CHICAGO—It took him five weeks to write what he envisioned as a ghost story, and that it starts as a frightening yarn may explain why Charles Dickens’s masterpiece “A Christmas Carol” has a rather gloomy opening.
We know the story: The tale starts when we learn that Ebenezer Scrooge is very rich but his wealth has not brought him happiness. He is stingy with the coal that warms Bob Cratchit, his clerk; he feels ill used by having to give Cratchit Christmas Day off; he refuses to give anything to charity; and he rejects his nephew’s invitation to Christmas dinner. And when his nephew wishes him a simple “Merry Christmas,” Scrooge responds with “Bah! Humbug!”…