|
Lemaire
is among the first of the vast flood of
biographies and histories produced in the
nineteenth century as Joan became
increasingly the focus of attention and
adoration.
H. Lemaire. Vie de Jeanne d'Arc.
Surnommée La Pucelle d'Orléans.
Paris : Le Prieur, 1818.
The real credit for popularizing Joan,
though, goes to Michelet's monumental
history of France, published in the middle
of the 19th century. He is the first writer
to emphasize her as a symbol of France, and
his Joan fulfills both republican and
religious ideals.

Jules Michelet.
Joan of Arc, the Maid
of Orleans. From Mitchelet's History of
France. Henry Ketcham, editor.New York,
A.L. Burt, 1900
Anatole France's rationalist and violently anti-clerical Life of Joan depicts her as the dupe of some unknown churchman and the pawn of political factions. Its publication in 1908, just at the time of the Thalamas affair, led to further protests within France and abroad.

Anatole France. Vie de Jeanne d'Arc. Paris: Calmann-Lévy,1924.
The best known response is Lang's The Maid of France, which attacks France point by point as the story proceeds. Even more favorable to Joan are Mark Twain's works, a fictional first person account (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc) and Saint Joan of Arc, both of which assume that Joan was right, whatever the circumstances.

Andrew Lang. The Maid of France: Being the Story of the Life and Death of Jeanne d'Arc. London: Longmans,
Green and Co., 1924.
Even more favorable to Joan are Mark Twain's works, a fictional first person account (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc) and Saint Joan of Arc, both of which assume that Joan was right, whatever the circumstances.
Mark Twain. Saint Joan of Arc. Howard Pyle, illustrator. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1919.
|