Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities'

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Charles Dickens’ famous novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ opens with these lines. These lines form the crux of the novel. The author paints a picture of life in England and France. Scholars have found this novel as the least Dickensian of all his novels. Ever since its publication the book has attracted mixed opinions. Nevertheless, the novel has been a widely read one.
An endeavour to locate the sources of this novel will end in two main sources: Thomas Carlyle’s history, ‘The French Revolution’ and Wilkie Collins’ play ‘The Frozen Deep’. Dickens had acted in this play. At the time Dickens decided to write this novel his relationship with his wife had been deteriorating and they had decided to separate.
In the novel Dickens has conveyed the significance of French Revolution and Resurrection. The novel was studied by the biographical critics from the point of the upheaval in the writer’s life. The Marxist viewed the historical angle, while the psychological critics examined the father-son relationship and the imagery of prison in the novel.

Here is a link of a quiz on this novel for those who have read the novel: Take the Quiz