![]() ![]() Among his contemporaries, James Westfall Thompson critiqued the book as both bad history and bad literature while a review by Clemens's close friend William Dean Howells reveals that he found the book disappointing in proportion to Clemens's own high estimation of its literary qualities. (1)Īlbert Bigelow Paine quotes Twain in his official biography: "I like the Joan of Arc best of all my books & it is the best I know it perfectly well." (2) Samuel Clemens may have considered Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc his favorite book, but many critics and fans of Mark Twain have since failed to understand why. This value Twain attached to authenticity, I think, helps to explain the anomaly of Joan of Arc: that is, Twain's infatuation with her, his fanatical and illogical adulation, and his complete failure of critical acumen in judging the book as his best work. ![]()
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