Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured

When I was in 4th or 5th grade I read a children's biography of Joan of Arc and became obsessed with her. After that, I read everything our school library had about her...and then moved on to other obsessions. Reading Kathryn Harrison's new biography was not at all like reading those books selected for children–not even the ones that didn't gloss over the horror of being kept chained in prison, interrogated by hostile prosecutors or burned to death.

Harrison's biography includes both testimony from people who knew Joan of Arc and spoke at her “nullification” trial (the trial that cleared her of her heresy and witchcraft conviction 30 years after her death) and representations of her from the biographies, plays and movies which have portrayed her over the centuries. It is a mixture of historical evidence and cultural interpretation that is not particularly well integrated.

Harrison's own portrayal of Joan is as a Christ-like figure. She interposes scenes from the Gospels in places where Joan's life could be said to be paralleling the life of Jesus and frequently points out other ways in which Joan is a kind of Messiah for her people. I found the emphasis on Joan as Messiah a little overbearing, in fact–the point was clear to me after 2 or 3 examples and I could have done with less reminding.

I did find this book fascinating and very readable in its historical detail, though. In particular, I had not realized as a 5th grader how upsetting it was for a 15th century woman to dress as a man or for a commoner to dress as a noble. I had not realized how much recorded testimony there was from both of her trials, either. Although I had learned many basic facts about Joan of Arc as a school kid, I learned more from Kathryn Harrison's book, especially about what it's possible to know.

All in all, I'd recommend this book with the caution that Harrison's attempt to both write a biography and mythologize Joan of Arc's story doesn't quite work.