A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

Published in an omnibus edition "The Complete Illustrated Works of Mark Twain" by Bounty Books: London, 2004 (1986). First published 1889.

The basic story of Connecticut Yankee is one I've heard before, and seen variations of in movies (I recall a Martin Lawrence version called, I think, Black Knight). A "modern day" Yankee falls asleep for some reason (here he is struck in the head during a fight) and wakes up in sixth century England, where his modern-day knowledge allows him to survive, and even pass himself off as a magician greater than Merlin. Reading the original version of this story is both interesting and surprising. 

Mark Twain seems to be writing a satire here. I say "seems to" because I get the feeling that most references go over my head. Certain things I can figure out from the context (such as the term "hello-girl" referring to a phone operator), but with so much of the plot wrapped up in showing the superiority of Twain's "modern world" over the backward and superstitious world of Camelot, I feel a much deeper knowledge of late 19th century America would be a tremendous aid. It is obvious that Twain is trying to prove a point, and do so in a humorous manner, but although many of the jokes land, others are lost in time.

The plot also meanders along quite haphazardly. We get the start of a rivalry between Hank (our protagonist) and Merlin, then between Hank and another knight, before Hank is roped into a literal side-quest to free some captive princesses. Twain's judgment on the sixth century is that they were all born liars, and that the "epic" nature of the quests of that era is entirely down to their tendency to stretch the truth. Thus Hank's "princesses" turn out to be a group of sows, and another moment of satire at the expense of those 'ignorant' former generations is shown. Hank then disguises himself and Arthur as peasants and travels incognito around England, before finally there is a hastily pulled-together show down between Hank and the very concept of knighthood. Once again, the superiority felt (at least) by Hank comes through in many ways, with Hank railing against the injustices of sixth century life on one hand, while with the other feeling perfectly justified in wiping out an army of knights just because he believes that aristocracy and monarchy is 'wrong'. At one point (which is played for laughs) Hank even has an individual executed because he included a joke in his joke book that Hank disliked. If any of the sixth century characters had done this it would have warranted commentary, but because the 'enlightened protagonist' does so instead, it is simply accepted.

If I knew that these moments were intentional satire, and could understand the numerous nuances that Twain has obviously littered his text with it may be that I could appreciate this book more. As it stands, the story is an interesting one for its time, but comes across in a scattershot unfocused manner, and is one that may have lost its edge with age.

Completed 10 July 2020.


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