Mobs United by Personal Storytelling in A Tale of Two Cities: Comparison with Journalistic Style of Special Correspondents in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

In A Tale of Two Cities, serialised in 1859, Charles Dickens depicts a mass of people and its unity that eventually leads to the French Revolution. It is personal stories told that form, unite, and propel the revolutionists, although a pub where people communicate with each other looks central to the assembly in some parts of the work. Meanwhile, in the real world, special correspondents gained popularity among contemporary readers during the 1850s. They shared their experiences and opinions or described what they saw abroad in news stories and thus created a new journalistic style. This style was similar to narration rather than traditional fact-based reports. It is notable that subjective storytelling plays a critical role in both the work of fiction and journalism and that both the novel and articles by some special correspondents were published in the same magazine: All the Year Round. Dickens, the periodical’s editor, had an intimate knowledge of the influence of narrative. Therefore, it is inferred that Dickens employed the new journalistic method in his work to depict mass gatherings. This paper examines the significance of storytelling in the novel by comparing it with the technique practiced by special correspondents in the real world.