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On Reserve
Spotlight -
Mark Twain
by Artur Wielgus
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens (1835 – 1910), represents the
Realism movement in American literature.
Realism was built on scientific method, the systematizing of the
study of documentary history, and a renewed interest in rational
philosophy.
In The Prince and the Pauper story, the pauper is an honest
boy who returns the kingdom at the end of the story, just before the
coronation in the cathedral, to the rightful dauphin, but that is
not the logic of Tom Sawyer or of a political man at large. This is
a very ethical story for children, with a moral and decency, which
should be present in all people. It also contains humor and satire
so deeply rooted in the author’s mind.
In his short story titled Austrian Edison, Mark Twain
describes the brilliant inventor of modern technological
discoveries, Jan Szczepanik, a self educated man who starts his
carrier as a grammar school teacher in the countryside. I was born
and raised in the city where Jan Szczepanik had lived, died and his
body is buried in an old town cemetery. Mark Twain called him
Austrian because, in that time, Austria occupied that region of
Szczepanik’s country.
Mark Twain is best known for his humorous work, but the best of his
work comes in Joan of Arc, which is an excellent story, every
page of the book. It is his faithful representation of reality based
on meticulously collected facts.
The book Joan of Arc by Mark Twain is built based on a
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by The Sieur Louis de Conte
(her page and secretary, a manuscript that was freely translated out
of the ancient French into modern English. by Jean Francois Alden.
Joan of Arc in her native village of Domremy at the age of 14 was
feeding Theophile Benoist, a mentally retarded person who was lacked
in the cage in the public square. Through the bars of his cage she
dressed the wounds of his hand after two of his fingers were cut as
punishment. How many of us would do it?
She gave courage even to her king Charles the VII, who became
Charles the Victorious. When Joan came charging at the enemy, “the
French turned about and surged forward like a solid wave of the sea,
and swept the English before them, hacking and slashing and being
hacked and slashed in a way that was terrible to see,” although Joan
herself did not kill anybody as she confessed during her trial.
Saint Joan said to her persecutors regarding The Book of God, “There
are things in that book that not one among ye can read with all your
learning.” She was right and the Rehabilitation Process proved it.
Mark Twain said, “I like Joan of Arc best of all my books. 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.”
Mark Twain dedicated Joan of Arc book to his wife Olivia Langdon
Clemens in grateful recognition of her 25 years of valued service as
his literary adviser and editor.
© Artur Wielgus 2007
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