by Mark Twain
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Product Description
When A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court was published in 1889, Mark Twain was undergoing a series of personal and professional crises. In his Introduction, M. Thomas Inge shows how what began as a literary burlesque of British chivalry and culture developed to tragedy and into a novel that remains a major literary and cultural text for generations of new readers. This edition reproduces a number of the original drawings by Dan Beard, of whom Twain said "He not only illustrates the text but he illustrates my thoughts."
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Overwritten, Boring, Absurdist, Unrealistic, 2010-02-20
Mark Twain is a great man. I liked his "Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Also, I've a fine appreciation for the man's sheer wit, especially regarding politics, and I still think "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is the best short story I had to read in High School. This book was not for me.
I found the plot absurdist, and his barbs against religion were witty, but so over-the-top they interfered with the actual story itself. Honestly, I could not achieve immersion in the novel; I kept finding it stupid instead of funny and pointless instead of witty. The use of detail detracted from the story; extremely overwritten. The main character was an 'expert' on everything, and felt more like an author's mouthpiece than a real man, even a caricature of a man. If you aren't amused by old-style religious slanders and have read modern time travel stories, you'll find this a great (and dated) disappointment.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Great Item- slow shipping, 2009-08-22
This item arrived in excellent condition. A little dissapointed in the amount of time it took to ship.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 a fantastic story, 2009-03-12
first of all, for those of u who dont know what "thou" or "thee" means,they both mean "you"! and for all of you who say this book is anti-religion, you must fail to understand that the catholic church was a very powerful and disliked back in the middle ages, and he was describing what religion was like back then.and finally for those of you who say that they dont like the 1800's speech,IT WAS WRITTEN IN THE 1800's!do you expect mark twain to write like we would nowadays?just because he writes a book about time traveling doesnt mean he IS a time traveler!
This is a very interesting book,describing in detail what it would be like to mix middle ages with the 19th century.would recomend this book to anyone that knows what "thee" or "thou" means.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent literature, not a children's book, 2009-01-01
This is Twaine at his best. The book provokes thought, draws sympathy, and is downright hilarious. It also reads smoothly and at a brisk pace. It's a quick, fun read. I should also emphasize that while this is frequently labelled as children's literature, I find that label to be completely misleading. While it can no doubt be enjoyed by children at their level, there are a number of subtleties, particularly in the humor, that will be beyond the comprehension of most 13 year olds.
The most pervasive feature of theme of the book is the ignorance of people in the sixth century. The Yankee is constantly dazzling both king and commoner with all manner of "miracles" (really just works of engineering or culture that he has as a result of his 19th century education). The people are the most easily duped idiots imaginable, and hold the most base conceptions and prejudices, and have no conception of justice. Twain believes these shortcomings are a product of their environment and education, rather than inherrent deficiencies ("training, all is training"). He also tackles slavery (an institution out of practice by the time of this book's writing), draws sympathy for slaves, and advocates the equality of all humanity. All pretty simple stuff. At a slightly deeper level, he tackles economic policy, namely protectionism vs. free trade, a debate that raged into his day and even into our own. He ridicules the views of the protectionists and their inability to understand the meaning of real vs. nominal wages, clearly a slap at certain arguments of his own day.
Though the social commentary is interesting, if elementary, the satire is by far the best part of this book. Twain takes so many shots at so many targets that it's difficult even for the careful reader to notice them all. By far the funniest character is Alisande, a charicature of Arthurian women, who the yankee pejoritively nicknames "Sandy." When she rambles on for hours to no apparent purpose "running her mill," by whihc Twain pokes fun both of women in general and of their style of speech in Arthurian literature. A very funny scene is when Sandy relates a story from Thomas Mallory ver batim, with the Yankee constantly interjecting with suggestions to improve Mallory's arid writing style. "The Irish guy sounds like all the others, Sandy. You ought to give him a brogue, or at least have him say something like 'be jabbers' so that you'd know it's him speaking," which of course is a suggestion Sandy takes.
Another great piece of satire is Twain's commentary on the yankee himself. When he defeats opposing knights, he makes them sell all sorts of trinkets and products, from top hats to soap to stoves, as his way of spreading civilization. Of course these goods don't make a nation civilized, but that the yankee thinks they do is Twain's pejorative commentary as a westerner on eastern materialism. Twain's way of telling it is very funny stuff. There's much more excellent humor that can't be mentioned for the sake of space.
The ending is another excellent commentary. The yankee's beautifully crafted civilization crashes down because of the irrascible prejudices of the people, which the church uses to its advantage. Twain's negative view of imperialism is here reflected, in how he depicts the folly of elevating a society by outside influences. A civilization must grow at its own pace, developing its views and values through a long process of trials. Attempts to import institutions from without are bound for failure. Though relevant in Twain's day, this is equally applicable in ours.
So, if you want the whole package: a quick, easy read that also provides thought-proviking commentary and great humor, I'd recommend reading this. It would be hard to find a better book that has everything this one does.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Twain pays his debt to Cervantes and Swift, 2008-12-08
Not quite a classic, Twain pays his debt to Cervantes and Swift in this satiric fable about the collision between the "modern" world (19th Century America) and the world of Arthorian (authorian?) legend (6th century England). Twain gets in some sharp jabs against both time periods, with a deft touch of modern irony that makes the book seem surprisingly fresh at times (Twain even pops a "dudes and dudesses" reference!).
He puts his finger on the clear difficulty of interacting with (or portraying on books and movies) that pre-modern world: they inability to grasp the concepts of irony, reasoning, or disbelieve, leave Twain literally unable to communicate at times to both satiric and serious effect..
But the train wanders off the track in long dissertations on purchasing power, class and slavery, and Twain's seemingly gleeful telling of his facile ability to kill 50,000 knights with modern explosives, electric fences, and Gatling guns seems jarringly horrific and disturbing, especially after the historically-realized horrors of the last hundred years.
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