A Tale of Two Cities Lecture Notes

• 1857: wrote "The Frozen Deep"
• inspired A Tale of Two Cities.
• self sacrifice
• love triangle
• 1857: fell in love with actress name Ellen and left wife
• Ellen inspired Lucie's character
• Other characters:
• Charles Darney and Sydney Carton (originally named Dick Carton)
• doubleness of character
• Charle's Dickens' initials
• 1858: public readings for prophit
• separated from wife
• left his editors
• 1859: new editor
• first three chapters of A Tale of Two Cities are pubished
• experiences in London gave him a "profound knowlege of the city"
• a dark and fascating place
• "everything is there and disconnected
• Paris: 1844
• "most extraordinary place in the world"
• strange, striking things
• half size of London
• visited 15 times
• public charity readings
• last visit was 2 years before his death
• vibrant modernizing city
• had a darker side:
• dark, wicked place, but wonderfully attractiv
• liked visiting the Morgue
• public attraction
• attraction of repulsion
• Worlds of London and Paris were the same in his story
• people were haunted by memory of French Rev.
• very brave for confronting that fear in his story
• published in weekly and monthly volumes
• restricted his focus
• "Best story I've ever written"
• 1860: first stage version of book
• 1899: The Only Way
• another stage play
• 1908: Silent film
• 1935: sound film
• Thomas Carslisle
• friends with Dickens
• influence
• "History of the French Revolution"