Reader discussion: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Public reader discussion about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in the WeRead Catalog by Mark Twain.

What Mark Twain books/essay/short story should I start off with as a non American?

By ThunderCrown

I’m a millennial Kiwi and I keep hearing that he’s one of the greatest American authors, like, if you don’t count stuff like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. But then I wonder—what else has he actually written that’s really good? I did see a claymation thing that was supposedly from one of his books, where Satan basically teaches kids that humans are pointless. I’m not even sure what the title is, but it made me curious. Is he really as good as everyone says? Also, I’ve seen loads of Mark Twain quotes that are genuinely great, so part of me thinks there’s gotta be more to it than that.

[DC] A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - an engineer attempts to modernize medieval England

By SonnetAsh6

Honestly I’m kind of shocked nobody else has thrown this one out yet, since it’s a classic. It kind of breaks down the whole romantic “medieval society” stuff you see in a lot of novels from back then, and it also pokes at modern society from that same period. There are also some parts that feel pretty logical/rational, but it’s been a long time since I read it, so I can’t really remember how much of that there actually is. I put the Project Gutenberg link before because it has pictures, but here’s another link with no pictures: http://www.literature.org/authors/twain-mark/connecticut/ . It’s also kind of like this other book, though I haven’t read it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lest_Darkness_Fall.

TIL Mark Twain was obsessed with technology, writing science fiction including A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court which featured time travel. He also had a close personal friendship with Nikola Tesla and said "a man with a new idea is a crank until he succeeds".

By OrangeBird

This one feels like it could be a really fun setup: Hank Morgan, an engineer from Connecticut, gets a bad hit to the head and ends up in England during King Arthur’s time. At first he’s totally confused, and after he gets captured by one of Arthur’s knights he figures out he’s in the past, then basically leans on what he knows to convince people he’s some kind of magician. I keep wondering if Arthur C. Clarke ever ran into this book and maybe got inspired when he came up with his Third Law in 1962—about how advanced tech can look like magic.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court the original Isekai (not really)

By greenMeadow1994

If you’re trying to find a good full-length novel that isn’t manga or a light novel, this one’s a pretty early classic—at least, that’s how I see it. It came out in 1889. I read it a few years back, and after I got really into the genre, I was like… wait, I already read an English version of this way before I ever even touched anime. Kinda funny, honestly. It’s by Mark Twain.

Somehow missed that Nick Offerman read "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and I can't imagine a better fit

By DawnBookworm2

I’m only a little ways in, but it’s already hitting perfectly. Offerman’s delivery is kind of dry and wry in a way that fits the narrator’s sarcasm way better than I would’ve expected, honestly. I somehow missed it when it came out last September, but it showed up in my Audible suggestions. I listened to the sample for like 30 seconds and that was enough—I grabbed it right then. My commute for the next week or two is basically saved.

If I was teleported to 100 bc England, what would happen to me?

By littlemirrorrapid

I’m a white guy from western Europe (English), about 183cm tall. I can’t speak Welsh or any of the older languages, and I’ve got dark buzzcut/crewcut hair, no tattoos, just some stubble. If I got transported back to around 100 BC, like where London is now, north of the Thames, what would people there think of me? Would they be suspicious or just confused? What would they do to me, really? And would I somehow look like I “belonged” to some group, or would I stick out instantly? Edit: assume I’m wearing jeans, a plain T-shirt, socks, and trainers, and I’ve got my wallet, keys, and phone in my pockets.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Artoria's Court

By Narrow_Horse50

I’m kind of imagining Artoria and the gang somehow crossing paths with Hank Morgan from “Connecticut Yankee” and then—obviously—everything goes sideways from what Twain/Hank claims. Like, Morgan snatches Hank out of his own time to use his future knowledge against Artoria’s sister, and Hank’s stuck dealing with torture threats the whole way. Then Agravain “rescues” him but really just lets him get picked off by brigands so his mom can’t benefit from his knowledge. At least Gawain eventually gets him out for real and brings him back to Camelot, where Hank has to deal with Agravain again—who basically asks him not to talk about the attempted murder, again with the threat vibe. And it’s frustrating because Hank keeps trying to help/modernize stuff, but Artoria’s people can be so insensitive and dumb that almost everything he does ends up going badly anyway. The meat plant thing is one example—works for a bit, everyone’s happy, then monsters show up and smash it. The bicycle idea is another, except it leads to some captain thinking he can swap horses for bikes in the cavalry even though they can’t handle the terrain, so the riders get wrecked. Even the democracy angle kind of falls apart because it’s not enforced cleanly and Morgan’s got an opponent rigging ballots, plus Mordred and her siblings basically game the voting system whenever they can. On top of that, Morgan keeps trying to sabotage/kill/?? kidnap Hank because Artoria will profit from her spell. And Merlin is the absolute worst—he keeps popping into Hank’s dreams just to “enjoy” memories of modern women being way less modest, with the whole awkward tour-guide energy. In the end Hank snaps and tries to pull off some kind of hostile takeover, but his plan relies on kids as both soldiers and shields, and it doesn’t work because Artoria’s side easily beats them. Then Artoria decides it was unfair to keep him around, and Merlin sends him back by putting him in a deep sleep thing. So Hank wakes up in 1887 London, ends up jailed because people think he’s a thief (because his hair is all wild and long after centuries—yikes), then Queen Victoria figures out he’s “The Slumbering Yankee” and gets him transported to America per this old decree from British rulers. But right when he’s back home, of course Morgan shows up to kidnap him again, and Hank goes to tell Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain about it—careful to make himself look better than he really was, since he’s still mad at everyone in Camelot. And then he finishes his “mostly true” story… …until he screams because Gawain is in Clemens’ window. Which is, like, the last thing you’d want—especially because there’s apparently a Singularity around the place, and Chaldea’s gotta come in. And Gawain vaguely remembers Hank told him where he lived, so… yeah.

I had a very appropriate encounter while listening to an audiobook of Mark Twain’s “a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”

By bookworm-falcon482

A couple winters back I was in the car with my boyfriend driving out toward these pretty undeveloped hot springs in Idaho. It was deep snow and still snowing the whole way, and we had Mark Twain’s *A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court* going—Nick Offerman narrating, which honestly was awesome. Anyway, we stopped at what we thought was the parking lot for the trail, but we overshot it because we saw this weird thing. There was this guy in full chain mail and medieval-looking clothes, with like a sheath (no sword) and a cloak, digging a 90’s Subaru Forester out of the snow while holding a shield. I know how that sounds, but yeah. We turned around and pulled in, and he’d already gotten his car out and parked too—just sitting there. We both got out and hiked the mile to the springs, and pretty soon he joined us. While we were there, we got curious and asked about the outfit. He said it was for backpacking training since chain mail is super heavy. That feels kind of unlikely to me, especially with the shield and the full setup, but maybe he was just embarrassed or something.

A Connecticut Yankee AT or IN King Arthur's Court?

By echo_moss_careful

I’ve always known Mark Twain’s time-travel book as **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court**, but then I noticed the Penguin Classics version uses **“at”** instead. And to make it worse, I think even the British first edition title wasn’t the same thing—wasn’t it something like **A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur**? So now I’m honestly confused: what was the original American title—**in** or **at**—and when (if ever) did it switch? Or is this just people getting it wrong so often that even publishers’ sites are inconsistent? Because the Penguin page says “in,” but the cover picture looks like “at.” Oxford is a similar mess too: cover says “in,” but the site description says “at.” I know it’s pretty pedantic, but I really want to know why Twain (or whoever) picked that preposition in the first place.

Historic Accuracy of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

By matrix_velvet4

I just finished reading Mark Twain’s *A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court* and now I’m kind of stuck on how accurate the whole picture is for normal people and for the nobles back then. Like, not counting the inventions from The Boss—just how things really might’ve been.

Books like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court?

By luckywindow1990

I keep thinking—are there any newer takes on this kind of story? Like where someone from modern times gets thrown back and tries to act like their tech/knowledge is just “magic.”

Just read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court for the first time. I was really surprised by how funny it was.

By Porch

I knew this one was old, but I’d never actually picked it up before and figured it’d be worth talking about. I did read some Twain back in school, though honestly I probably wasn’t at the right age to really get how sharp he is. Recently I’ve been poking around Project Gutenberg and just stumbled onto this book. I started it kind of randomly and got hooked right away. There were plenty of laughs in it, but the part I liked best was the back-and-forth between The Boss and the people from the 6th century, especially Clarence. Even stuff that sounds plain can turn into something funny because of how they bounce off each other. One line I especially liked is when The Boss talks to a page before he figures out where he is: This was a skinny little kid in bright shrimp-colored tights that made him seem like a split carrot, with blue silk, tiny laces, and frills besides; he had long yellow curls and a pink satin hat with a feather, shoved cockily over one ear. He looked friendly enough, and he walked like he knew it. He was almost too pretty to be real. He came up, gave me a grin and this bold curious look, said he was there for me, and told me he was a page. “Get out of here,” I said. “You’re not even a paragraph.” I also got a kick out of The Boss’s “soap missionary” knights, riding all over the place with cheesy old ad slogans on their armor while trying to sell soap, hats, “prophylactic toothbrushes,” and other random household stuff. Every time one of them showed up, I wanted to know what slogan they were going to have lol. Most people know Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, but I feel like this one doesn’t get talked about as much as it should. It does start to slow down in the middle, and I think Twain’s politics kind of start taking over there. The ending hit me as really bleak too, maybe even a little too much. Spoiler-ish: The Boss ends up making a gatling gun and modern war gear and wipes out 40,000 knights with only about 50 guys. Even with that, I thought it was a really fun read and pretty hilarious in spots. What did other people think of it?

Books like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

By Winter_Panda37

I like the whole “go back in time and jumpstart an industrial revolution” idea—stuff like Lest Darkness Fall, 1632, Conrad Starrad, that vibe. I also give it some credit for having more advanced people end up on less advanced worlds and basically doing the same kind of thing, kind of like A Fire Upon the Deep.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

By midnightsummer

Sorry if I’m reposting—my earlier post was gone. I came across this in a thrift store for a couple bucks. It was an old Penguin Classic with the original pictures. The premise totally caught me because it feels like Stranger in a Strange Land, but without all the hippie/new-age vibe. I actually really liked it. I usually stick to dry non-fiction stuff (philosophy, history, religious writings), so I didn’t expect to enjoy something as much as I did. Twain’s ideas felt surprisingly fresh and still relevant. It might hit harder for a younger reader than some of his more famous stuff. Also, yeah, it does come off pretty “satanic,” I guess, in the same way you could say Pascal is—more about the tone/stance than anything literal. From what happens: a guy at a factory gets injured in a fight and somehow ends up in King Arthur’s court, around 600 AD, with his mind/body transported. The whole thing leans on pretty basic 20th-century science knowledge (chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, all that), and because he has it, he quickly starts looking like a king and basically uses “magic” that’s really science to gain and keep control. Merlin shows up as another kind of rival magician, and there’s a lot of very old-school social stuff too—gender norms, feudal slavery, imprisonment, etc. Twain doesn’t just bash everything; there’s also this more admiring view of old nobility that’s more about spirit and bravery. There are definitely occult elements, and Twain is skeptical about official institutional religion. But he also seems to think smaller, more local religion can be pretty good—more sincere and aimed at actual goodwill toward ordinary people.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Complete Edition) by Mark Twain

By Otter_Raven7336

If you’re grabbing those free ebooks on Amazon, don’t hit the “Read for Free” option. I think you’re better off choosing “Buy Now” when the price shows $0.00. The “Read for Free” button seems to be tied to Kindle Unlimited, which you have to pay for.

Looking for "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" esq book or series

By tagboard_fog91

I’ve been through a bunch of this kind of sci-fi: - Safehold (David Weber) - ISOT, Drakas, and some of Emberverse (Stephen Michael Stirling) - Raj Whitehall / The General series (David Drake — this is probably my favorite) - Destiny’s Crucible (Olan Thorensen) - Lost Regiment (William R. Forstchen) - Destroyermen (Taylor Anderson) - 1632 (Eric Flint — I haven’t finished all of those, but I’ve read a lot) - Hammer and the Cross (Harry Harrison) - Belisarius stuff (David Drake + Eric Flint) - Time Spike (Eric Flint) - Price Rodger series (David Weber + John Ringo) - Matt Miller in the Colonies (Mark J. Rose) - Arturo Sanders (Peter Rhodan) - Conrad Stargard (Leo Frankowski) - Janissaries (Jerry Pournelle) I feel like I’ve basically read most of what’s out there in this lane, but I’m still hoping someone can point out something I missed. I really like when these books roll out new tech and ideas, and the Raj Whitehall series (especially Chosen) is where I think it hits the best.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain

By shelfcareful

I’d read and liked Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn when I was a kid in school, and I got maybe halfway through Life on the Mississippi before I gave up. So I thought I had a pretty good handle on Mark Twain already. That’s why I was kind of shocked when I started looking up time travel books and saw this one turning up near the top of the lists. This book honestly has everything — historical fiction, humor, time travel/alternate timeline stuff, political commentary, social commentary, all of it. It also feels weirdly fitting that it was published in the middle of the Gilded Age, since all the “advanced” tech and “modern” ideas in it come off as sort of charmingly dated now. And the whole setup of someone dragging all this knowledge into early medieval England just makes it even more fun. What would you even do if you knew a bunch of history and science and suddenly found yourself up a tree from a real knight in armor? Probably claim to be some kind of wizard and try to take over the place, I guess. I really loved it. It was a little slow for me at the start because I had to work through the old-timey English the characters use, but once I got into it I flew through the rest.

Mark Twain | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

By lucky_fork7

Honestly, at this point I feel like reviews from this Anne should count as cheating. She always seems to have the absolute worst takes, and I keep running into her in the review section. She supposedly gave 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a bad rating because it spent too much time talking about fish and didn’t have some huge squid battle like the movies that came out a hundred years later.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, narrated by Jeff Hays.

By Island_Rapid

Not trying to shill or anything, but this might be the best audiobook I’ve ever heard.

What is the silliest/dumbest reason you stopped reading a book?

By PantherSky

Back in 5th grade I was partway through the third Harry Potter, and while I wasn’t paying attention, a friend (or maybe more like an enemy) grabbed my bookmark out of the book. After that, I just stopped reading it right away and I never really went back to that series. So what weird reasons have you all had for bailing on a book so suddenly?