Charles
Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities in 1859. The French Revolution began in 1789 – the storming
of the Bastille plays a significant part of the novel. The two cities of Dickens’ novel are London
and Paris. This novel is much more of a
historical novel than so many of Dickens’ character-driven novels. It concerns two revolutions – and a warning
about revolution.
Dickens
is not against revolution per se, but as he sees it, revolution with an eye towards
establishing established rights – especially based on a religious foundation –
will lead to progress; whereas revolution with an eye towards destroying those one
disagrees with – especially based on an atheistic or “secular” – will lead to
chaos. Revolution can be good (in some
sense), or it can be evil.
Dickens
is looking back at past revolutions and warning his contemporaries that
revolution is not neutral – as it unfolds, it has consequences towards one way
or another.
I
prefer Dickens’ character-driven novels, but the characters do work and make
the point – the warning – that Dickens desires to get across. Read and be warned.
[This
review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com].
