The Companion to a Tale of Two Cities (DICKENS COMPANIONS)

The Dickens Companions provide the most comprehensive annotation of the works of Charles Dickens ever undertaken. The factual annotation supplies information on the historical, literary and topical allusions which inform Dickens’s works, thus establishing sound foundations for further critical enquiry. For the scholar, they are invaluable research and reference tools. For the student and serious general reader, they are the essential authority on Dickens’s novels. Cover Volume1 Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations General Preface by the Editors Acknowledgements Abbreviations for Dickens's Works and Related Material Bibliographical Symbols and Abbreviations Introduction A Note on the Text How to Use the Notes The Notes The Illustrations to A Tale of Two Cities Select Bibliography Index Volume2 Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations General Preface by the Editors Acknowledgements Abbreviations for Dickens's Works and Related Material Bibliographical Symbols and Abbreviations Introduction A Note on the Text How to Use the Notes The Notes Appendix: Alternative Titles Select Bibliography Index Volume3 Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations General Preface by the Editors Abbreviations for Dickens's Works and Related Material Bibliographical Symbols and Abbreviations Introduction A Note on the Text How to Use the Notes The Notes Appendix: The Sapsea Fragment Select Bibliography Index This book, first published in 1988, reveals the great care Dickens took with the planning and preparation of A Tale of Two Cities and its roots. It also explores the aspects of Dickens's life, especially his interest in private theatricals, which contributed to the genesis of the novel. For the first time the historical sources for the very individual account of the French Revolution presented in A Tale of Two Cities are examined, and the book investigates the novelist's debt to French and English eye-witnesses. This Companion identifies the multitude of allusions to what Dickens often regarded as the whims of eighteenth-century justice, religion, philosophy, fashion and society. It provides the modern reader with both fundamental sources of information and a fascinating account of the creation of a complex historical novel. The Dickens Companions series is intended to provide the most comprehensive annotation of the works of Dickens ever undertaken. Its nature is factual rather than critical, identifying allusions to current events and religious issues, and supplying information on topography, social customs, costume furniture, transportation, the illustrations to the novel and so on. Identifications are provided for allusions to plays, poems, songs, the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer and other literary sources. Andrew Sanders. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 168-171.