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knowledge of the subject-matter to which it refers. Mr. Dickens observes in his preface—“It has been one of my hopes to add something to the popular and the picturesque means of understanding that terrible time, though no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle’s wonderful book.” The allusion to Mr. Carlyle confirms the presumption which the book itself raises, that Mr. Dickens happened to have read the History of the French Revolution, and, being on the look-out for a subject, determined off-hand to write a novel about it. Whether he has any other knowledge of the subject than a single reading of Mr. Carlyle’s work would supply does not appear, but certainly what he has written shows no more. It is exactly the sort of story which a man would write who had taken down Mr. Carlyle’s theory without any sort of inquiry or examination, but with a comfortable conviction that “nothing more could be added to its philosophy.” . . .

We must say one word in conclusion as to the illustrations. They are thoroughly worthy of the text. It is impossible to imagine faces and figures more utterly unreal, or more wretchedly conventional, than those by which Mr. Browne represents Mr. Dickens’s characters. The handsome faces are caricatures, and the ugly ones are like nothing human.

—from the Saturday Review (December 17, 1859)

THE SUNDAY TIMES

The value and earnestness of criticism are not to be measured by its prolixity; and if we dismiss within the space of a paragraph a work on which whole columns of shrewdest analysis and warmest panegyric would not be thrown away, let no reader suspect us of want either of respect for the illustrious author, or of appreciation of what we must deliberately pronounce to be one of the very greatest productions of his prolific pen. We are not unmindful of the vulgar abuse which has been heaped upon “A Tale of Two Cities” and its writer by the Saturday Review; but we shall not give up our gratitude to the latter, nor our admiration for the former, at the instigation of any such low-bred cynicism as that in which it is the habit of our contemporary to indulge. It may be possible to manufacture pathos by a mere mechanical process; but it does not require even the ingenuity of the artisan to produce the cold-blooded and undiscriminating censori ousness which is the only distinctive quality of the Saturday Review.

—January 22, 1860

ANDREW LANG

The Genius of Charles Dickens, how brilliant she is! dwelling by a fountain of laughter imperishable; though there is something of an alien salt in the neighbouring fountain of tears. How poor the world of fancy would be, how ‘dispeopled of her dreams,’ if, in some ruin of the social system, the books of Dickens were lost.

—from Letters to Dead Authors (1886)

Questions

1. What is Dickens’s understanding of mob psychology? Does he get it right?

2. Is Madame Defarge a plausible character? Why?

3. Dickens clearly sees the Manette household, presided over by Lucie, as a repository of value, a private sanctuary from public spying, madness, and violence. To some readers, however, it has seemed frail, and in any case, more a product of the author’s values than his observation of reality. What do you think?

4. Would the novel be better without Sydney Carton’s sacrificial act and final speech?

FOR FURTHER READING

Also by Charles Dickens

Sketches by Boz (1836)

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (Pickwick Papers, 1836-1837)

Oliver Twist (1837-1838)

Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839)

The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841)

Barnaby Rudge (1841)

American Notes (1842)

Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844)

Pictures from Italy (1846)

Dombey and Son (1846-1848)

David Copperfield (1849-1850)

Christmas Books (1852): includes A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), The Haunted Man (1848)

Bleak House (1852-1853)

Hard Times (1854)

Little Dorrit (1855-1857)

Great Expectations (1860-1861)

Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished, 1870)

On Dickens