A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Enriched Classics)

I have always loved Mark Twain since reading Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as a kid. At one point I had even memorized "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" as a seventh-grader in Catholic school. Twain has always held a sentimental place close to my heart, so when our book club chose to read and discuss A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, I was all for it.

I had heard vaguely of Twain's atheist mindset and his antagonism toward religion in general. But until I read Connecticut Yankee, I had no idea how much irrational and unfounded antipathy Twain had for the Catholic Church in particular. The pervasive theme in Connecticut Yankee is that our modern enlightened world is far superior to that which went before and that the "bad old days" of slavery and oppression were almost completely the fault of the Catholic Church. This anti-Catholic sentiment can hardly be denied as Twain himself urged reviewers not to mention it when the book first came out. "Please don't let on that there are any slurs at the Church," he told a sympathetic reviewer in the Boston Herald. "I want to catch the reader unawares, and modify his views if I can."

So Twain engaged in what we know today as the "last acceptable prejudice." By way of a simple comparison, let us imagine that, instead of Catholics, Twain had chosen Jews, Mormons, or Evangelicals as the villains of Connecticut Yankee. Would it still occupy the exalted position it does as an American classic? Or would it be relegated to those dusty shelves where reside other scurrilous works or racist manifestos to be studied as a historical curiosity of a meaner age?

For me, the most annoying aspect of Connecticut Yankee was Twain's almost total ignorance of history--or, perhaps more accurately, his decision to turn history on its head to better fit his polemical aims of blaming all the ills of society on the Catholic Church. This is a classic example of what happens, I suppose, when a journalist with a wide breadth of knowledge but no depth attempts to novelize about a historical subject. To address some of Twain's errors:

1.) Slavery in antiquity was in no way the fault of the Church. That pernicious institution long predated Christianity and was endemic to classical pagan societies. Indeed, the Church has a long history of making the lot of slaves more tolerable and being among the premier abolitionist institutions in the world.

2.) The idea that the Church suppresses intellectual freedom is a fable made up during the Protestant rebellion, though it is heartily embraced by Twain. Far more erudite scholars than I have examined this fallacy in detail, so rather than address this topic in detail here, I would point the reader to Tom Woods's excellent book, [[ASIN:0895260387 How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization]].

3.) Twain writes naively of democracy, putting in Hank Morgan's mouth the notion that "Where every man in a state has a vote, brutal laws are impossible." One wonders what Twain would have made of our modern America, where not only every man, but every woman has a vote, and yet the ghastly practice of abortion is not only legal, but enshrined as a human right. Democracy of itself does not ensure enlightened government. Without the temper of religion, democracy is as likely to produce brutal and repulsive laws as the worst monarchy. De Tocqueville understood this. It's a wonder that Twain did not.

There are many more, but this review is already more prolix that I had intended.

As always, Twain's writing sparkles in Connecticut Yankee and his lampooning of the style of Mallory is very funny. His characters, however, viewed 120 years later, are crudely drawn. Hank Morgan is an Alger-esque self-made man whose compendious knowledge of all subjects is just a little too convenient. The legendary Arthurians are all soulless pawns that Twain moves around to further his polemic. No insight is offered into their characters at all. They are all cruel and completely self-serving--as they must be in Twain's mind because they belong to the aristocracy. The story ends on a bizarrely depressing note for a tale that was predominantly a humorous satire for the first seven-eighths of its length.

In short, this is not a book I will be reading to my kids as a bedtime story. For me, it is to be considered a shameful period piece, written at a time when it was acceptable and even laudatory to be a Know-Nothing and make up slanders about the Catholic Church. That it is a cleverly-written slander is only another mark against it. Amusing slanders are pleasing to read but have the potential to do real harm both to the target and the reader.

Although I usually enjoy Twain's writing style, and his sense of wry humor, there was something about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court that was less than satisfying.

Some of the situations that the protagonist gets himself into are "classic" Twain. When the narrator is transported back to the time of Camelot, he begins to speculate about rituals, customs and general style of life. There is one part where the townspeople are convinced that he can perform great magical feats (he actually has Merlin as his rival), and when they corner him about performing one, he has to think of a way to please them or face punishment. He realizes that he can remember when an eclipse is going to come, and there is the way out of his situation. There are many adventures, where the narrator becomes critical of their ways, as a time warp will do. He is a fish out of water in many ways in this new world, not understanding, for instance, their need to have extravagant adventures: "Hardly a month went by without one of these tramps arriving; and generally loaded with some tale about some princess or other wanting help to get her out of some faraway castle where she was being held in captivity by a lawless scoundrel..." Because of his ability to perform great acts, he becomes known as the Boss, and helps to free some poor peasants from terrible punishments.

Maybe what made this less of a story was that it became too "preachy" and filled with social commentary. Although this is what usually makes Twain's novels, here it seemed to detract from the over all story. I was much more interested in hearing about the next adventure, but the narrator continued to rattle on and on about what he felt was wrong with this society. You get the feeling that Twain, not the narrator, is speaking after awhile. In the end, I guess it wasn't really the book I expected it to be. Still, it has its moments, and there are some parts that will have you chuckling to yourself as you read.

I consider Twain to be one of my favorite authors, but this is one of his lesser achievements.

This is Twaine at his best. The book provokes thought, draws sympathy, and is downright hilarious. It also reads smoothly and at a brisk pace. It's a quick, fun read. I should also emphasize that while this is frequently labelled as children's literature, I find that label to be completely misleading. While it can no doubt be enjoyed by children at their level, there are a number of subtleties, particularly in the humor, that will be beyond the comprehension of most 13 year olds.

The most pervasive feature of theme of the book is the ignorance of people in the sixth century. The Yankee is constantly dazzling both king and commoner with all manner of "miracles" (really just works of engineering or culture that he has as a result of his 19th century education). The people are the most easily duped idiots imaginable, and hold the most base conceptions and prejudices, and have no conception of justice. Twain believes these shortcomings are a product of their environment and education, rather than inherrent deficiencies ("training, all is training"). He also tackles slavery (an institution out of practice by the time of this book's writing), draws sympathy for slaves, and advocates the equality of all humanity. All pretty simple stuff. At a slightly deeper level, he tackles economic policy, namely protectionism vs. free trade, a debate that raged into his day and even into our own. He ridicules the views of the protectionists and their inability to understand the meaning of real vs. nominal wages, clearly a slap at certain arguments of his own day.

Though the social commentary is interesting, if elementary, the satire is by far the best part of this book. Twain takes so many shots at so many targets that it's difficult even for the careful reader to notice them all. By far the funniest character is Alisande, a charicature of Arthurian women, who the yankee pejoritively nicknames "Sandy." When she rambles on for hours to no apparent purpose "running her mill," by whihc Twain pokes fun both of women in general and of their style of speech in Arthurian literature. A very funny scene is when Sandy relates a story from Thomas Mallory ver batim, with the Yankee constantly interjecting with suggestions to improve Mallory's arid writing style. "The Irish guy sounds like all the others, Sandy. You ought to give him a brogue, or at least have him say something like 'be jabbers' so that you'd know it's him speaking," which of course is a suggestion Sandy takes.

Another great piece of satire is Twain's commentary on the yankee himself. When he defeats opposing knights, he makes them sell all sorts of trinkets and products, from top hats to soap to stoves, as his way of spreading civilization. Of course these goods don't make a nation civilized, but that the yankee thinks they do is Twain's pejorative commentary as a westerner on eastern materialism. Twain's way of telling it is very funny stuff. There's much more excellent humor that can't be mentioned for the sake of space.

The ending is another excellent commentary. The yankee's beautifully crafted civilization crashes down because of the irrascible prejudices of the people, which the church uses to its advantage. Twain's negative view of imperialism is here reflected, in how he depicts the folly of elevating a society by outside influences. A civilization must grow at its own pace, developing its views and values through a long process of trials. Attempts to import institutions from without are bound for failure. Though relevant in Twain's day, this is equally applicable in ours.

So, if you want the whole package: a quick, easy read that also provides thought-proviking commentary and great humor, I'd recommend reading this. It would be hard to find a better book that has everything this one does.

The title also happens to be the plot outline. Elements of the plot have been duplicated in countless books, TV shows and movies. Army of Darkness and MacGyver leap immediately to mind. The book is a fantasy, and if haters can set aside its numerous anachronisms (A man from 1900, for example, would never be able to understand the language of 6th century England), it's quite enjoyable.

The novel is considerably more adversarial than one might expect. The main character is uncouth, obnoxious, and a jerk, even more so than is necessary given the immensely frustrating ignorance of the 6th century people. I suspect Twain plugged himself in to the Boss character, and had a good old time writing this one.

The main character is out to get the established Church, not in a no-holds-barred, Philip Pullman way, but in a logical way that recognizes the value of faith while tearing down the humanistic and suppressive political and economic machinations of the Church.

Twain also takes shots at England through the ages, at its historically oppressive caste system and at the English people's long-running love of hereditary nobility.

Commentary on politics and on human nature abound, but A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is still a great adventure story. These two elements step on each other's toes sometimes, but Twain pulls it off.

Clunky title. Great book.

RECOMMENDED

This novel tells the story of Hank Morgan, a 19th century engineer from Hartford, Connecticut who through a strange turn of events finds himself in the 66h century England of King Arthur. He is almost immediately captured by a knight upon his arrival in the 6th century and taken to Camelot where he learns he is to be executed in a couple days time. Using his superior modern wit to escape the situation, hank sets out on a grand process of introducing 19th century technology, know-how, education, and values to Arthur's realm.

The novel is filled with many humorous moments as is apt with other fiction from Twain but there is also a distinct dark side to the story that becomes ever more apparent. The impact of the past with the present (at least at the time of writing) results in the dismantling of the romantic view of the past while simultaneously reveals the faults in the belief of scientific and social progress. The England of Arthur is depicted as one where the people, although not generally subjected to the institution of slavery, are for all purposes the equivalent of slaves. The `freemen' of the day have no rights whatsoever and are subject to the whims of a nobility whose only entitlement to rule is blueness of their blood. The Church is similarly depicted as repressing force against the mass of humanity. The protagonist Hank struggles endlessly to awaken in the people a sense of social justice and outrage at being treated as dirt by their noble lords. He is constantly frustrated in his attempts though and concludes that the level of indoctrination is so deep in the people that only large structural changes and the rise of a new generation will provide the seeds for a revolution to overturn the existing order.

Hank Methodically sets out to accomplish just such a revolution by starting clandestine centers of education and industry, all the while keeping an eye on the Church so as not to have his program disrupted. With the introduction of modern technology and education, `progress' moves along at a steady pace. But with all the advances to society also comes the capacity to disrupt and destroy as much if not more. In seeking to replace the controlling ideology of the Church, Hank inadvertently sets up a rival ideology that demands the complete submission of the people as well.

Twain's criticisms of the 19th century become all the more apparent when applied against the backdrop of an age unrecognizable to ours. It is rather amazing that the problems he confronts, free market capitalism, mechanization of war, political ideologies, confidence in a historical progression towards a better society, would all come to the fore in the 20th century as pressing questions confronting a world with the ever growing capacity to destroy itself. The novel stays true to Twain's pessimism concerning his day and the `damned human race' ends with a truly terrifying scene. All good novels have to concern themselves with themes that go deeper than the mere story that they tell. Twain certainly does not disappoint with this effort.

With each Twain novel I read, I am amazed at how he can be so funny while packing such astute insights about life. This novel is no exception as Twain strikes the balance between the two again here. The premise for this novel is perhaps Twain's most original idea (when did Tom Sawyer ever time travel?) and the story and characters satisify at every turn. While this isn't Twain's best work, I think that some of his funniest moments are in this novel. I recommend Tom Sawyer as the place to begin reading Twain, but if you are already a fan then this book is a must-read.

This is the first time I've read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and it's probably a good thing that I read it as an adult instead of as an adolescent; otherwise, I would have given up of Twain wholeheartedly. A well read adult will probably have no trouble seeing the glaringly obvious social commentary through the whole book. Unfortunately, Twain wrote a story with an uninteresting character at best and irritatingly rude at worst. The plot waffles through Hank's adventures in changing history, many of which show no character growth or plot development.

The only thing saving this story for me was Jeff Hays' narration. I enjoyed listening to him switching between uptight, upturned nose Arthur and American Hank. He does so many voices and accents that I often wonder if he's really multiple people pretending to be one person.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Hank Morgan is a typical Connecticut resident living in the late eighteen-hundreds. He is a clever foreman and loves the technology of his time. One day while at work, Hank is hit with a crowbar and knocked out. When he is finally revived, he finds himself in Camelot in the year 528. Things seem pretty bleak for Hank, who is immediately taken prisoner by a knight and sentenced to die. He uses the knowledge that a solar eclipse is due in order to gain a reputation as a powerful magician, more powerful even than Merlin.

Hank quickly adjusts to his position as adviser to King Arthur, and uses his expertise in the areas of science and engineering whenever he sees an opportunity. Soon all of Camelot is connected by telephones and telegraphs, trains are beginning to be built, and knights travel the countryside on bicycles. Hank introduces American systems of money and has plans to turn Camelot into a democracy after Arthur's death.

But Hank has enemies, including Merlin and the church. These enemies are powerful and capitalize on the superstitions of the people living in Camelot.

This was a very clever book, highlighting some of the weaknesses of a Medieval society, and the things a modern capitalist might do to improve them. Parts of it were slow, but it is a very old book, written in a different style than today's stories, so that is understandable.