Принц та жебрак / Янкі при дворі короля Артура

by Mark Twain, Марк Твен

Set in sixteenth-century England, Mark Twain's classic "tale for young people of all ages" features two identical-looking boys - a prince and a pauper - who trade clothes and step into each other's lives. While the urchin, Tom Canty, discovers luxury and power, Prince Edward, dressed in rags, roams his kingdom and experiences the cruelties inflicted on the poor by the Tudor monarchy.

Genres: Classics

Unknown Binding

First published March 2, 1982

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last year I tried to read this book, but I quickly set it aside as the storyline couldn't quite captivate my attention. Not one to leave a book unread, even though I may or may not have liked it, I tried once again. For whatever reason, this time around was a much better success. In my opinion, this book was not Twain in his prime. Almost everything else I've read by the author was far superior. This doesn't mean I didn't even remotely enjoy the book. I could tell Twain was conflicted about his true purpose in writing the book, which turned out to be a treatise on monarchy vs. republicanism, divine right of kings, the caste/class system, and so forth. (The main character was a man too far ahead of his time and of the intellectual evolution of the population in the sixth century. These superstitious and easily sheparded people simply weren't ready for the technological changes he wrought.) Regardless, I did enjoy the book but would not recommend to someone unacquainted with this great author. (At least not as their first introduction. Sawyer/Huckleberry and even Pudd’nhead Wilson would be great starters.) In the end, I do not regret reading the book as I gained valuable vocabulary throughout. Three stars it is!

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fiction and the author of it is Mark Twain. The title of this book is принц и нищий. This book is realistic fiction and I chose to read it because my grandmother really wanted me to so I decided to read it because I didn't want to upset my grandmother.

The book takes place in London and the central characters of this book are the prince and the poor boy who didn't even have a proper home and was getting hit by his dad very hard every day. The challenge of the characters is for the two characters to get back to their normal lives because they have swapped places which they liked at first but then became really upset by that. The general plot is that a poor boy becomes the price of England. The characters here evolve because they both understand how different their lives are and how wrong that is. The story made me feel both excited and sad and the plot was exciting and believable. The characters in the book did seem real and there were funny bits.
The story made me think about the stupid government of Ukraine and I learned that I should get out of the place I live in. My favorite part of the book was when the price and the poor gut swapped places. I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend because most of them are stupid and the rating of the book is 10/10. I recommend reading this book from 12-16 years old.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Я про роман "Янкі при дворі короля Артура". Вважаю його якимось безглуздим. Я не зрозуміла вторгнення письменника у минуле і намагання підтягнути древню епоху до сучасної М.Твену цивілізації. Щоб уїдливо критикути церкву або висміяти рабську сутність людей? Це автору вдалося. Але як на мене, паплюжити міфічний Камелот недоречно. І, як то кажуть, почали за здоров'я - кінчили за упокій.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot to like about this wandering, episodic novel. The voice is very much Twain's voice (not always the case with his historical novels) and the humor and satire is often funny and on-point. His target is mainly the British aristocracy and the deep-seated reactionary view of change and technology that went along with that institution.

Of interest to me (and other sf readers) is the voice and the tinge of tecnocratic utopiianism that clearly show that of all Twain's works it is this book that likely most influenced Robert A. Heinlein's writings and philosophy. At times the novel sees as if it _was_ written by RAH (which just goes to prove my point: he clearly adopted many of Twain's techniques and viewpoints in several novels of his own).

But this work also has a lot of problems. One of them is its episodic character mentioned above. Sometimes, things just happen in this book because Twain seems to have run out of things for his character to do. When this happens, he sends his character out on an adventure or throws yet one more challenge at him from Merlin (jealous of the "magic" of our protagonist's tech savvy). There is very little sense that Twain composed this novel _as_ a novel. He clearly knew roughly where his story was headed, but couldn't plan enough of a plot to make the book read like a coherent work.

The other problem with this novel is that it is far too long for how thin its material actually is. I was ready to be done with it several days before I was actually able to finish it (something I noticed the last time I read _Huckleberry Finn_ as well). This book is worth picking up and reading, but maybe a chapter here or there (like Twain's source, Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_).

[Marek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knihu jsem četl v minulosti. Jedná se o první knihu, kterou jsem přečetl od Marka Twaina. V této knize se nachází 2 romány: PRINC A CHUĎAS a YANKEE Z CONNECTUCUTU NA DVOŘE KRÁLE ARTUŠE. Pokud si vzpomínám, tak se mi více líbil román Princ a chuďas, ve kterém sledujeme záměnu dvou chlapců do rozdílných prostředí. Další knihy jsem od tohoto autora nečetl a asi v dohledné době neplánuji číst další knihy.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! It was hard to get into - the language (old English) was challenging when I was extra tired or easily distracted. However, once I found the rhythm, I loved it! The story is compelling, told with Twain's (Clemens'?) occasional dry humor, and offers an interesting perspective on English life under Henry VIII. Glad to be born when, and where, I was!

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it would be a predictable storyline, but Twain came through with enough interesting situations to keep my attention. I enjoyed the characters and loved the ending.