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Title: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, Graham Abbey, Peter Donaldson, Robert Benson, Joyce Campion, Richard Curnock, Jennifer Gould, Duncan Ollerenshaw ISBN: 0-660-18178-9 Publisher: CBC Audio Pub. Date: July, 2000 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.62 (92 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: GRAND SATIRE OF FOIBLES OLD AND NEW
Comment: "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is one of those rarest literary treasures: a comedy that, for all it's hilarity, actually has both a heart and a brain. Not just a set of cheap laughs, as most comedy of any sort is, Mark Twain's classic novel enlightens as it entertains, throwing an unflinching spotlight on the darker elements of human nature both in the Utopian (to our eyes) Camelot and of modern capitalism and the American Dream.
The plot is a familiar one in our age of sci-fi and fantasy, though it was innovative when Twain conceived it: Hank Morgan, an enterprising 19th-century engineer, is knocked unconscious and comes to in King Arthur's fabled Camelot. Bewildered but determined to make the best of the situation, Morgan uses his knowledge of history and mechanical skills to convince everyone he is a super-magician greater than even Merlin. Once ensconced as the King's right-hand man, Morgan sets about reforming the country into a republic, a sort of prototype America. Most of the book follows Morgan through a series of haphazard adventures which Twain uses to illuminate the great but often forgotten evils of the Dark Ages, including the abuses of the Catholic Church, the ignorant and useless ruling body that inevitably arises from a monarchy, and the pitiful working conditions of the medieval peasant or slave.
Nor is Twain's critical eye trained only on the far-flung past. Though Morgan is essentially a sympathetic figure, he struggles to find anything the least bit admirable about the knights and nobles he must live with, and considers the chivalric code merely fit for derision. Meanwhile, Morgan's own capitalist code is in full effect, and he takes advantage of every opportunity to cash in his advanced education for the big bucks.
Colorful and sublimely written, Twain's time-travel masterpiece is both a magical fantasy and a stinging dystopian satire. Don't be fooled by the several movie versions of this story, some of which are great fun in their own right. Yes, the novel is funny, often riotously so, but the humorous skin hides a deadly earnestness beneath, and the finale is far less optimistic than one who has first seen the film versions will doubtless expect. A deservedly immortal literary gem.
Rating: 4
Summary: "The good ol' days that weren't any good, anyway"
Comment: Well, the perfect companion to La Morte d'Arthur...
Twain completely dissects the "good ol' days" of Arthurian Britain by exposing the vicious social practices of the time: white slavery, le droit de seigneur, confiscation of property in event of suicide, the complete lack of impartial justice, the degrading influence of the Church on the mass, etcetera etcetera etcetera...
The Arthurian legends are wonderful tales, but they are a mythic literary production; Twain deals with the brutal reality of daily living in the Dark Ages, and points out that the good ol' days were not so good, anyway.
As for its applicability to modern America, I am not fit to judge. Perhaps it's there. But "The Connecticut Yankee" is a wonderful tonic for those prone to romanticizing the past. Twain seems to agree with Tom Paine that the English nobility were "no-ability", and simply the latest in a series of robbers.
And, of course, the book is stuffed with wonderful Twainisms... My favorite is his observation that a conscience is a very inconvenient thing, and the significant difference between a conscience and an anvil is that, if you had an anvil inside you, it would be alot less uncomfortable than having a conscience.
Twain also mentions the beautiful mispronunciations of childhood, and how the bereaved parental ear listens in vain for them once children have grown.
You'll never look at castles the same again...
Rating: 3
Summary: Very difficult to read
Comment: I read this book, expecting it to be similar to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. However, I struggled through the old English monologues of some of the characters. While this is an amusing tale of a 19th century American attempting to modernize 6th century Britain, I wish I had applied my recreational reading time elsewhere.
This paperback printing is difficult to read, too. The words run too close to the spine, requiring me to hold the book flat to read.
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Title: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain ISBN: 0140367497 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain ISBN: 0553211587 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1984 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Idylls of the King (Penguin Classic) by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson, J.M. Gray ISBN: 0140422536 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain by Mark Twain ISBN: 0553211951 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 1984 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain ISBN: 0553213490 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 October, 1983 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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