The Twain Shall Meet!

Mark Twain in the late 1860s

I had mentioned last time that there was an interesting little nugget in the Study Breaks article about Ebenezer Scrooge.

Said nugget being:

Interestingly, even though the novella was extremely popular among readers, it is said that Mark Twain was not a fan.

That doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the article and we aren't told how "it is said," but it made me wonder if it's on the record somewhere that Mark Twain was critical of "A Christmas Carol."

Some virtual searching for "Mark Twain" and "A Christmas Carol" does bring up mentions of the former Samuel L. Clemens not liking "A Christmas Carol," some saying he thought it was "glittering frostwork," but without any references.

Eventually, however, I came across this:

Mark Twain Reviews Charles Dickens

Short version is that a not-yet-famous Mark Twain wrote a newspaper review of a Charles Dickens public reading in January 1968 and was not impressed by of Dickens as a reader. In fact, he's extremely critical.

But Twain only mentions Dickens reading "David Copperfield" and if I'm understanding correctly, he thought the reading was glittering frostwork, the actual text is good, with pathos and rich humor. 

I think Twain is saying that it's ironic that Dickens as a reader doesn't do justice to Dickens as an author!

So, as far as I can tell, we don't know whether Mark Twain ever publicly revealed his thoughts on "A Christmas Carol."

Still, it's fun to see a future literary legend throw shade at a current legend via newspaper - the social media of the day!