Scan barcode
A review by kevin_shepherd
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
5.0
“A democracy will survive until it has an established church.” ~Mark Twain
I sometimes have a hard time getting fired-up over literary fiction unless I can find elements of nonfiction within the story to engage with. Twain, one of my favorite authors, always delivers ample engagement.
“I was training a crowd of ignorant folk into experts, experts in every sort of handiwork and scientific calling. These nurseries of mine went smoothly and privately along undisturbed in their obscure country retreats for nobody was allowed to come into their precincts without a special permit for I was afraid of the church…” (chapter 10, The Beginnings of Civilization)
If you are familiar with the 1949 film adaptation of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, yada, yada, yada) but haven’t yet read the novel you are in for a surprise. The film is a whimsical, musical, technicolor romp. The novel is not.
“…I was afraid of a united church, it makes a mighty power, the mightiest conceivable. And then when it by and by gets into selfish hands, as it is always bound to do, it means death to human liberty and paralysis to human thought.” (ibid)
Published in 1889, Twain’s novel chronicles the adventures of a 19th century engineer who somehow gets transported back to the 6th century. Finding himself amidst the likes of King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Lady Guinevere, he decides, after a little thought, to take full advantage of his situation. Twain’s Yankee sets himself up as an incredibly talented wizard and then proceeds to introduce 1880’s technology to a population of knights, serfs and feudal lords.
“It being my conviction that any Established Church is an established crime, an established slave-pen…” (chapter 16, Morgan Le Fay)
Twain’s reiterations are indicative of his commitment to the separation of church and state. It is a blatantly obvious theme but one that is seldom discussed and often overlooked. Why?
"Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could not better do in a split-up scattered condition." (chapter 18, The Queen’s Dungeons)
Mark Twain was as much of a philosopher as he was a novelist. An intellectual realist and a bit of a heretic hiding in plain sight.
I sometimes have a hard time getting fired-up over literary fiction unless I can find elements of nonfiction within the story to engage with. Twain, one of my favorite authors, always delivers ample engagement.
“I was training a crowd of ignorant folk into experts, experts in every sort of handiwork and scientific calling. These nurseries of mine went smoothly and privately along undisturbed in their obscure country retreats for nobody was allowed to come into their precincts without a special permit for I was afraid of the church…” (chapter 10, The Beginnings of Civilization)
If you are familiar with the 1949 film adaptation of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, yada, yada, yada) but haven’t yet read the novel you are in for a surprise. The film is a whimsical, musical, technicolor romp. The novel is not.
“…I was afraid of a united church, it makes a mighty power, the mightiest conceivable. And then when it by and by gets into selfish hands, as it is always bound to do, it means death to human liberty and paralysis to human thought.” (ibid)
Published in 1889, Twain’s novel chronicles the adventures of a 19th century engineer who somehow gets transported back to the 6th century. Finding himself amidst the likes of King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Lady Guinevere, he decides, after a little thought, to take full advantage of his situation. Twain’s Yankee sets himself up as an incredibly talented wizard and then proceeds to introduce 1880’s technology to a population of knights, serfs and feudal lords.
“It being my conviction that any Established Church is an established crime, an established slave-pen…” (chapter 16, Morgan Le Fay)
Twain’s reiterations are indicative of his commitment to the separation of church and state. It is a blatantly obvious theme but one that is seldom discussed and often overlooked. Why?
"Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could not better do in a split-up scattered condition." (chapter 18, The Queen’s Dungeons)
Mark Twain was as much of a philosopher as he was a novelist. An intellectual realist and a bit of a heretic hiding in plain sight.