A Tale of Two Cities

A TALE OF TWO CITIESA Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, located in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French doctor Manette, his 18 years of imprisonment at the Bastille in Paris and his release in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met; Lucie’s marriage and the collision between her beloved husband and the people who caused her father’s imprisonment; and Mr. and Mrs. Defarge, wine sellers in a poor suburb of Paris. History is confronted with the conditions that led to the French Revolution and the reign of terror.CHARLES DICKENSCharles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He has created some of the most famous fictional characters in the world and is considered by many to be the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His work enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and in the 20th century critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories have a lasting popularity.Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors’ prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he published a weekly newspaper for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five short stories, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, taught and played extensively, was a tireless writer and campaigned vigorously for children’s rights education and other social reforms.The literary success of Dickens began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. In a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humor, his satire and his observation of character and society. His novels, mostly published monthly or weekly, were the pioneers of the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publishing. The down payment format allowed Dickens to gauge the reaction of his audience, and he often altered his plot and character development based on such reactions. For example, when his wife’s podiatrist expressed his distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect his disabilities, Dickens improved the character with positive traits. His plots were carefully constructed, and he often woven elements of topical events into his stories. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha’pennies to be read every new monthly episode, opening and inspiring a new class of readers.