Joan of Arc

by Mary Gordon

Paperback, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

944.026

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Nonfiction

Publication

Phoenix / Orion (2001), Edition: New Ed, 200 pages

Description

A biography of this enduring figure searches for reasons why this failed soldier and executed heretic has survived in the consciousness of Western Civilization.

User reviews

LibraryThing member brainella

I would have given the book a higher rating if it hadn't been for the last chapter. I had no desire to read about all the things ever created using Joan of Arc as the protagonist. Boring. Gordon went a long way in establishing the context surrounding Joan. How Joan fit into society and how that

society was created the myth, legend and icon that is Joan of Arc. It very intriguing how an uneducated, religious peasant girl is able to lead the army of France into battle to allow the dauphin Charles to be crowned King. Establishing her place in the larger theatre that was 16th century French politics, religion and royalty is fascinating. Nowhere else could it have happened and had Joan not perished the way she did, she would not be the legend and icon she is. The books is not long, and it can be choppy in places, but it is a different kind of biography. Not one of names, dates and places but of the context and historical significance of an individual.

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LibraryThing member BruderBane

Not a definitive work on the “Maid of Orleans”, nor was it meant to be, Penguin Lives’ “Joan of Arc” by Mary Gordon does a superb job of deconstructing much of the intentional and unintentional iconography involved in studying Joan and her lasting effects on France and its providence. Ms.

Gordon portrays her as a simple “cowgirl” but one who intrinsically understood the power of images and their uses, so much so that she was able to play the part of “chef de guerre” at a time when women, especially girls, played no such role. However, what intrigued me the most in this mini-bio was Ms. Gordon’s rendering of Joan as a quixotic figure well over a century before Cervantes’ character. Unfortunately, Ms. Gordon ends her excellent treatise with a fair share of feminist vitriol, which I found unneeded and unnecessary.

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