My reading on Dickens convinces me that the ideas for "The Pickwick Papers" came from Dickens' first illustrator (whom he drove to suicide), Robert Seymour; and the ideas for "Oliver Twist" came from George Cruikshank (as Cruikshank revealed after Dickens died). I've found compelling evidence that Dickens didn't write "A Christmas Carol" at all--he plagiarized it from an American couple named Mathew and Abby Whittier. Dickens merely commercialized it within six weeks for quick cash. He does appear to have re-written the character of the Ghost of Christmas Present. The original author who wrote the Ghosts was a vegetarian, but Dickens depicted this ghost seated on a throne of meat dishes. One interesting fact is that this description in the text was so gross, even the illustrator, John Leech, had the Ghost surrounded by meat dishes, but didn't show him sitting on them. Note that Dickens only re-wrote the Ghost of Christmas Present in the opening scene. In the scene which immediately follows, he and Scrooge are in a market, and no meat is mentioned there, at all. That's because that scene picks up again with the original vegetarian author's text.
My reading on Dickens convinces me that the ideas for "The Pickwick Papers" came from Dickens' first illustrator (whom he drove to suicide), Robert Seymour; and the ideas for "Oliver Twist" came from George Cruikshank (as Cruikshank revealed after Dickens died). I've found compelling evidence that Dickens didn't write "A Christmas Carol" at all--he plagiarized it from an American couple named Mathew and Abby Whittier. Dickens merely commercialized it within six weeks for quick cash. He does appear to have re-written the character of the Ghost of Christmas Present. The original author who wrote the Ghosts was a vegetarian, but Dickens depicted this ghost seated on a throne of meat dishes. One interesting fact is that this description in the text was so gross, even the illustrator, John Leech, had the Ghost surrounded by meat dishes, but didn't show him sitting on them. Note that Dickens only re-wrote the Ghost of Christmas Present in the opening scene. In the scene which immediately follows, he and Scrooge are in a market, and no meat is mentioned there, at all. That's because that scene picks up again with the original vegetarian author's text.
Bah humbug!!