Cultural Depictions of Joan of Arc - Literature and Theater

Literature and Theater

  • Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

  • Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw

  • Joan of Arc by Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes (L'Orleanide-1821)

Date Title Author Notes
1429 "Song in Honor of Joan of Arc" Christine de Pizan An elegiac poem written during Joan of Arc's own lifetime. The author's final work. English translation available: .
1450 story of the Siege of Orléans Anonymous (possibly Jacques Millet) First performed in Orléans four years after Joan of Arc's death. The surviving version appears to be a revision from around 1450. God and several saints play major roles in this sprawling drama of more than a hundred speaking parts.
1590 Henry VI, Part 1 William Shakespeare Joan la Pucelle is the principal villain. Drawn from English sources of the previous century, this Joan of Arc begins with the appearance of piety but soon proves to be a cunning witch justly executed. Project Gutenberg text: .
1756 The Maid of Oranges Voltaire A mock epic poem that explores typically Voltairean themes deriding mysticism as humbug. Wikisource text (in French):
1796 Joan of Arc (poem) Robert Southey An epic poem
1801 The Maid of Orléans Friedrich Schiller In literary rebuttal to Voltaire, Schiller creates a sympathetic Joan of Arc as a Romantic heroine. A magic helmet renders her invincible until she falls in love, and she is killed in battle rather than being burned at the stake. This drama was the basis of Tchaikovsky's opera of the same name. Project Gutenberg text in English: .
1817 Histoire de Jeanne d`Arc (History of Joan of Arc) Tome1 Tome2 Tome3 Tome4 Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes (Paris, Ed. Artus Bertrand, 1817) Called the Maid of Orléans, drawn from her own declarations, of one hundred forty-four depositions of eyewitnesses, and of the manuscripts of the library of the King and the Tower of London.
1821 L'Orléanide Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes (Paris, Ed. Smith, audin, 1821) L'Orléanide, Poème national en vingt-huit chants.
1896 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc Mark Twain This novel remains little remembered yet in his own opinion was his finest work. Twain spent months in France researching newly rediscovered documents. This reverent fictional biography is Twain's most uncharacteristic novel. Project Gutenberg text: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. He published it under a different pseudonym: Jean Francois Alden.
1912 Tapestry of Saint Genevieve and Joan of Arc Charles Péguy Poetry. Péguy also wrote a play in three parts entitled Jeanne d'Arc, (1896).
1923 Gilles and Jeanne Georg Kaiser Expressionist drama explores Joan of Arc's association with the most notorious criminal of her era, Gilles de Rais.
1923 Saint Joan George Bernard Shaw This drama, widely esteemed as Shaw's masterpiece, draws heavily from trial records. Historians dismiss Shaw's contention that she was an early Protestant with impartial judges. Subsequent twentieth century plays often mirror Shaw's interest in her trial. ISBN 0-14-043791-6
1930 Saint Joan of the Stockyards Bertolt Brecht Transposes Joan of Arc into working-class Chicago and portrays her as a labor leader. Brecht made Joan of Arc the subject of two other plays, all three with Marxist themes; they are an adaptation of a radio play by Anna Seghers, The Trial of Joan of Arc of Proven, 1431 and The Visions of Simone Machard. ISBN 1-55970-420-9
1935 A Vida de Joana D'Arc (Life of Joan of Arc) Érico Veríssimo A Brazilian historical novel addressed to young people.
1937 Der Prozeß der Jeanne d'Arc zu Rouen 1431 Anna Seghers In German. Radio play based on the trial records.
1946 Joan of Lorraine Maxwell Anderson This play-within-a-play is chiefly memorable as the basis for Ingrid Bergman's screen portrayal. ASIN B0006YOM36
1953 L'Alouette (The Lark) Jean Anouilh An allegory of Vichy collaboration in the aftermath of World War II. Lillian Hellman's noteworthy English translation adds a critique of McCarthyism and included a score by Leonard Bernstein. ISBN 0-8222-0634-X
1964 The Dead Lady of Clown Town Cordwainer Smith A far-future science fiction story with strong parallels to the history of Joan of Arc.
1968 The Image of the Beast Philip José Farmer Joan of Arc is portrayed as an alien sexual predator, still alive in the 20th century but with her body altered to enable the also-alien 15th-century serial killer Gilles de Rais to live within her vagina dentata as a fang-toothed venomous snake that bites and paralyses men during intercourse.
1972 "Jeanne d'Arc" (poem) Patti Smith From the book Seventh Heaven.
1974 Blood Red, Sister Rose Thomas Keneally The novel explores the imagined psychology of Joan and tells her story from Domrémy to the coronation of Charles VII. Significant secondary characters include Charles and Gilles de Rais. The novel enters into the minds of Joan and Charles but not of Gilles. A notable feature of the book is the conversations of Joan with her voices. ISBN 0-00-221087-8
1981 Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism Marina Warner (University of California Press, 1981 ISBN 0-520-22464-7) The work is not so much a biography as a book about Joan of Arc or, more precisely, how she has been perceived by others over the centuries and how that perception has shaped her image.
1993 The Second Coming of Joan of Arc Carolyn Gage A one woman-lesbian play. Joan returns to share her story with contemporary women. She tells her experiences with the highest levels of church, state, and military, and unmasks the brutal misogyny behind male institutions. ISBN 0-939821-06-0
1997 An Army of Angels Pamela Marcantel A novel which depicts Joan of Arc according to the author's conception of her personality. ISBN 0-312-18042-X
1999 Jeanne d'Arc Michel Peyramaure A novel in two parts (in French). ISBN 2-221-08922-7 and ISBN 2-221-08923-5.
2003 Monstrous Regiment Terry Pratchett Part of the Discworld series, a fictional character styled after Joan of Arc dresses as a man to lead an army. ISBN 0-06-001316-8
2005 Hire, or the Anger of Jeanne Régine Deforges (In French). ISBN 2-213-62497-6
2006 Rogue Angel Series Alex Archer A series of action/adventure novels, the main character of which is the successor to Joan of Arc.
2006 Johanna (In German.) Felicitas Hoppe Postmodern novel rejecting any endeavor to fictionalize Joan of Arc. ISBN 978-3-596-16743-2
2008 "The Magician: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" Michael Scott Fantasy novel in which Joan of Arc features prominently. She is an immortal living in modern day Paris. It is explained that she was rescued from her execution by the warrior Scathach.

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