Joan lives in it again, and dies, and then lives on in the love and pity and wonder of the reader.' A compelling story of this inspiring heroine. Joan of Arc and her life, as seen through the eyes of her childhood friend and secretary, are described with irony and brilliant insight into human nature. Despite its romantic idealism, however, as William Howells wrote, `the book has a vitalizing force. Modelled in part after Suzy herself, the figure of Joan is a celebration of Twain's ideal woman: gentle, selfless, and pure, but also brave, courageous, and divinely eloquent. Suzy declared to her sister Clara that Joan of Arc was `perhaps even more sweet and beautiful than The Prince and the Pauper,' which she had earlier called `unquestionably the best book' her father had ever written. A serious and carefully considered story about a compelling heroine, the Maid of Orleans, Twain viewed the work both as a bid to be accepted as a serious writer and as a gift of love to his favourite daughter, Suzy, who would die tragically three months after Joan of Arc was published. The work is fictionally presented as a translation from the manuscript by Jean Francois Alden, or, in the words of the published book, Freely Translated out of. It is the best I know it perfectly well'. Twain himself said, `I like Joan of Arc best among all my books. A forgotten masterpiece from one of Americas greatest authors-and the last full-length novel he ever wrote-Joan of Arc follows the Savior of France from.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |