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Few people know that Mark Twain wrote a major work on Joan of Arc. Still fewer know that he considered it not only his most important, but also his best work. Twain spent twelve years in research and many months in France doing archival work, and then made several attempts until he felt he finally had the story he wanted to tell. He reached his conclusion about Joan's unique place in history only after studying in detail accounts written by both sides: the French, for whom she raised an army to return the Dauphin to the throne, and the English, who fought the French in the Hundred Year's War and were ultimately Joan's executioners. This is a fascinating and remarkably accurate biography of the life and mission of Joan of Arc told by one of this country's greatest storytellers.… (more)
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What a great example on how to look at others. This gift of discernment is so important and something that we should work to develop. Joan reminds me of Marina in Shakespeare's Pericles. Both Joan and Marina could see past the outside (past the bad behaviors) and see the potential. And others always rise to the occasion when someone has faith in them.
What if we always looked at our family members with the Seeing Eye? It would create such a change in our relationships. Rather than being annoyed with the kids' squabbles or irritated by a spouse's forgetfulness, we would champion those we love. We would cheer and uplift them and help them see their true identity--the person that they have always been and the person that they are meant to become.
What if we could look at ourselves with the Seeing Eye? There would no more comparing the worst of ourselves to the best of others. No more worrying about weight or intelligence or coolness. Experiencing the quiet strength and security that comes from understanding our true nature and identity would allow us to go forth creating a better world through service and compassion.
When the 19-year-old Joan of Arc was tried by the Church court for heresy, she courageously resisted all the snares set for her by the priests and lawyers. Despite digging into her past hoping to find proof with which to accuse her, they were daunted at every turn by her spotless reputation. Recognizing that they would need to deal treacherously with her, they sent a disguised priest, Nicolas Loyseleur, into Joan’s cell. He claimed to be her supporter and being a priest, he offered to officiate for her in the Sacrament of Penance. Having been denied the rites of the Church for so long, she eagerly poured her soul out to him in sacred confession, not realizing that the confidentiality she expected from the clergy had been breached. Her accusers listened in on every detail. Twice during her trials, Loyseleur thus dealt falsely with Joan. Later, when they could not get Joan to admit to the crimes of heresy, Loyseleur was one of the churchmen to vote for using torture to exact an admission of guilt.
After the illegal series of trials concluded, Joan was finally sentenced to die. On the day of her punishment, she came forth to bravely confront death. Loyseleur frantically raced through the crowd and threw himself on his knees crying for her forgiveness. Twain wrote, “And Joan forgave him; forgave him out of a heart that knew nothing but forgiveness, nothing but compassion, nothing but pity for all that suffer, let their offence be what it might. And she had no word of reproach for this poor wretch who had wrought day and night with deceits and treacheries and hypocrisies to betray her to her death.”
Joan of Arc is one of my heroes. She listened with spiritual ears, she saw with spiritual eyes, and she acted with spiritual strength. All young women should read this book as an example of the strength of femininity. In valiantly doing what she was called to do, she became a shining example of womanhood, charity and love.
Twain’s account of Joan of Arc’s life is written from the perspective of a fictional version of Joan’s former secretary and page Sieur Louis de Conte written at the end of his life to his great-nephews and nieces. The first part of the book focuses on her life in the village of Domremy, essentially where all but the last two years of her life occurred, and the beginning of her visions then quest to fulfill the commission she received. The second part is her successful meeting with the King, formal acknowledgement of the Church that she wasn’t a witch, then her year-long military campaign—with numerous breaks due to political interference and foot dragging by Charles VII—that saw her mission completed, and finally her capture by the Burgundians. The final part of the book was of her year in captivity and the long grueling “legal” process that the English-paid French clergy put her through to murder her as a heretic. The final chapter is of Conte giving a brief account of the feckless Charles VII waiting over two decades to Rehabilitate his benefactor after allowing her to be murdered by not paying her ransom all those years before.
This was a labor of love for Twain to write and it was easy to tell given how professionally researched it was in every detail. While many 20th-Century critics and other Twain admirers don’t like this book because it’s not “classic” Twain because of his praise of Joan given that she’s French, Catholic, and a martyr when he disliked or hated all three; they didn’t seem to understand his hero worship of this teenage girl who put a nation on her shoulders to resurrect its existence. Yet, while this was a straight historical novel there are touches of Twain especially in Conte’s “relating” the adventures of the Domremy boys when they were not in Joan’s presence, especially Paladin.
Joan of Arc is not the typical Mark Twain work, but that doesn’t mean one can not appreciate it for well, if not professionally, researched historical novel that it is.
Samuels Clemens - also known as Mark Twain - wrote this under a pen name. The book is presented as a first person account of Joan's life from her childhood friend and scribe. However, it's rather unconventional as first person because there is very little text using the "I" pronoun. The narrator regards his long life as being insignificant compared to the brief, beautiful spark of existence that Joan had, and she is the one emphasized. He is simply an observer blessed to know her.
The text is flowery and sometimes dense, but once I fell into the groove I really enjoyed it. This really comes across as a labor of love. We follow Joan's life from young childhood up to her fiery death. A full third of the text is devoted to her trial alone, which makes for fascinating reading, even as it frustrates me to see someone so good treated so cruelly. Joan of Arc is an amazing individual, whether or not you believe she was truly guided by God.
I definitely have a renewed interest in Joan of Arc and will be searching for more quality books on her. If any of you have any recommendations, please comment and let me know!
But instead, I tore through it. I quite enjoyed this book. I don't know how much of it was created by Twain and
But in the preface, Twain specifies the quality in her which he found fundamentally worthy of admiration: "She was perhaps the only entirely unselfish person whose name has a place in profane history." And he stresses this theme throughout the book. I guess it doesn't matter if she devotes her life to ideals which Twain was given to regularly skewering, just so long as she wasn't so profane as to ever do anything for herself.
Still, there are some indications that perhaps some of this should be taken with a grain of salt, as when the narrator tells of a dragon that lived in the woods near their childhood village: "It was thought that this dragon was of a brilliant blue colour, with gold mottlings, but no one had ever seen it, therefore this was not known to be so, it was only an opinion. It was not my opinion; I think there is no sense in forming an opinion when there is no evidence to form it on. If you build a person without any bones in him, he may look fair enough to the eye, but he will be limber and cannot stand up; and I consider that evidence is the bones of an opinion. But I will take up this matter more at large at another time, and try to make the justness of my position appear. As to that dragon, I always held the belief that its colour was gold and without blue, for that has always been the colour of dragons."
The narrator, as well as a couple of other characters in Joan's personal retinue, especially the Paladin and Noël Rainguesson, also provide some comic relief. Unfortunately, some of this seems to have little to do with Joan's story, and seems to be included just to allow Twain to write in his more natural comedic style for a while. And some of the recurring jokes---about the Paladin's wild exaggerations of his feats of arms, for example---become a bit redundant.
The main storyline about Joan suffers from occasional repetitiousness as well. Much of the book seems to be: Joan makes impossible prediction, prediction is fulfilled, everyone is amazed...Joan goes on to make even more wonderful prophecy, everyone is again astonished when it too comes to pass...etc., etc. But when that's not going on, the more credible events of Joan's life are quite fascinating. The story of a young peasant girl who rises to command armies to defend her homeland naturally evokes much admiration and pathos, and Twain might have been better off laying more stress on that aspect of it. But he does, to some extent, in the final part of the book about Joan's trial and execution, which is where everything really comes together.
Instead, he shows a picture of chivalry and adventure and some
Best suited for the young who want a peerless adventure story from history, and the very old, who want some last glimpse in the better parts of youth in humanity.
It is somewhat long and feels padded by the way he can't praise Joan with one word, he uses half a page. Each and every time at it becomes just a little wearisome. The early years are where she appears to have the most life and sparkle, and seems like a human being.
Some people don;t come out of this very well - the french King she expands so much effort to crown is a weasly little man who doesn't deserve to be favoured by Joan or God. And the bishop (French - which i didn't realise) who stage manages her trial might well sue for defamation at every turn. In that sense it is a bit pantomimic - all black and white, very little in the way of shades of grey. But I suppose that contrast is what makes it dramatic. Stops, abruptly, at her execution. Oddly enough, the English don;t come out of this all badly. they're portrayed as a fairly honourable foe, and while they do execute Joan, they don;t actually try her - that's performed by the French clergy (well at least those under English rule) and they get the bad press they seem to deserve.
As a history, the facts are in the right order and it works. As a piece of biography, I'm not sure you end up learning much more about the person - it's all about the legend.
3.25 stars.