Charles Dickens, a Tale of two cities and the French Revolution
By: edited by Colin Jones, Josephine McDonagh and Jon Mee.
Contributors: Jones, Colin.; McDonagh, Josephine.; Mee, Jon.
Series: Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9780230537781
Subjects: Dickens, Charles, -- 1812-1870 -- Criticism and interpretation; Dickens, Charles, -- 1812-1870; Dickens, Charles, -- 1812-1870 -- Characters; English literature -- French influences; English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Literature and the revolution
Description: A Tale of Two Cities has always been one of Dickens's most popular and best-loved novels. Its interpretation of the French Revolution has strongly shaped British views of national identity and political legitimacy. At the same time, it offers a powerful melodramatic plot pitting private individuals against political systems. This interdisciplinary volume examines the novel's enduring appeal, tracing the origins of its account of the French Revolution, offering new readings of it as a sophisticated fiction in its own right, and exploring its reinvention for stage and cinema over the century and a half since its publication. Contributions from literary studies, political history, the history of ideas and the history of film make this volume a multi-faceted reevaluation of a significant work in English politics and culture.

'A Tale of Two Cities' has always been one of Dickens's most popular texts. Using a variety of disciplinary approaches, this collection of essays examines the origins of Dickens vision of the French Revolution, the literary power of the text itself, and its enduring place in British culture through stage and screen adaptations.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: A tale of two cities in context / Colin Jones, Josephine McDonagh and Jon Mee; title: The new philosophy: the substance and the shadow in A tale of two cities / Mark Philp; title: The redemptive powers of violence? Carlyle, Marx and Dickens / Gareth Stedman Jones; title: A genealogy of Dr Manette / Keith Baker; title: From The Old Bailey to revolutionary France: the trials of Charles Darnay / Sally Ledger; title: Face value in A tale of two cities / Kamilla Elliot; title: Counting on: A tale of two cities / John Bowen; title: Mimi and the matinee idol: Martin-Harvey, Sydney Carton, and the staging of A tale of two cities, 1860-1939 / Joss Marsh; title: Sanguine mirages, cinematic dreams: things seen and things imagined in the 1917 Fox feature film A tale of two cities / Judith Buchanan with Alex Newhouse; title: Two cities, two films / Charles Barr; title: Afterword / Michael wood.