I’ve sent this passage around at the holidays for over 40 years. It comes not from A Christmas Carol, but from The Pickwick Papers, which made Charles Dickens an international superstar - at 25. People in NYC would line up on the docks awaiting the novel’s next installment. I can’t think of a book for grownups in our time that was such a over-the-top sensation. Some people say the excerpt is a downer at this festive time of the year. I think remembering absent friends is a perfect Christmas tribute, one that’s central to A Christmas Carol. I say this because my best friend of 50 years, Capt Michael Lodington Soares, USN, died on this date in 2019. I hope Christmas 2022 finds you by your own fireside in your quiet home.
© 2024 John Oliver
Substack is the home for great culture