A Tale of Two Cities- A Historical fiction

A Tale of Two Cities- A Historical fiction

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel categorized as historical fiction. Historical fiction is a composite material, with a portion of history embedded in a matrix of fiction. A Tale of Two Cities is appropriately titled, as the novel is the story of England and Revolutionary France; as a result it can be categorized as historical fiction. A Tale of Two Cities is parallel to history in many different respects. The English setting, and atmosphere, is similarly portrayed, as it actually existed in the seventeenth century.

In the novel, Dickens goes into more detail about Revolutionary France in history with regards to setting, politics and the social structure, as well as the events, which occurred during the revolution. Dickens may not have been totally accurate with his historical information, but he vividly portrays the atmosphere of England and France during this period.

The French Revolution, by Carlyle, was the main source of Dickens’ information for his novel with the two settings, London and Paris. Adopting Carlyle’s philosophy of history, Dickens created A Tale of Two Cities with a tightly structured plot, developed through a series of amazingly detailed and vivid pictures. The English setting of A Tale of Two Cities is very realistic with respect to the time period. Dickens starts the story by describing the atmosphere in England by illustrating the poverty and the economic situation. It is a tale, which tells of life in two cities and the dreadful happenings, which link them together (Osbourn 3).

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, was the epoc of belief, it was the epoc of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only" (Dickens 35).

In England it was the dawn of the industrial revolution, and for the growing middle class it was the best of times. For the poor, it was the worst of times because illiteracy and unemployment...

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...ctorian inhabitants of what may happen if England did not make the necessary economic, judicial and political reforms. He warned them that if they did not change their ways, a revolution might occur, like it did in France. Since aspects of setting and events are accurate in history, A Tale of Two Cities can therefore be described as historical fiction.

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles and George Woodcock. A Tale of Two Cities. England, 1859.

Davis, Earle. The Flint and the Flame: The Artistry of Charles Dickens.

Columbia:Universtiy of Missouri Press, 1963. (pages 247-248)

Osbourn, Barbara. Critical Commentary on A Tale of Two Cities. University of London

Press, 1957

Orwell, George. Charles Dickens. Running Press, 1986, 1992.

WWW Sites (World Wide Web)

“Victorian Images of the French Revolution” METU British Novelists Seminar in

Ankara, Turkey. March 1998.

http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/dickens/turkey/turlit12.html#d

“The Dickens Page.” Nagoya University. September 1995.

http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Dickens.html

“Classic Notes on Tale of Two Cities.” 1999-2000.

http://www.novelguides.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/taleoftwocities/