Jacquie Presents A Tale of Two Cities

 

Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

Jacquie’s Email 

Hello Literary Ladies! It will be the best of times, it will be the worst of times when next the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson meets, and I will be presenting A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens – From Mr. Audette to Dr. Manette. We will gather at Kathy Sullivan's art-filled home for luncheon at noon. Joanna will ring the bell at 1pm to begin our meeting. The rest, well, we can only hope for the best of endings.

All members, please let our hostess know if you will not be attending, and associates, please let her know if you will be joining us, so she can plan the seating accordingly. I look forward to seeing you all there! Cheerio and au revoir! Jacquie

Frances’ Minutes Twelve members and two associates gathered at Kathy’s warm, welcoming home. She served a delicious turkey chili and more. FYI – the recipe was from the NY Times and perfect for a cold December day.

Joanna rang the bell at 1 PM. Lori said the treasury remained unchanged, at $112.21.

There were many recommendations, we’re all doing more reading now that the weather is cold. From Joanna: Perfection, by Vincenzo Latronico, about digital nomads in Berlin. She showed a book she was reading, a graphic novel, a satisfying find, The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond. The Mitfords were her presentation last year. Both Sharon and Jacquie recommended My Friends by Fredrick Backman; Jacquie highly recommended Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai, Connie recommended Dorothy Whipple’s Someone at a Distance, a Persephone Newsletter choice and available here in our local library, which many Persephone books are not, sigh. I’ve made wonderful discoveries through this British bookstore’s newsletters but it's hard to find their recommendations in Westchester and buying them from England expensive. More books read and enjoyed: Audition by Katie Kitamura, Antidote by Karen Russell, Writers and Lovers by Lily King

To Jacquie’s presentation, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Subtitled, a bit mysteriously, from Mr. Audette to Dr. Manette.

It’s been a record year of firsts for the Literature Club. No one has ever begun by singing – but Jacquie did. To the tune of The Wizard of Oz’s “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead” she sang her spoof on A Tale of Two Cities, part of a high school project. Lyrics below:

Ding Dong! Syd is dead
The Jacquerie cut off his head
Ding Dong! Sydney Carton’s dead
Lucie’s gone and so is Chuck*
Chuck is safe, just his luck
Ding Dong! Sydney Carton’s dead
He’s gone where Chuck should be
His love for Lucie put his head in jeopardy
Oh no! Poor Sydney Carton
Ding Dong the Derrio!
Blade is high, heads will roll
Poor old soul! Sydney Carton’s dead!

*Chuck is Charles Darney

We should have guessed from Jacquie’s mysterious subtitle that her presentation would be equal parts memories of her high school English class and an appreciation of Dickens’ novel. With a wonderful coincidence, Jacquie’s beloved teacher, Mr. Audette, neatly rhymed with The Tales’ Dr Manette

Jacquie brought in a photo of Mr. Audette in her high school yearbook. Not that her descriptions of him weren’t sufficient for us to understand her admiration, or should I say, crush? Jacquie had been labeled a “brain” and a “band fag” in middle school. These labels followed her to high school, but she adapted to the social hierarchy, escaped the bullying she’d experienced in middle school, and she found her people, her best friends, in her English honors class, the class taught by the dapper Mr. Audette who “spoke with a patrician New England accent – a male version of Katherine Hepburn.” He always “wore a tie and well-polished pointy Italian shoes.”

Mr. Audette allowed the class to do, as a final project, “The Best of Times Revue,” their take on The Tale of the Two Cities. Dickens’ tragic Dr. Manette was renamed Dr. Audette. Jacquie did not doubt but that he was pleased.

Jacquie wondered if she had really understood the first opening chapter in 10th grade – “The language is not easy, and the references are contemporary to Dickens, and the chapter is full of allusions and foreshadowing.”

The novel was published, as were all his novels, in weekly installments, from April to November of 1859. Dickens was a man of extraordinary energy and creativity, writing novels, short stories, articles, travel pieces, essays, letters, editorial notes and plays. He had a wife and 10 children to support, and after leaving his family in 1858, a mistress.

A Tale of Two Cities is unusual among Dickens’ novels. Dickens’ social commentary is present but not central. The gulf between the rich and poor in Pre-Revolutionary France is illustrated in 2 extraordinary scenes. The aristocratic clergyman, Monseigneur, has his daily hot chocolate served by six manservants. In Paris, outside the De La Farges’ shop, a wine cask breaks apart in the street; men and women lap up the wine from the cobblestones. A Tale is a historical romance with fewer characters than his other novels. The story is about the love between Lucie Manette and Charles Darney, the sacrifices made for others by Sydney Carton and Mrs. Pross.

Jacquie learned that Mr. Audette died the summer after her freshman year in college. The obituary did not give a cause. In 1983, it was assumed a death without cause of a 54-year-old man, unmarried and childless, was from AIDS.

Jacquie reached out to her former high school drama teacher, Mrs. Evaul who worked with Mr. Audette for many years. Jacquie hoped to learn more about him, hoping to know what he was like outside of school. Jacquie soon realized Mrs. Evaul was suffering from dementia. There would be nothing new to learn. Jacquie did let Mrs. Evaul know she had wonderful memories of her, of Mr. Audette and her other teachers.

Jacquie was grateful to us for giving her the chance to re-visit 10th grade encounter with A Tale of Two Cities and Mr. Audette.

Respectfully submitted,

Frances Greenberg
Recording Secretary