JOAN OF ARC BY MARK TWAIN + STUDY GUIDE

Mark Twain’s work on Joan of Arc is titled in full “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte.” De Conte is identified as Joan’s page and secretary. For those who’ve always wanted to “get behind” the Joan of Arc story and to better understand just what happened, Twain’s narrative makes the story personal and very accessible.

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in the words of the published book, “Freely Translated out of the Ancient French into Modern English from the Original Unpublished Manuscript in the National Archives of France.”

It was originally published as a serialization in Harper’s Magazine beginning in 1895 and later published in book form in 1896. However the Harper’s editors decided to cut 12 chapters that describe much of Joan’s Great Trial, saying the chapters were not suitable for serialization since, “They will not bear mutilation or interruption, but must be read as a whole, as one reads a drama.” This recording contains the complete text!

De Conte is a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc’s page Louis de Contes, and provides narrative unity to the story. He is presented as an individual who was with Joan during the three major phases of her life - as a youth in Domremy, as the commander of Charles’ army on military campaign, and as a defendant at the trial in Rouen. The book is presented as a translation by Alden of de Conte’s memoirs, written in his later years for the benefit of his descendants.

Twain based his descriptions of Joan of Arc on his daughter, Susy Clemens, as he remembered her at the age of seventeen.

Twain said, “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. The others needed no preparation and got none.”

Included in this app:
Book I: In Domremy
♠ Chapter 1 When Wolves Ran Free in Paris
♠ Chapter 2 The Fairy Tree of Domremy
♠ Chapter 3 All Aflame with Love of France
♠ Chapter 4 Joan Tames the Mad Man
♠ Chapter 5 Domremy Pillaged and Burned
♠ Chapter 6 Joan and Archangel Michael
♠ Chapter 7 She Delivers the Divine Command
♠ Chapter 8 Why the Scorners Relented

Book II: In Court and Camp
♠ Chapter 1 Joan Says Good-By
♠ Chapter 2 The Governor Speeds Joan
♠ Chapter 3 The Paladin Groans and Boasts
♠ Chapter 4 Joan Leads Us Through the Enemy
♠ Chapter 5 We Pierce the Last Ambuscades
♠ Chapter 6 Joan Convinces the King
♠ Chapter 7 Our Paladin in His Glory
♠ Chapter 8 Joan Persuades Her Inquisitors
♠ Chapter 9 She Is Made General-in-Chief
♠ Chapter 10 The Maid’s Sword and Banner
♠ Chapter 11 The War March Is Begun
♠ Chapter 12 Joan Puts Heart in Her Army
♠ Chapter 13 Checked by the Folly of the Wise
♠ Chapter 14 What the English Answered
♠ Chapter 15 My Exquisite Poem Goes to Smash
♠ Chapter 16 The Finding of the Dwarf
♠ Chapter 17 Sweet Fruit of Bitter Truth
♠ Chapter 18 Joan’s First Battle-Field
♠ Chapter 19 We Burst In Upon Ghosts
♠ Chapter 20 Joan Makes Cowards Brave Victors
♠ Chapter 21 She Gently Reproves Her Dear Friend
♠ Chapter 22 The Fate of France Decided
♠ Chapter 23 Joan Inspires the Tawdry King
♠ Chapter 24 Tinsel Trappings of Nobility
♠ Chapter 25 At Last - Forward!
♠ Chapter 26 The Last Doubts Scattered
♠ Chapter 27 How Joan Took Jargeau

Study Guide
♠ Brief Overview
♠ Context
♠ Timeline
♠ Summary and Commentary for All Chapters
♠ Key People
♠ Key Terms And Events
♠ Full Book Quiz (48 Questions)
♠ Study Questions
♠ Suggested Further Reading
♠ Sample Essays #1 to 3
♠ Recommended Resources

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