![]() So is testimony from people who knew her as a child and as a young woman, as a peasant girl and a warrior. Her own words, her own brilliant responses to many of the questions put to her by inquisitors, are there in the record. ![]() Joan is unique in medieval history in having testimony preserved that was given in two ecclesiastical proceedings: one that condemned her to death, one that posthumously found her innocent. (If you want a contrast, read Shakespeare's "Henry VI Part One," where Joan figures as a witch, a sadist, and a trull.) Much of what he says in the book (where he credits himself somewhat archly as a "translator" of the memoirs of one of Joan's aides) is taken, Twain assures us, directly from the historical record. There is not the slightest trace of irony in Twain's portrait of her. ![]() He plays this one straight: there is occasional humor, mostly centered around village life in Donremy or the childhood companions of Joan who join her later as part of her "staff." But Joan herself is taken exactly as she presented herself and as she apparently thought of herself - certainly as many people thought of her in her lifetime: a deeply religious, courageous, and patriotic young woman who wrought a military miracle. How amazing to think of Mark Twain, arch-skeptic and misanthrope, being so taken with the Maid of Orleans. ![]()
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