Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

"Recollections of Joan of Arc" a is an historical-fiction biography of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

Few people know that Twain wrote a book about Joan of Arc. Even fewer know that it the work he was most proud of:

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.

There is a story that as a child he encountered a stray page with the story of her trial, and the young Samuel Clemens took great offense at her interrogators. Whether true or not, he became fascinated by her story and yearned to tell it.

Modern academics who study Twain consider it unworthy of his canon. They can't deny that he thought it was his greatest work, and also that it contains classic Twain wit, but they just can't stand that he was "infatuated" with the Maiden of Orleans.

Some critics complain that in writing the book, Twain succumbed to Catholicism. I have no words to express how stupid that is. It's got to be their animosity for Christianity in general, and for Catholicism in particular, when expressed as profoundly by Saint Joan. Worse, one actually claims that Twain was infatuated by cross-dressing (such as one hilarious scene in Huck Finn and two examples from minor short stories) and his interpretation of the trial of Joan was entirely focused on her male dress. It's even stupider than the accusation of Twain as overly Catholic.

As for Twain's Catholicism, let's just say he falls short. Across this narrative of the life of a devout Catholic, he says next to nothing of the Mother of God, whereas the historical record affirms Joan's devotion to Our Lady. Twain mentions but fails to illuminate the crucial role of Joan's despair over denial of the Sacraments in her coerced "abjuration" (a kind of renunciation, but short of full admission) seven days before her execution. Her longing for the Eucharist must have pained her as much as any other injustice she suffered, and one can be sure that Luke 2:34, "(and you yourself a sword will pierce)" was her regular companion. There are other examples, but none detract from Twain\'s marvelous work. I mention it to show how idiotic it is to criticize Twain for succumbing to either Catholicism or Medieval mysticism, or that he was infatuated with transvestitism - a shameful accusation!

Twain indeed fell in love with the story of Joan of Arch, and he dedicated himself to telling it. And not wonder he worked so hard on it: it's not an easy story to tell, and the lines he draws between his fictionalized characters and the true history are narrow, while never leading the reader astray from actual events. It's a grand project.

A final note: Twain wrote the book before Joan was canonized, thus "Saint Joan" does not appear in the work. Twain does describe her as a saint:

She was not solely a saint, an angel, she was a clay-made girl also — as human a girl as any in the world, and full of a human girl's sensitivenesses and tendernesses and delicacies.

Theological issues raised by Twain

Why did the Voices help Joan at some times but not others?

On page 367-8, Twain's narrator interjects into the narrative of the Trial a rather probing theological question:

Joan often showed a little flash of surprise at the good guessing of the judges, and she showed one this time. I was frequently in terror to find my mind (which /could not control) criticising the Voices and saying, "They counsel her to speak boldly — a thing which she would do without any suggestion from them or anybody else — but when it comes to telling her any useful thing, such as how these conspirators manage to guess their way so skilfully into her affairs, they are always off attending to some other business." I am reverent by nature ; and when such thoughts swept through my head they made me cold with fear, and if there was a storm and thunder at the time, I was so ill that I could but with difficulty abide at my post and do my work.

Great question! Why does God inspire us in some ways but not others? Twain actually answers his own question earlier in the work.

First, let's understand that while the divinely inspired may act on divine guidance, they don't have to. (One may wonder how many would-be Saints shook off the pitch?) When Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus points out to him that he only said it under divine guidance:

Jesus said to him in reply,

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." (Mt 15:15-17)

But Peter said it -- he chose to say it. He might not have. Neither might Joan have listened to the Voices. Like Peter, who had God in front of him, at times, she didn't. But, like Peter, she stayed true, always came back, always believed. When the two faltered, it was from fear, not lack of faith, which returned them to their missions.