A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court Complete — Mark Twain

rdquo It was in Warwick Castle that I came across the curious stranger whom I am going to talk about He attracted me by three things his candid simplicity his marvelous familiarity with ancient armor and the restfulness of his companymdash for he did all the talking We fell together as modest people will in the tail of the herd that was being shown through and he at once began to say things which interested me As he talked along softly pleasantly flowingly he seemed to drift away imperceptibly out of this world and time and into some remote era and old forgotten country and so he gradually wove such a spell about me that I seemed to move among the specters and shadows and dust and mold of a gray antiquity holding speech with a relic of it Exactly as I would speak of my nearest personal friends or enemies or my most familiar neighbors he spoke of Sir Bedivere Sir Bors de Ganis Sir Launcelot of the Lake Sir Galahad and all the other great names of the Table Roundmdash and how old old unspeakably old and faded and dry and musty and ancient he came to look as he went on Presently he turned to me and said just as one might speak of the weather or any other common matter

When A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthurs 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 Twains 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