Re: tale of 2

Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Fri, 6 Feb 1998 16:39:23 -0100 

My dear Mr Che,

  My "golden thread" in "A Tale of Two Cities" is the thread woven by Lucie,
an unbroken thread of love, domestic content and domestic virtue, a thread
woven into the fabric of history that survives the rending of revolution,
terror and slaughter, the thread that makes such history endurable.
  Foulon, my dear sir, was an actual historical figure, Joseph-Francois
Foulon, Louis XVI's Counsellor of State, lynched by a mob in 1789 as I describe.
  You seem to wish me to declare the party I side with in the French
Revolution. I fear I must disappoint you.  My intention in writing "A Tale
of Two Cities" was to vindicate no one.  It was to show what dreadful
consequences follow for a society which permits the polarisation evident in
France on the eve of the Revolution.  That corrupted many an aristocrat and
many a citizen, and destroyed many innocent men and women, too, from the
highest to the lowest.  My intention was not to vindicate, but to warn.  Who
would prevent an English Revolution?  That is what I wished my readers to
wonder.

Faithfully yours,


Charles Dickens
________________________________________________________________________________




>Mr. Dickens,
>          What is the significance of the "golden thread" mentioned
>throughout the book (Book The Second)?? Would you also explain the
>meaning of "foulon" mentioned at the end of chapter 22 of Book 2? I am
>also unsure of your particular views on the French Revolution. During
>the course of your novel, you seem to change views, from sympathizing
>with the Third Estate, to sympathizing with the nobility later on? What
>were the reasons behind this change of heart? Was it because, while the
>Girondins successfully acquired a constitutional monarchy, the Jacobins
>took it too far in beheading the King to obtain a full republic (through
>death and the Reign of Terror)?
>                        Thank You, Sincerely,
>                                          E.Che
>
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>

======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author