A Tale of Two Cities - Softcover

Dickens, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1503219704 ISBN 13: 9781503219700

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018

Synopsis

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.” ― Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction.

Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themesimprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.

Dickens' best-known work of historical fiction, A Tale of Two Cities is claimed to be one of the best-selling novels of all time with purported sales of an estimated 200 million copies. In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel has been adapted for film, television,radio, and the stage, and has continued to have an influence on popular culture.

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About this title

About the Author

Biography Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Over his career he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, 5 novellas and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms. Dickens sprang to fame with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Paper. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly installments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. The installment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens went on to improve the character with positive features. Fagin in Oliver Twist apparently mirrors the famous fence Ikey Solomon; His caricature of Leigh Hunt in the figure of Mr Skimpole in Bleak House was likewise toned down on advice from some of his friends, as they read episodes. In the same novel, both Lawrence Boythorne and Mooney the beadle are drawn from real life Boythorne from Walter Savage Landor and Mooney from 'Looney', a beadle at Salisbury Square. His plots were carefully constructed, and Dickens often wove in elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in happiness to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1503219704
• ISBN 13: 9781503219700
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288