Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896). By Mark Twain: Historical novel (illustrated)

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte is an 1896 novel by Mark Twain that recounts the life of Joan of Arc. It is Twain’s last completed novel, published when he was 61 years old. The novel is presented as a translation (by ＂Jean Francois Alden＂) of memoirs by Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc’s page, Louis de Contes. The novel is divided into 3 sections according to Joan of Arc’s development: a youth in Domrémy, a commander of the army of Charles VII of France, and a defendant at trial in Rouen. PLOT: The novel begins with a ＂Translator’s Preface,＂ a translator note on the ＂Peculiarity of Joan of Arc’s History,＂ and a foreword by Sieur Louis de Conte. The ＂Translator’s Preface＂ offers a condensed overview of Joan of Arc’s life, with heavy praise (＂the character of Joan of Arc ... occupies the loftiest possible to human attainment＂). The ＂Peculiarity＂ note explains that Joan of Arc’s life is preserved in court documents and that the particulars are provided by Louis de Conte, who, the Translator assures us, is reliable. The Foreword is Sieur de Conte’s writing from 1492 (Joan of Arc died in 1431) about his intimate relation to Joan of Arc: ＂I was with her from the beginning until the end＂...... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called ＂The Great American Novel＂. Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story ＂The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County＂ was published, based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention and was even translated into classic Greek.His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it-notably the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of these financial setbacks, but he eventually overcame his financial troubles with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers. He chose to pay all his pre-bankruptcy creditors in full, even though he had no legal responsibility to do so. Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halley’s Comet, and he predicted that he would ＂go out with it＂ as well; he died the day after the comet returned. He was lauded as the ＂greatest American humorist of his age＂, and William Faulkner called him ＂the father of American literature＂.