Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
First edition cover
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| Author | Mark Twain |
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| Illustrator | Frank DuMond |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
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Publication date
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1896 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback) |
| Pages | 260 pp |
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte is an 1896 novel by Mark Twain that recounts the life of Joan of Arc. It is Twain's last completed novel, published when he was 61 years old.
The novel is presented as a translation (by "Jean Francois Alden") of memoirs by Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc's page, Louis de Contes. The novel is divided into 3 sections according to Joan of Arc's development: a youth in Domrémy, a commander of the army of Charles VII of France, and a defendant at trial in Rouen.
Originally, the novel was published as a serialization in Harper's Magazine beginning in April 1895. Twain, aware of his reputation as a comic, asked that each installment appear anonymously so that readers will treat the piece seriously. Regardless, his authorship soon became known, and the book edition published by Harper and Brothers in May 1896 credited Mark Twain.
The novel begins with a "Translator's Preface," a translator note on the "Peculiarity of Joan of Arc's History," and a foreword by Sieur Louis de Conte. The "Translator's Preface" offers a condensed overview of Joan of Arc's life, with heavy praise ("the character of Joan of Arc ... occupies the loftiest possible to human attainment"). The "Peculiarity" note explains that Joan of Arc's life is preserved in court documents and that the particulars are provided by Louis de Conte, who, the Translator assures us, is reliable. The Foreword is Sieur de Conte's writing from 1492 (Joan of Arc died in 1431) about his intimate relation to Joan of Arc: "I was with her from the beginning until the end"
Book One begins with the birth of de Conte on January 6, 1410, in Neufchâteau, France and his parents' subsequent move to Paris. He relates his early childhood as chaotic with the city tormented by mobs, criminals, and other instabilities. In 1415, following the death of his family by a Burgundian raiding party, de Conte is sent to a small, rural, rudimentary village named "Domremy" to live with the parish priest. Here, he meets young Joan d’Arc, an illiterate peasant. de Conte tells multiple incidents where Joan is shown to be the wisest, bravest, most virtuous child in Domrémy, such as her arguments to the priest on the fairies and her treatment of the wandering soldier and the criminal madman.
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