Charles Dickens : Critical Assessments

Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities(1859) is often criticized 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. More complex than it first appears,A Tale ofTwo Citiesdemonstrates Dickens's profound understanding of human nature exemplified in mob behavior, implacable hatred, and powerful, enduring love. 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. Part of theRoutledge Guides to Literatureseries, this volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailedstudy ofA Tale of Two Citiesand seeking not only a guide to the novel, but a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds Dickens's text.Hollington, Michael is the author of 'Charles Dickens : Critical Assessments', published 1995 under ISBN 9781873403136 and ISBN 1873403135.