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A review by jjupille
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
5.0
I had never read this classic, which I enjoyed tremendously. Dickens writes beautifully (I must be required to note "of course", but what do I know?). I like his sensibility (abhorring The Terror while assigning a chunk of the blame for it on the putrid social edifice of pre-revolutionary France), and his characters mostly hang together for me. Written in 1859, and I like how, by this time, the swooning romanticism of an earlier era is considerably (though not entirely, viz Lucie) supplanted with a little more grit, a more realistic portrayal of violence (his writing around Sainte Guillotine is wonderful), a more compelling look into the dark corners of the human soul and condition.
Religion wears itself relatively lightly here, which enhances my enjoyment. Dickens's thoroughgoing Englishness, and his Victorian sense of English superiority chafes a little on my derived-French skin, but it's hard to deny him the feeling insofar as the ills of French society were, in the period covered, so obviously worse than those of English society; France's continued instability between the Terror and the book's writing surely colored and reinforced the contrast. So, it's understandable. And, I really enjoyed the cautionary contours of the tale for the English themselves. I despised [a:Edmund Burke|17142|Edmund Burke|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1216482471p2/17142.jpg]'s [b:Reflections on the Revolution in France|160019|Reflections on the Revolution in France |Edmund Burke|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1373587680s/160019.jpg|154445] for all kinds of reasons, but his stupid defense of tradition is chief among them. By assigning a chunk of the blame for the Terror on the French nobility, Dickens reveals a more nuanced and, for me, palatable view. I don't know enough to say what the proper balance should be in the apportionment of blame (e.g., between the rotten old social order, the nobility at its head, and the homicidal Jacobins), but at least we are invited to a multivariate view.
One more quicky: I thought the women were given a rather progressive treatment, to my satisfaction. I liked how Madame Defarge (and her companion, La Vengeance) moved history and the Englishwoman Miss Pross sealed several fates. Lucie is a little one-sided, and while she is given to swooning, she usually picks herself up again.
Anyway, great to read this classic, really enjoyed it, I now need to read more Dickens.
Religion wears itself relatively lightly here, which enhances my enjoyment. Dickens's thoroughgoing Englishness, and his Victorian sense of English superiority chafes a little on my derived-French skin, but it's hard to deny him the feeling insofar as the ills of French society were, in the period covered, so obviously worse than those of English society; France's continued instability between the Terror and the book's writing surely colored and reinforced the contrast. So, it's understandable. And, I really enjoyed the cautionary contours of the tale for the English themselves. I despised [a:Edmund Burke|17142|Edmund Burke|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1216482471p2/17142.jpg]'s [b:Reflections on the Revolution in France|160019|Reflections on the Revolution in France |Edmund Burke|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1373587680s/160019.jpg|154445] for all kinds of reasons, but his stupid defense of tradition is chief among them. By assigning a chunk of the blame for the Terror on the French nobility, Dickens reveals a more nuanced and, for me, palatable view. I don't know enough to say what the proper balance should be in the apportionment of blame (e.g., between the rotten old social order, the nobility at its head, and the homicidal Jacobins), but at least we are invited to a multivariate view.
One more quicky: I thought the women were given a rather progressive treatment, to my satisfaction. I liked how Madame Defarge (and her companion, La Vengeance) moved history and the Englishwoman Miss Pross sealed several fates. Lucie is a little one-sided, and while she is given to swooning, she usually picks herself up again.
Anyway, great to read this classic, really enjoyed it, I now need to read more Dickens.