His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.ĭickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.ĭickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. Sacristan a person responsible for the ceremonial equipment in a church.Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. 'wore a red cap now, in place of his blue one'French revolutionaries wore red caps. This technique conveys a sense that the revolutionaries are the 'red-hot wind'blowing in every direction to raze all vestiges of the aristocracy. Although Dickens despises mob violence, he recognizes that the abuses of the upper classes brought the country to the point of revolution, saying 'Monseigneur as a class had, somehow or other, brought things to this.'Dickens also continues his depiction of the revolution as a force of nature when he describes the four members of the Jacquerie who set fire to the chateau as 'East, West, North, and South.'Rather than giving them names and personas, Dickens has assigned them directions.

The rebellion begun in Paris is spreading to the countryside. Excited by the destruction of the chateau, the villagers threaten Gabelle, the local tax collector, who hides on his roof while the villagers pound on his door. That night, four figures set fire to the chateau and the villagers watch it burn, making no effort to put it out despite the pleas of servants from the chateau. One July day, a stranger approaches the road-mender and asks for directions to the Evrémonde chateau.

A tale of two cities book 2