Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses [Paperback]

Régine Pernoud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1990

One feels closer to Joan in these pages than in any modern biographies.--Saturday Review

Editorial Reviews

Review

One feels closer to Joan in these pages than in any modern biographies. -- DS Saturday Review

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Scarborough House; 1st edition (November 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812812603
• ISBN-13: 978-0812812602
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Joan of Arc as herself, July 24, 2000

By 

J. Martin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (Paperback)

Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses

Regine PERNOUD, _Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses_. Translated by Edward Hyams. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House 1994 (reissue of 1964 original). 287 pp., with index and plates. ISBN: 0-8128-1260-3 (pb).

This book is a biographical monograph by French Joan of Arc specialist Regine Pernoud. She first published it in 1964 and it has remained in print since then. The book opens with a background-setting introduction describing the geopolitical realities of royal succession in France in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, national division through civil war, and the contending forces and their allies. Nine substantial chapters comprise the main text. They cover JoanŐs early years (chapter 1); her vision and quest (chapter 2); her meeting with Dauphin Charles VII and the aftermath (chapter 3); her military campaigns (beginning with the crucial battle that lifted the English/Burgundian siege of Orleans, and concluding with CharlesŐ coronation at Rheims, chapters 4-6); her politico-religious trial of condemnation (ch. 7), her execution by fire (ch. 8); and her posthumous trial of rehabilitation (ch. 9).

The authorŐs narrative method is to present JoanŐs life and the events she inspired and lived through using extracts of testimony from her trials of condemnation and rehabilitation and from other primary sources (examples are: letters, journals and account books). Pernoud proposes on page 8 to Ò...let the historic documents themselves make answerÓ to questions about Joan, what she did and what was done to her. By this method, Joan is made to speak directly to readers. Pernoud, however, does not simply assemble a catalogue of quotations, but adroitly interleaves direct speech with narrative that pairs what is said with cultural interpretation. She thus avoids the problem of leaving untutored readers without indices to the religious, political and military context that imbue JoanŐs story with its fascination. However, Pernoud chose wisely to minimize analysis and to allow the story to unfold primarily from the documents. She invites readers to judge Joan themselves.

Pernoud appends a brief but valuable commentary to each chapter. These commentaries provide more background about events and discuss contentious arguments in the study of JoanŐs life. For example, Pernoud disposes handily of the idea that Joan was an illegitimate daughter of royalty who had been spirited away to safe haven as a child, triumphantly emerging to rescue the nation (pp. 66-9 and thereafter). Pernoud also provides incisive remarks on the provenance, dating and validity of the documentary evidence in these commentaries.

A sample extract from JoanŐs trial of condemnation offers insights into her beliefs and personality (pp. 174-75). Joan responds to interrogator Jean de La Fontaine (March 17, 1431):

La Fontaine: Do you know whether Saints Catherine and Margaret hate the English?

Joan: They love that which God loves and hate that which God hates.

La Fontaine: Does God hate the English?

Joan: Of the love or hate which God has for the English and of what He does to their souls, I know nothing; but well I know that they will be driven out of France, excepting those who will die there, and that God will send victory to the French over the English.

La Fontaine: Was God for the English when their cause was prospering in France?

Joan: I know not if God hated the French, but I believe that it was His will to let them be stricken for their sins if there were sins among them.

La Fontaine: What guarantee and what succour do you expect from God for your wearing of manŐs clothes?

Joan: For the clothes as for the other things I have done, I expect no other recompense than the salvation of my soul.

I do not read French and so cannot comment on the accuracy of Edward HyamsŐ translation. But, he did receive the 1965 Scott-Moncrieff Translation Prize for this work. Hyams rendered the transcripts in a style that unmistakably is not modern English. Antique grammatical constructions abound. These aspects of the translation provide much of the savor in the text.

This book is well worth reading and thinking about. Its special value is that Pernoud presents a view of Joan that personalizes her without analyzing her. Although an authorŐs point of view and the material selected necessarily influence how readers perceive the subject, PernoudŐs method here is more transparent than others she could have chosen. A _Saturday Review_ article stated ÒOne feels closer to Joan in these pages than in any other of the modern biographies...Ó when the book was first published; this quote is from a cover blurb and does not overstate the case. One caveat about reading this volume is necessary. It is that readers untutored in the history of the period will need to consult other sources to understand the times and the importance of what Joan accomplished in life and death.

Last is an idea for two interesting projects. Reading this work together with Carlo GinzburgŐs _The Cheese and the Worms; The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller_ (1992) and Jonathan SpenceŐs _GodŐs Chinese Son; The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan_ (1996) would provide superb material for cross-cultural comparisons of three religious visionaries. Second, these same books would provide material for comparing three anthropological approaches to history by scholars who have mastered their craft.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars serious history for casual readers, December 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (Paperback)

People who don't study history at the university level rarely get to glimpse how professional historians work. Regine Pernoud offers a superb example here.

Each chapter begins with a short essay describing the major debates about some aspect of Joan of Arc's life, followed by excerpts from original sources. Pernoud invites the reader to reach his or her own conclusions. The material is well chosen and Pernoud's overviews are balanced. The result is a truly challenging experience--about as close as the average person can come to meeting the real Joan of Arc.

Only those who demand a straightforward narrative will find this approach disappointing. The available material does place a few limitations on the work. Only topics with ample original sources get coverage here, so readers will learn much more about Joan of Arc's trial than about her military career. Pernoud also chooses to paraphrase later historical interpretations, so readers won't encounter these controversies directly. These drawbacks are minor and probably unavoidable in a short work intended for a popular audience.

This innovative little book may be the best single volume in history for the general reader.

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The very best non-fiction book on Joan of Arc, August 22, 2001

By 

Ramona Denton "Lovin' It Low Carb" (Hawthorne, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses (Paperback)

Regine Pernoud is an expert on Joan of Arc, and makes you feel almost like YOU know her too. I laughed. I cried. The telling of the story from Joan's own words and the testimony of those who knew her puts this book on the top of my list.

I liked it better than Pernoud's book, "Joan of Arc: Her Story," but it's not quite as comprehensive. Both are excellent books, but I rate this title a little higher.

If you really want to feel like you walked with Joan, read Mark Twain's fictional diary, "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc," told from the point of view of her childhood friend-later-scribe. One of the greatest reads of my life! A Book that really changed my perspective on a lot of things.