A Tale of Two Cities. Чарльз Диккенс
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу A Tale of Two Cities - Чарльз Диккенс страница 2
Название: A Tale of Two Cities
Автор: Чарльз Диккенс
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Классическая проза
isbn: 9780007382545
isbn:
It can be no coincidence that Dickens himself was an accomplished performer. He was the William Shakespeare of the Victorian age, both writing and taking to the stage as a storyteller. This makes it easy to understand why his characters had such pronounced identities, because Dickens would mentally assume different roles whilst story telling, both on paper and when treading the boards.
As any parent or teacher will attest, it is quite necessary to exaggerate characters with gestures and voices while story telling to capture the imagination of the audience and leave no confusion about who is who. This is exactly what Dickens was doing, so that his version of the Victorian world became one of overblown polarity: villains and do-gooders, the devout and the morally fallen, the wealthy and the poor, the beautiful and the ugly, the selfish and the selfless. Those who fall ‘somewhere between’ truly are the silent majority in Dickensian Britain.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
When I was acting, with my children and friends, in Mr. Wilkie Collins’s drama of The Frozen Deep, I first conceived the main idea of this story. A strong desire was upon me then, to embody it in my own person; and I traced out in my fancy, the state of mind of which it would necessitate the presentation of an observant spectator, with particular care and interest.
As the idea became familiar to me, it gradually shaped itself into its present form. Throughout its execution, it has had complete possession of me; I have so far verified what is done and suffered in these pages, as that I have certainly done and suffered it all myself.
Whenever any reference (however slight) is made here to the condition of the French people before or during the Revolution, it is truly made, on the faith of the most trustworthy witnesses. It has been one of my hopes to add something to the popular and picturesque means of understanding that terrible time, though no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle’s wonderful book.
November 1859
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 8 Monseigneur in the Country
CHAPTER 11 A Companion Picture
CHAPTER 12 The Fellow of Delicacy
CHAPTER 13 The Fellow of No Delicacy
CHAPTER 14 The Honest Tradesman