Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #222900 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

"She was Patriotism embodied, concreted, made flesh, and palpable to the touch."
A paean to the bravery and spirit of Joan of Arc, this novel by Mark Twain is also his most scholarly, having taken twelve years to write. Clearly fascinated by Joan's "voices" and her sense of mission, Twain delves into her religious passion and her belief that God has chosen her to free France from England and restore the Dauphin to the throne. Often focusing on the arguments and trials in which Joan participates throughout her life, Twain shows her childhood attempt to "save the fairies," her struggle to become general of France, and ultimately, her defense against heresy and sorcery. Through these, Twain attempts to reconcile her spiritual commitment with the tumultuous temporal world in which she participated.

Born in Domremy in 1412, seventy-five years after the beginning of the Hundred Years War, Joan, an Armagnac, supports the isolated Dauphin, son of Charles VI; another faction supports the Duke of Burgundy, allied with the British. When Joan is fifteen, her angelic voices tell her she will lead God's armies, win back France, and restore the Dauphin. By the time she is seventeen she is General-in-Chief of France. After lifting the siege of Orleans, achieving many victories, and finally, standing beside the Dauphin at his coronation, she is, however, captured by the Burgundians. Sold to the English, she is later surrendered to an inquisition in Rouen for trial as a heretic and sorceress. The Dauphin fails to intervene, and at age nineteen she is burned at the stake.

Twain creates a fast-paced story about this tumultuous period, creating a series of memorable, repeating characters who anchor Joan's story from the time of childhood until her death. One of these characters is Sieur Louis de Conte, a childhood friend, supporter during battle, and mourner at her execution, who narrates Joan's story many years later. Rare comic scenes provide occasional changes of mood, and the last section of the novel--Joan's trial and execution--is dramatic and moving. With the focus on Joan and the arguments she promotes to advance her cause and facilitate her actions, Twain explores the phenomenon of religious passion and the lengths to which a "chosen" person will go to fulfill divine will.

As interesting as this book is, historically and thematically, it lacks the unity of some of Twain's other novels. Joan of Arc is so heroic in stature that one feels little emotional connection to her, and Twain's dialogue is so wooden that the other characters fail to come alive, except as mouthpieces for background or philosophy. On several occasions, Twain explains the historical background (how the war began, and later the Five Great Deeds of Joan of Arc) though this delays the action. A serious attempt by Twain to depict a character with whom he was obviously fascinated, this novel is full of biographical and historical detail, but Joan remains an enigma. Mary Whipple

Visions, virtue and victimization
For much of the world, it is George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan" that typifies the French heroine of the Hundred Years' War. Overshadowed by the controversies surrounding "Huckleberry Finn", Twain's version of the Maid of Orleans is too infrequently read. Yet it was his own favourite among the rich production of his writings. The reason is clear: Twain shed all the feelings he held about monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church to write a portrayal in the best Romantic tradition. Whether the reader is aware of Twain's views or not, the way he tells Joan's story remains vivid and compelling.

Twain was fascinated by the brevity of Joan's effective career. In the short space of just over a year, this girl's sense of mission carried her, and her followers, through a succession of victories. As he relates in this tale, it was her inspiration that turned the French nation from a defeated people to one marked for liberation. He shows how the populace took to her almost from the day she launched her effort. Freeing her native land from "the English yoke" meant more than military prowess. It was her wit and persistence which won her followers and converted hardened soldiers to her cause. Behind the scenes, however, corrupt court officials and a Church holding her role in deep suspicion impaired her frequently. Twain makes her almost a genius at evading their machinations or turning them into her supporters.

Twain says "this untrained young creature's genius for war was wonderful". He has her proving it by leading her troops in frantic assaults without ever killing a man. His portrayal of the dichotomy of a general unable to kill is magnificent - no other word will do. He shows her compassion for wounded enemies and her employing a convicted deserter into her ranks. The author's extensive research is conveyed on every page, as is his feeling for her inestimable qualities. He presents her as her followers and companions saw her - without blemish, without guile, having a superior wit and given to exacting insights. Twain is portraying as if a village companion and later follower might have recorded her in a journal. The supernatural voices are thus accepted as fact - the irony of angels speaking in French and supporting France's desire to expel the English is therefore overlooked. What is far more important is the fact of her trial and betrayals. She was shopped by the very people she sought to liberate.

Twain's reputation as a writer of "boys' books" requires modification. This portrayal of a controversial historical figure can reach nearly any audience of any time or place. His "Pike County dialect" lightly intrudes - a "translator's licence" only enough to raise the account above the pedantic. Yet, it is the least of his "American" literary efforts. The standards of that time are fully retained. There are no questions posed - the book remains a personal record of events by a "Sieur le Conte", a purported contemporary. Joan claimed to hear "Voices" and attributed them to angels. Twain accepts this as far as it need be to convey Joan's sense of mission. Further investigation is unworthy of so exquisite a figure in his view. Whatever motivated her, she manifested her abilities fully. And Twain's sensitivity and admiration are also manifest. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A great book about an extraordinary person
A master storyteller tells the tale of one of the most remarkable persons in known history. How a young, illiterate farm girl became commander-in-chief of France's armed forces at the age of 17; leading her army, which had become accustomed to defeat, to victory after victory, putting a reluctant king on his thrown and in the process, for a brief time, becoming the living embodiment of France to its people.

It is a story of Joan's courage, intelligence and most of all her unswerving faith in her destiny and in her God, and how in the last year of her brief life she stood totally alone against her persecutors, whose sole objective was to have her die by fire.

Twain's admiration for her shines through every page, and the more I learn about Joan of Arc, the more I share his admiration.

This is a great book, and a must read for anyone interested in Joan of Arc.