JONESBORO — Outside, the rain fell in sheets and the wind howled.

Inside, the lights flickered in a cold and damp Arkansas State University pavilion building. Burning candles set in a fireplace replicated the dying embers of a oncestoked fire.

It was a perfect ambiance for the readings of English writer Charles Dickens, who often wrote of the impoverished society of 19th century England.

The setting was good enough to lure Dickens’ great-great-great-granddaughter Lucinda Hawksley of London to the Jonesboro campus Tuesday, where she served as one of three judges in a competition among ASU students who read, performed and sang pieces from Dickens’ works.

“It’s amazing his work lives on,” Hawksley said of her relative’s writing. “He wrote about poverty, health issues, educational reform. All things that are relevant today.

“The things he thought were funny in the 19th century are still funny today. They are timeless.”

Students of ASU English professor Kate Krueger’s literature course acted scenes from Dickens’ 1843 classic A Christmas Carol, danced to a song from the film of the same work, sang “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and read a selection from Oliver Twist.

Lauri Umansky, the dean of the ASU College of Humanities and Social Sciences, even expressed a Dickensian line when she feared there were not enough refreshments for the crowd of about 40.

“I hope we don’t hear, ‘Please, sir, I want some more,’” she said, referring to orphan Oliver Twist’s request to the workhouse master for more gruel for dinner.

Umansky found Hawksley through “a friend of a friend” and invited her to attend the ASU competition. Hawksley, an author of historical art books, lectures about Dickens. She was recently in Galveston, Texas, to visit the Dickens on the Strand festival.

“I’m very pleased to see how popular [Dickens’] work remains,” she said.

As rain pelted the windows at the pavilion, Cassandra Williams and Elishon Robinson acted a scene from A Christmas Carol.

“I watched all the movies,” Williams said. “The latest one was the one with Jim Carrey in it.”

Jennifer Ulloa danced as the Ghost of Christmas Past from A Christmas Carol.

And Woodrow Crawford, wearing a dark top hat and pea coat, read his favorite lines of Scrooge. Despite his attempt to look authentic in 19th century garb, technology prevailed when Crawford forgot his lines and referred to his iPhone for help.

Meshayla Payne read from Oliver Twist, and added English accents. Her performance earned her top honors in the competition and accolades from Hawksley.

“He has a universal theme,” Payne said of Dickens’ work. “That’s what makes it endure. Humanity is inherently the same. Science advances, technology advances, but, unfortunately, humans don’t. Dickens’ characters have a lot of layers in them, and we all relate to them.”

Arkansas, Pages 18 on 12/05/2012