Review: Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured by Kathryn Harrison
Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured
by Kathryn Harrison
To the French, she spoke to angels, leading their troops to victory over impossible odds. To the English, she was a witch communing with demons. Few women have captured the public imagination like Joan of Arc. Countless artists in paintings, books, and movies have explored her life, asking whether she was divinely inspired or schizophrenic, a naïve peasant or a calculating warrior. In each retelling, her legend is embellished and enlarged. In this latest biography, Kathryn Harrison combines history, folklore, scripture, and scholarly interpretation of Joan’s deeds to create Joan so mythological in scope that her life can be compared to only one other: that of Jesus Christ himself.
It’s an unexpected comparison, Joan of Arc and Christ of Nazareth. The first time Harrison brought it up, I thought she was stretching credulity. But as the pages went by, and the parallels continued to manifest, I began to agree with her observations. Whether Joan of Arc intentionally patterned her life after the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry, or her chroniclers structured it that way after her death, or it was all mere coincidence, her narrative mirrors that of Christ in a way most befitting of a Holy Maid.
That’s only one aspect of this dense biography. Kathryn Harrison’s account also weaves together the many fictional Joans that have appeared in the works of Mark Twain, Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Bresson, and other artists, revealing what each version said about the time in which she was created. Their fictional words are used to give voice to the thoughts unrecorded by the historic Joan as the book moves through her life. Yet Harrison also takes care to distinguish the historical facts about Joan, clearly delineating where fiction ends and history takes over to reveal the brave, defiant girl who lived in the 15th century.
So it’s a historical biography. It’s a biography of Joan’s life after death, the evolution of her story through the centuries as it passed through poets and painters and writers. It’s a critical interpretation of her life and its parallels to Jesus Christ, a spiritual biography of the young woman in communication with angels. Joan of Arc shines with the powerful faith, courage, confidence, and cleverness that has made her so captivating to so many different audiences.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Joan of Arc, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: The Bogie Man by John Wagner & Alan Grant
2013: Kill Shakespeare Vol. 2 by Conor McCreery & Anthony Del Col
2012: Video: The Joy of Books
2011: Closing down for end of the year Festivus...
2010: Sticklers, Sideburns and Bikinis By Graeme Donald
2009: Discussion Question: Buying Textbooks
by Kathryn Harrison
To the French, she spoke to angels, leading their troops to victory over impossible odds. To the English, she was a witch communing with demons. Few women have captured the public imagination like Joan of Arc. Countless artists in paintings, books, and movies have explored her life, asking whether she was divinely inspired or schizophrenic, a naïve peasant or a calculating warrior. In each retelling, her legend is embellished and enlarged. In this latest biography, Kathryn Harrison combines history, folklore, scripture, and scholarly interpretation of Joan’s deeds to create Joan so mythological in scope that her life can be compared to only one other: that of Jesus Christ himself.
It’s an unexpected comparison, Joan of Arc and Christ of Nazareth. The first time Harrison brought it up, I thought she was stretching credulity. But as the pages went by, and the parallels continued to manifest, I began to agree with her observations. Whether Joan of Arc intentionally patterned her life after the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry, or her chroniclers structured it that way after her death, or it was all mere coincidence, her narrative mirrors that of Christ in a way most befitting of a Holy Maid.
That’s only one aspect of this dense biography. Kathryn Harrison’s account also weaves together the many fictional Joans that have appeared in the works of Mark Twain, Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Bresson, and other artists, revealing what each version said about the time in which she was created. Their fictional words are used to give voice to the thoughts unrecorded by the historic Joan as the book moves through her life. Yet Harrison also takes care to distinguish the historical facts about Joan, clearly delineating where fiction ends and history takes over to reveal the brave, defiant girl who lived in the 15th century.
So it’s a historical biography. It’s a biography of Joan’s life after death, the evolution of her story through the centuries as it passed through poets and painters and writers. It’s a critical interpretation of her life and its parallels to Jesus Christ, a spiritual biography of the young woman in communication with angels. Joan of Arc shines with the powerful faith, courage, confidence, and cleverness that has made her so captivating to so many different audiences.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Joan of Arc, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: The Bogie Man by John Wagner & Alan Grant
2013: Kill Shakespeare Vol. 2 by Conor McCreery & Anthony Del Col
2012: Video: The Joy of Books
2011: Closing down for end of the year Festivus...
2010: Sticklers, Sideburns and Bikinis By Graeme Donald
2009: Discussion Question: Buying Textbooks