-SEMITISM?
Oy. The human race is endlessly fascinating. Get this: A Jewish man has been charged with making antisemitic calls to other Jews, including his relatives. Huh? What in the world are people thinking?
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