This book rips. A 19th coastal elite, a true Nutmegger, is transported to Arthurian England, becomes Arthur’s right hand man, and is referred to as Sir Boss??? Yeah, I’m thinking we’ve got a banger on our hands. I’m not sure where this book is held in relation to the rest of Twain’s oeuvre, but I loved this. So many funny bits and gags, this book legitimately made me laugh out loud multiple times, intermixed with heavy debate as to how your society and upbringing conditions who you are, how you think, and what you believe, and whether you can overcome it to be a better, “more modern” man. Twain was apparently moving towards pessimism of humanity as a whole as he got closer to death and this book has the seeds of this there, yet there is still hope found in these pages that people can overcome their societal biases. Hank is a legend. I would love to be referred to as Sir Boss from now on.

Also fun fact: Twain is credited with the creation of the term “New Deal” in this book when Hank is discussing how he is going to transform the economy and society of England, which FDR took and used in his famous Inaugural speech. Pretty neat!

Also this may be closer to 4 stars but my CT pride was firing on all cylinders throughout so coastal elite CT bias lends me to give it a 5 since I knew all the towns and little bits about that. CT stand up the way up

It seems as though it's hard sometimes for authors to develop characters that have a real position and stake in the world they describe.

Which is probably why I'm giving this four stars - because Twain, by moving a character through time, is able to illuminate both the time the character is from, and the time he's moved to...and he's able to show the absurdity of both.

I have no idea why this book was not banned. It illuminates elements of pre- and post- industrial western culture with elements that are vicious, if not totally sociopathic. It's violently against organized religion, slavery, and class injustice. Similarly, by looking into the history of the white westerner, derails biological claims of racially based ignorance that were big at the time.

We'll assume that Twain's reputation as a humorist somehow prevented the people who would have otherwise found it threatening. Wikipedia does not have any information on the reception of the text, but says that "the corrosive view of human behavior in the apocalyptic latter chapters" were a telling indicator of his later works.

In short: well worth the read, and I'm more sold on reading Twain now than I ever was after Huckleberry Finn.

There are three bits of business that make this book a classic:

1. A discussion of racial relations in the US which accurately discuss the role of poor whites.... in the 1800s.

2. A proposal that would replace kings and queens with cats. Something that would totally be supported by the public today.

3. A completely satisfying summary of the end of Camelot.

Twain does a good job making the story satirical and serious. I think it deserves a modern filming, just for the special effects.

"Y entonces al hombre no se le ocurre nada mejor que retroceder unos doscientos o trescientos pasos y arremeter contra mí a toda velocidad de su caballo, con el barrilete para clavos inclinado casi a la altura de la nuca de su caballo, y su larga lanza apuntada hacia adelante. Me di cuenta de que la cosa iba en serio, de modo que cuando llegó ya estaba yo en lo alto del árbol. Me informó que yo pasaba a ser propiedad suya, cautivo de su lanza. Aducía argumentos convincentes, y además se encontraba en una posición ventajosa, así que decidí darle la razón."

Un yanqui en la corte del rey Arturo, 1889
Mark Twain

Un yanqui en la corte del Rey Arturo es una de las novelas más populares de Mark Twain.
De forma inexplicable, tras sufrir un golpe en la cabeza, Hank, un operario de fábrica del siglo XIX , acaba aterrizando en el siglo VI, en la Inglaterra dominada por el mítico Rey Arturo.
Aunque es hecho prisionero por uno de los caballeros del Rey, y condenado a morir en la hoguera, logra sobrevivir usando sus modernos conocimientos y se convierte el principal consejero del Rey Arturo, dedicándose a modernizar el Reino.
Las diversas peripecias y aventuras que vive Hank son motivo de reflexión acerca de la sociedad y la justicia para sostener esta sátira sobre la Inglaterra feudal y otros sistemas opresores.

Me ha parecido un libro sorprendente y tremendamente interesante. A pesar de recordar vagamente alguna película basada en el libro, no tenía ni idea de toda la carga social que Twain vuelve a plasmar en esta historia.

Bimestre con Mark Twain en el @clubclasicosjuveniles

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