Mark Twain's work on Joan of Arc is titled in full, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte, who is identified further as Joan's page and secretary. The fictional work is presented as a translation from a manuscript by Jean Francois Alden, or, in the words of the published book, "Freely Translated out of the Ancient French into Modern English from the Original Unpublished Manuscript in the National Archives of France". Originally, Twain's work was published as a serialization in Harper's Magazine beginning in 1895 and it was published in book form during 1896. At... Twain’s request, Harper's Magazine published it anonymously to avoid expectations for it to be humorous. Because the copyright has expired, the work is in the public domain, and may be found for free on the Internet. The most current edition of the book has been published by Ignatius Press since 1989, and it also contains an essay by Mark Twain entitled Saint Joan of Arc in an appendix. The "de Conte" work is a fictionalized version of that of Joan of Arc's page, Louis de Contes, providing narrative unity to the story.
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| Author: | Mark Twain |
| Genre: | Fiction, Children's literature, Fantasy, Historical fiction, Alternate history |
| Year published: | 1896 |
| Number of editions: | 27 |