Christmas trigger warning. I'm Andrew Claven, and this is the Andrew Claven Christmas special.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday and a wonderful Christmas season and a blessed

Christmas season. I hope that the season, the spirit of the season is coming through you and

into you and all the people that you're with and all the people that you love. And I just wanted to talk

today a little bit about what I think, what I hope is a fresh

look at the greatest Christmas story that isn't in the Bible.

In fact, when it was published, it was hailed by some as the fifth gospel, which is a little

hyperbole, but still it has some truth to it.

And that's Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.

And they're going to be full spoilers, but I assume you all know the story. In my estimation,

a Christmas Carol is one of the greatest works of English literature, which is among the greatest

literatures in the world, if not the greatest English literature. And it is a book by one of English literature's greatest authors.

Leo Tolstoy, who is himself obviously a great author, the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina,

said to have remarked that Dickens was the only writer who could be compared to Shakespeare.

And I think that there is some truth to that.

There is something about Dickens

that is essential, something about him that just captures the world in a special way. The

intellectual class tends to dismiss him because he is joyful and loves humanity and is full of life and entertainment and humor.

And, of course, the intellectual class thinks that darkness is deeper than light, which is simply not true.

But the fact is just when it comes to pure talent, he had the storytelling power of the greatest bestseller.

I mean, guys who I think are great storytellers, like Stephen King is a great storyteller.

But Dickens had that power paired with the prose of an angel.

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