- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: Harper & brothers (1930)
- ASIN: B0006AL10C
- Product Dimensions: 17.1 x 10.8 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Overall I found this disappointing. It had a few good bits in it, where the author/narrator rails against oppression and injustice and a few moving and horrifying scenes depicting said oppression and injustice. However, these were surrounded by oceans of silliness in which the author is preoccupied with reproducing the details, both good and bad, of 19th century American society into 6th century England (of course, it is not really 6th century England, as it is the Thomas Malory depiction of King Arthur in the style of high Medieval chivalry). Despite his self-proclaimed lofty ideals and opposition to the violence of the era, the narrator uses violence himself and casually causes the deaths of 25,000 knights in the final battle. This may be authorial comment on 19th century white American treatment of the native American and Black populations, but I rather doubt it - it all seems too trivial to be satirical.
Format:Paperback
I bought this book because I hoped, as the title implied, it would be a humourous look at the Arthurian legends.
The book itself starts off on a good footing - a knight in Warwick Castle comes across American Hank Logan, who tells of how he was inexplicably sent backwards in time after being hit on the head whilst working in a munitions factory in 19th century Connecticut. He awakes in Britain during the time of King Arthur, and is taken to Camelot by a knight.
From there, everything slips out of control. The humour is quickly lost as Twain begins a long rant about his own opinions about monarchy and the role of the church through his character of Hank Logan. King Arthur himself is pushed into the background, and nearly all of the characters bar Hank himself and a boy named Clarence are shown to be simple and, in some cases, incredibly stupid. Of course, we know differently now thanks to the efforts of archaeologists, and we can give Twain some benefit of the doubt, since he was writing in an age when texts about King Arthur were taken too literally, but that doesn't explain one important problem in the book:
Throughout the book, Hank denies the existence of magic, but if magic does not exist, just how can Hank arrive in Arthurian Britain in the first place, and how can Merlin send him back again by just muttering a few threats if magic is not supposed to exist? I know that sounds as if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill - it probably is - but the non-existence of magic is the whole point behind Hank's takeover and industrialisation of Medieval Britain. If magic still exists and he is simply in denial, the whole point of the novel simply falls apart.
The book itself starts off on a good footing - a knight in Warwick Castle comes across American Hank Logan, who tells of how he was inexplicably sent backwards in time after being hit on the head whilst working in a munitions factory in 19th century Connecticut. He awakes in Britain during the time of King Arthur, and is taken to Camelot by a knight.
From there, everything slips out of control. The humour is quickly lost as Twain begins a long rant about his own opinions about monarchy and the role of the church through his character of Hank Logan. King Arthur himself is pushed into the background, and nearly all of the characters bar Hank himself and a boy named Clarence are shown to be simple and, in some cases, incredibly stupid. Of course, we know differently now thanks to the efforts of archaeologists, and we can give Twain some benefit of the doubt, since he was writing in an age when texts about King Arthur were taken too literally, but that doesn't explain one important problem in the book:
Throughout the book, Hank denies the existence of magic, but if magic does not exist, just how can Hank arrive in Arthurian Britain in the first place, and how can Merlin send him back again by just muttering a few threats if magic is not supposed to exist? I know that sounds as if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill - it probably is - but the non-existence of magic is the whole point behind Hank's takeover and industrialisation of Medieval Britain. If magic still exists and he is simply in denial, the whole point of the novel simply falls apart.
16 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
DON'T LISTEN TO "A READER, 5 APRIL"!!!!!!!!
DON'T read this book if you want a nicey nicey comedy, because Huck Finn gives you a (mistakenly) warm glow, OR to find out about Arthurian legends (read E. R. White instead!) It isn't intended for either of those reasons, and you need to go back to the Children's section. Read this book because you want to be challenged, because you want your view of literature and economics to be turned upsode down. If you want an incisive insight into Mark Twain's take onstorytelling and how it affects our lives, OR to see how corporate America searches and destroys alternative cultures and communities, then this is one of the finest books that literature can offer you.
AND it's funny.
Medieval England had lots of dragons (Twain explains how come), but corporate America has infinitely worse breeds sucking our communities dry.................... read on
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Epic literature bogged down in politics
For me this was my first sojourn into the madness of Mark Twain, sadly it was an unfulfilling one.
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Mark Twain's time-machine drops the main character of this book in the 6th century of King Arthur's Great-Britain. Read more
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