<P> A Tale of Two Cities has been cited as one of the best - selling novels of all time . It has been stated to have sold 200 million copies since its first publication, though this figure has been dismissed as "pure fiction" by Oxford University's Peter Thonemann . As with other contenders for the title, such as Don Quixote and Three Musketeers, available sales figures are not reliable, or indeed, for such public domain works, not available . </P> <P> Many of Dickens's characters are "flat", not "round", in the novelist E.M. Forster's famous terms, meaning roughly that they have only one mood . For example, the Marquis is unremittingly wicked and relishes being so; Lucie is perfectly loving and supportive . As a corollary, Dickens often gives these characters verbal tics or visual quirks such as the dints in the nose of the Marquis . Forster believed that Dickens never truly created rounded characters . </P> <P> A Tale of Two Cities is one of only two works of historical fiction by Charles Dickens (the other being Barnaby Rudge). Dickens relies much on The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle as a historical source . Dickens wrote in his Preface to Tale that "no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle's wonderful book". </P> <P> Dickens uses literal translations of French idioms for characters who cannot speak English, such as "What the devil do you do in that galley there?!!" and "Where is my wife?--- Here you see me ." The Penguin Classics edition of the novel notes that "Not all readers have regarded the experiment as a success ." </P>

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