Three Short Stories Author:Charles Dickens Charles Dickens is known not only for his novels, but also for his short stories, particularly "A Christmas Carol." In the latter genre, interestingly, these stories had a powerful commercial impulse, for they were serialized in magazines at the Christmas season."The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life" and "The Haunted Man" were written... more » for the Christmas market, and all lay emphasis on family love and the delights of home. But there is more to these stories than surface sentimentality: their eager anticipation by a whole nation tells us much about the age Dickens lived in. And these stories never would have survived without roots and power.« less