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Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc - Book 3
Book 3 of 3
Edition
- Contains Book III of three of "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc"
- Renaissance era paintings of the Life of Joan of Arc
- Linked Table of Contents
- Smart Kindle Navagation including ability to "jump" between chapters.
This third book (of three), "Trial and Martyrdom", covers Joan's life from the time of her capture, through her imprisonment and trial, and up to her death. Mark Twain’s renowned story of Saint Joan of Arc is a warm and heartfelt novel while still containing his classic humor and wit.
This is a very good introduction to the life of Joan of Arc for readers of all ages. It is entertaining enough to hold the imaginations of children without delving too deeply into the harsher elements of war and imprisonment. For older readers, Mark Twain’s Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc is also an extremely accurate account of her entire life. Twain spent twelve years researching in the libraries of Paris before he spent and additional two years writing.
If you have not read this book before, you should read the novel that Mark Twain considered his best. It is perhaps the greatest example of courage in all the stories ARose Books may publish.
About the original publication of Personal Recollections of Joan of
When the book was originally published as a serial in Harper’s Magazine with the April 1895 issue, it was unsigned and the public generally assumed that it was a translation done by Jean François Alden of the memoirs of Sieur Louis de Conte, a friend and constant companion of St. Joan of Arc during her lifetime. It was some time before the reading public found out that the author was Mark Twain, much to their surprise as mine.
Mark Twain's opinion of his
“I like Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing.”
~ Mark Twain
Edition
- Contains Book III of three of "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc"
- Renaissance era paintings of the Life of Joan of Arc
- Linked Table of Contents
- Smart Kindle Navagation including ability to "jump" between chapters.
This third book (of three), "Trial and Martyrdom", covers Joan's life from the time of her capture, through her imprisonment and trial, and up to her death. Mark Twain’s renowned story of Saint Joan of Arc is a warm and heartfelt novel while still containing his classic humor and wit.
This is a very good introduction to the life of Joan of Arc for readers of all ages. It is entertaining enough to hold the imaginations of children without delving too deeply into the harsher elements of war and imprisonment. For older readers, Mark Twain’s Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc is also an extremely accurate account of her entire life. Twain spent twelve years researching in the libraries of Paris before he spent and additional two years writing.
If you have not read this book before, you should read the novel that Mark Twain considered his best. It is perhaps the greatest example of courage in all the stories ARose Books may publish.
About the original publication of Personal Recollections of Joan of
When the book was originally published as a serial in Harper’s Magazine with the April 1895 issue, it was unsigned and the public generally assumed that it was a translation done by Jean François Alden of the memoirs of Sieur Louis de Conte, a friend and constant companion of St. Joan of Arc during her lifetime. It was some time before the reading public found out that the author was Mark Twain, much to their surprise as mine.
Mark Twain's opinion of his
“I like Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing.”
~ Mark Twain
163 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 11, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 30, 2014
Jeanne d'Arc is the ultimate woman in history. Barely a woman--seventeen years old when she raised the siege of Orleans, nineteen when she was burned to death by the English (no thanks to the French who betrayed her). She could neither read nor write, but depended on the voices of angels to lead her into battle. With her, France achieved a freedom from domination that it had not for centuries. No matter how modern we are, it is difficult to account for Joan of Arc as anything less than a miracle.
Most people don't know that Mark Twain wrote a major book about Joan of Arc, yet he considered it his best and most important work. His painstakingly researched story shows us a pure character in the midst of a cruel medieval century--a saint, in fact. This is all the more striking because of Twain's well-known cynicism about human nature. His narrator, one of Joan's companions from childhood, often reflects the Twain perspective--what do you expect from people, etc. Yet for Joan, he has only admiration for an exception to this rule, someone unstained by the world. Twain was not Roman Catholic, but he is in awe of Joan’s faith.
Joan of Arc is such a familiar figure that I thought I knew her story better than I did. But by the time Twain recounts her battles and builds up to her trial and martyrdom, I felt for Joan a personal indignation, as I would for a woman at the mercy of male power today. And that's what makes this an uncomfortably modern story. Joan terrified her enemies, while her compatriots could do nothing without her. Her accomplishments were beyond question, so the priests and potentates who wanted her dead had to attack her for her Voices--or for cross-dressing. It is hard to tell whether they were more offended by the notion that she was of Satan, or by gender transgression.
Where have we heard this before? Today, all over the world, women's rights to compete and achieve on a "level playing field" are challenged. Women and girls are denied education, attacked by their partners, even suffer genital mutilation, on a daily basis. In today’s world, people as Christian as Joan’s persecutors secretly imprison their fellow men, deny them fair trials, torture, and execute. And as I write, there are "Islamic State" fighters afraid to fall into the hands of Kurdish women soldiers, lest they be denied paradise.
Joan is there, but we could use her here.
Most people don't know that Mark Twain wrote a major book about Joan of Arc, yet he considered it his best and most important work. His painstakingly researched story shows us a pure character in the midst of a cruel medieval century--a saint, in fact. This is all the more striking because of Twain's well-known cynicism about human nature. His narrator, one of Joan's companions from childhood, often reflects the Twain perspective--what do you expect from people, etc. Yet for Joan, he has only admiration for an exception to this rule, someone unstained by the world. Twain was not Roman Catholic, but he is in awe of Joan’s faith.
Joan of Arc is such a familiar figure that I thought I knew her story better than I did. But by the time Twain recounts her battles and builds up to her trial and martyrdom, I felt for Joan a personal indignation, as I would for a woman at the mercy of male power today. And that's what makes this an uncomfortably modern story. Joan terrified her enemies, while her compatriots could do nothing without her. Her accomplishments were beyond question, so the priests and potentates who wanted her dead had to attack her for her Voices--or for cross-dressing. It is hard to tell whether they were more offended by the notion that she was of Satan, or by gender transgression.
Where have we heard this before? Today, all over the world, women's rights to compete and achieve on a "level playing field" are challenged. Women and girls are denied education, attacked by their partners, even suffer genital mutilation, on a daily basis. In today’s world, people as Christian as Joan’s persecutors secretly imprison their fellow men, deny them fair trials, torture, and execute. And as I write, there are "Islamic State" fighters afraid to fall into the hands of Kurdish women soldiers, lest they be denied paradise.
Joan is there, but we could use her here.
April 11, 2012
What better inspiration for a great storyteller than the most beautiful, modest and controversial French girl general Joan of Arc. Mark Twain’s Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc is a fascinating story of love, faith and innocence. His own love of history adds not only color but humor in a story of danger, turmoil and massive suffering. I feel sure that he fell in love with pure and humble heroine of the Hundred Years War. She is masterfully portrayed as the flowering bud of innocence that saved the French, put the crown on a French king and paid the ultimate price. Her matter-of-fact certainty of calling inspired her countrymen to think the unthinkable and do the undoable. That’s why I can’t help but think Mark Twain had a love of this heroine of Orleans. He modeled her as the red rose of femininity with the spirit of a stallion and the heart of a lioness. By loosely using scanty fact, she and her time are presented to the reader in a timeless account of a very short life. The story bristled with nonessential scenes and conversations that are pure Twain. At one point he transmits an argument as to the guilt of a man’s stomach if only the head was evil. Although the argument was complete nonsense Twain presented it beautifully. To my amazement this isn’t one of his better known works as I see a man here at the apex of his art. First published in 1896 this book was acclaimed as a masterpiece but was later sorely criticized after the author’s death. I think all criticisms absurd and this book should take its rightful place in American literature. I highly recommend it to all Twain lovers and anyone that loves to believe in the power of the innocent.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews