When A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court was published in 1889, Mark Twain was undergoing a series of personal and professional crises. Thus what began as a literary burlesque of British chivalry and culture grew into a disturbing satire of modern technology and social thought. The story of Hank Morgan, a nineteenth-century American who is accidentally returned to sixth-century England, is a powerful analysis of such issues as monarchy versus democracy and free will versus determinism, but it is also one of Twain's ...
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When A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court was published in 1889, Mark Twain was undergoing a series of personal and professional crises. Thus what began as a literary burlesque of British chivalry and culture grew into a disturbing satire of modern technology and social thought. The story of Hank Morgan, a nineteenth-century American who is accidentally returned to sixth-century England, is a powerful analysis of such issues as monarchy versus democracy and free will versus determinism, but it is also one of Twain's finest comic novels, still fresh and funny after more than 100 years. In his introduction, M. Thomas Inge shows how A Connecticut Yankee develops from comedy to tragedy and so into a novel that remains a major literary and cultural text for new generations of readers. This edition reproduces a number of the original drawings by Dan Beard, of whom Twain said 'he not only illustrates the text but he illustrates my thoughts'.
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I don't know what was published first this book or Innocents Abroad but one or the other of them may have influenced the other one.I have read over 100 versions of the King Arthur tale and this tongue in cheek look at King Arthur is wonderful. Henry died in 1858 because the date of Hank Morgan's
burning at the stake is the same as the date of Henry's death. In any regard, considering his loss, Twain had a vision of how technology might have influenced the middle ages. Bing Crosby who played the part in the musical movie of Hank Morgan convinces the King to go out among his people as a beggar to see how his kingdom is faring. I am not sure this was in the book but it; would certainly have been one of Twain's concerns about society and superstitution.
SLGF
Aug 13, 2007
Modern Inventions for King Arthur
Mark Twain has imagined how wonderful / terrible it would be to introduce all the brand new inventions (of the late 19th century) to the dark ages in England. His hero remains an optimistic Yankee to the end. His observations on human nature seem very relavent today.