BY JENNY CALLISON
Enquirer Contributor
LEBANON -- Charles Dickens has been very good to the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon, but he didn't intend to be.
Dickens Week
at Golden Lamb
During Dickens Week, Tuesday through April 26, the Golden Lamb serves a different traditional English dish each day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Prices range from $7.50-$8.25.
Dinner, served from 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from noon to 3 and 4-8 p.m. April 26, offers a set menu. It features a choice of rib of beef or breaded lamb chops, a salad and tart.
The menu cites where each item can be found in Dickens' works. Cost of dinner is about $20.
George and Vulture punch, named for a London tavern, flows in the Golden Lamb's tavern during open hours.
The inn's collection of Dickens memorabilia will be on display all week. If the Dickens bedroom is not occupied, it is open to visitors. Information or reservations: 932-5065.
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"He wrote terrible things about us in his book, American Notes," said Fred Compton, manager of the historic inn. "He couldn't believe he was in a public hotel and couldn't get a drink."
Mr. Dickens, on a final leg of his first American tour in 1842, was traveling by coach north from Cincinnati and stopped in the late afternoon in Lebanon. After the disappointment of a meal sans alcohol, the renowned author refused to spend the night at the Golden Lamb and found a coach to take him farther on his journey.
The Golden Lamb has forgiven him. They've named a dining room and a bedroom after him. And every April, they commemorate his brief visit with Dickens Week. The week always includes the actual day of Dickens' visit, April 22. This year, Dickens week begins Tuesday and continues through April 26. Special lunch and dinner menus reflect British fare of the mid-19th century and are often taken from the pages of Dickens' novels.
"We've been doing Dickens Week for about 25 years. He is the most popular guest we've had. There's more interest shown in him than in Mark Twain or any of the U.S. presidents that have stayed here," Mr. Compton said.
Charles Dickens may be popular at the Golden Lamb, but is he equally beloved in the classroom?
"I find that students are more and more resistant to Charles Dickens, as well as other 19th-century writers," said William Hardesty III, professor of English at Miami University. "Today's students are used to taking in information non-verbally, like the flashing images seen on MTV. They are impatient with 19th-century novels and don't see the richness of the language."
With some effort, his students can learn to like Dickens, Mr. Hardesty said. "They appreciate his wit, his character development, and the depth of his social engagement with issues stemming from the Industrial Revolution. But they find his plots too heavily laden with coincidences."
