A Tale of Two Cities: A Routledge Study Guide and Sourcebook (Routledge Guides to Literature) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 041528760X ISBN 13: 9780415287609

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Since its publication in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities has remained the best-known fictional recreation of the French Revolution, and one of Charles Dickens’s most exciting novels. A Tale of Two Cities blends a moving love story with the familiar figures of the Revolution―Bastille prisoners, a starving Parisian mob, and an indolent aristocracy.

Taking the form of a sourcebook, this guide to Dickens's dramatic novel offers:

• extensive introductory comment on the contexts and many interpretations of the text, from publication to the present
• annotated extracts from key contextual documents, reviews, critical works and the text itself
• cross-references between documents and sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticism
• suggestions for further reading.

This volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of A Tale of Two Cities and seeking not only a guide to the novel, but a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds Dickens' text.

About this title

Synopsis:

Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859) is often criticised for its melodramatic soap-opera plot, yet his bold treatment of the violence and terrors of the French Revolution is still widely read and enjoyed today. "A Tale of Two Cities" demonstrates Dickens's profound understanding of human nature exemplified in mob behaviour, implacable hatred, and powerful, enduring love. It is firmly established as part of courses at undergraduate and secondary level around the world and is especially important for students of Victorian or Nineteenth-Century Literature, who will find the guide indispensible. Taking the form of a sourcebook, this guide to Dickens's dramatic novel offers: extensive introductory comment on the contexts and many interpretations of the text, from publication to the present; annotated extracts from key contextual documents, reviews, critical works and the text itself; cross-references between documents and sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticism; and suggestions for further reading.

This volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of "A Tale of Two Cities" and seeking not only a guide to the novel, but a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds Dickens' text.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 041528760X
• ISBN 13: 9780415287609
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Glancy Ruth