It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times
''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction'', critic Don D'Ammassa argues that it is an adventure novel because the protagonists are in constant danger of being imprisoned or killed. As Dickens's best-known work of historical fiction, ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is said to be one of the best-selling novels of all time. In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel has been adapted for film, television, radio, and the stage, and has continued to influence popular culture. Synopsis Book th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years he returned to school, before he began his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, for education, and for other social ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jerry Cruncher
Jeremiah "Jerry" Cruncher is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities''. Overview Jeremiah "Jerry" Cruncher is employed as a ''porter'' for Tellson's Bank of London. He earns extra money as a Resurrectionists in the United Kingdom, resurrection man removing bodies from their graves for sale to medical schools and students as cadavers. During the story, Jerry Cruncher accompanies Jarvis Lorry and Lucie Manette to Paris to retrieve Dr. Alexandre Manette. Back in England, he helps Sydney Carton "get something" on the paid government witness and spy, John Barsad. He accompanies Lucie and Miss Pross to church the night they run into Sydney Carton and later that night Cruncher tries to unsuccessfully "resurrect" Barsad's colleague and fellow spy Roger Cly in the graveyard. Later in Paris, Jerry will remember that Cly was not in his coffin and will pass this information onto Carton who will use it to blackmail Barsad into getting Carton into the pris ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A Tale Of Two Cities
''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction'', critic Don D'Ammassa argues that it is an adventure novel because the protagonists are in constant danger of being imprisoned or killed. As Dickens's best-known work of historical fiction, ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is said to be one of the best-selling novels of all time. In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel has been adapted for film, television, radio, and the stage, and has continued to influence popular culture. Synopsis Book the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Château
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowadays a ''château'' may be any stately residence built in a French style; the term is additionally often used for a winegrower's estate, especially in the Bordeaux region of France. Definition The word château is a French word that has entered the English language, where its meaning is more specific than it is in French. The French word ''château'' denotes buildings as diverse as a medieval fortress, a Renaissance palace and a fine 19th-century country house. Care should therefore be taken when translating the French word ''château'' into English, noting the nature of the building in question. Most French châteaux are "palaces" or fine "country houses" rather than "castles", and for these, the word "château" is appropriate in English. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marquis St
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) of a marquess is a marchioness or marquise. These titles are also used to translate equivalent Asian styles, as in Imperial China and Imperial Japan. Etymology The word ''marquess'' entered the English language from the Old French ("ruler of a border area") in the late 13th or early 14th century. The French word was derived from ("frontier"), itself descended from the Middle Latin ("frontier"), from which the modern English word ''march'' also descends. The distinction between governors of frontier territories and interior territories was made as early as the founding of the Roman Empire when some provinces were set aside for administration by the senate and more unpacified or vulnerab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sydney Carton
Sydney Carton is a central character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities''. He is a shrewd young Englishman educated at Shrewsbury School, and sometime junior to his fellow barrister Stryver. Carton is portrayed as a brilliant but depressed and cynical drunkard who is full of self-loathing because of what he sees as his wasted life. He feels a deep unrequited love for Lucie Manette, who nevertheless inspires him to try to be a better person. Near the end of the novel, Carton manages to change places with Lucie's husband, Charles Darnay, hours before Darnay's scheduled execution in France, giving his life for Lucie's sake. Later, Lucie and Charles name their second son after Carton. Carton's character Sydney Carton is introduced into the novel ''A Tale of Two Cities'' as a young, sloppy, but brilliant barrister who bears an uncanny likeness to Charles Darnay (whose original name is Charles St. Evrémonde), the prisoner he is helping to defend. He uses his great ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Darnay
Charles Darnay, Charles D'Aulnais or Charles St. Evrémonde is a fictional character in the 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities'' by Charles Dickens. Overview Darnay is a wealthy gentleman who spends time in both France and England during the time of the story. However, he resents how the lower classes are extorted and kept in extreme poverty by the upper class. Darnay specifically resents the views of his uncle, Marquis St. Evrémonde, who has no respect for the people in poverty. He abandons his own family name in favor of his mother's, D'Aulnais, which he later alters to "Darnay"; relocating to London, he finds work as a tutor of French language and literature. Darnay is put on trial for treason against the Kingdom of Great Britain, but the key eyewitness testimony against him is undermined when his defense counsel directs attention to Sydney Carton, a barrister who has been assisting in the case. The two men bear a strong resemblance to one another, and Darnay is acquitted as a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The American Revolution Many Loyalists that made up large portions of Colonial United States, particularly in the South, fled the United States during and after the American revolution. Common destinations were other parts of the British Empire, such as Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, Great Britain, Jamaica, and the British West Indies. The new government often awarded the lands left by the fleeing Tories to Patriot soldiers by way of land grants. The French Revolution Although the French Revolution began in 1789 as a bourgeois-led drive for increased political equality for the Third Estate, it soon turned into a violent popular rebellion. To escape political tensions and sometimes in fear fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Writings Of Charles Dickens V20 P220 (engraving)
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Faubourg Saint-Antoine
The Faubourg Saint-Antoine was one of the traditional suburbs of Paris, France. It grew up to the east of the Bastille around the abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, and ran along the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Location The Faubourg Saint-Antoine extended from the Porte Saint-Antoine towards the abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, then to the Château de Vincennes. Roads led to the villages of Charenton, Charonne, Reuilly and Montreuil, which provided large amounts of wine, fruit and vegetables to the city. Today the former faubourg is divided by the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine between the 11th arrondissement of Paris, which extends to the north of the road, and 12th arrondissement, which extends to the south. History Early years The suburb was the location of the Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine on 2 July 1652. In the 17th century, according to Piganiol de La Force, "The Faubourg Saint-Antoine increased prodigiously from the large number of houses that were built t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Miss Pross
Miss Pross is a character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities''. Miss Pross is the no-nonsense governess and friend of Lucie Manette. She is also the sister of Solomon Pross (later revealed to be the spy known as John Barsad). She accompanies Lucie to Dover when Lucie goes to France to retrieve her father, Dr. Alexandre Manette, after his release from the Bastille, but her stout English patriotism causes her to stay in England. She is Lucie's constant companion accompanying her to the trial of Charles Darnay, to church, to just about everything. She is Lucie's shadow and protector, and overcomes her dislike of everything not English to accompany Lucie to France when her husband Charles Darnay is arrested in Paris as an aristocrat. After Charles has been rescued and the rest of the family has departed for England, Miss Pross confronts Madame Defarge, who had come to their lodgings to capture Lucie and her young daughter. In the struggle that ensues, Madame Defar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |