Steve Hoffman, I am all over that!

Some of you may remember when Kurt Vonnegut used Yankee in a speech
once. I couldn't find it on the net--I'm not sure if it was a
commencementment or his speech on getting the Mark Twain Award. But I
remember he started by talking about what a funny, funny guy Mark Twain
was, then he read one of the most horrific and bloody passages of
Connecticut Yankee, describing Hank's triumph of modern military
technology over crude 6th century armaments. 

When I recorded CY, I was surprised at how moved I was as the
relationship developed between Sandy and Hank, when Hank begins to
appreciate her as an actual human being, and not simply part of another,
more primitive race of people. "White Indians" he calls them early in
the book--not exactly a sensitive or politically correct thing to
say--but as with Huck Finn, it's Hank, not Mark Twain, who is making the
statement. (Though I'm well aware that there are many instances of Mark
Twain's insensitivity to--and unflattering descriptions of--indigenous
peoples of North America.) 

I even prefer CY's discussion of slavery over HF's. Taking away the
racial aspect, and exposing the basic haves vs. have-nots type of
slavery which, while still using the concept of The Other being The
Inferior (because of blood lines--as with Black slavery, being "born"
into slavery because one's parents were slaves). The King gets a chance
to experience slavery first hand, and has an evolutionary awakening
which might have changed the entire course of history, had Arthur
survived. And of course, there's Hank's equating monarchy with
slavery--which to this day is hardly ever addressed in any serious way.

I love the remarkable discourses on economics: how Hank tries--in
vain--to convince the commoners that even though they may have higher
wages, that because their money only goes half as far, they are actually
getting paid less for the same work than those who live in a less
inflated economy; it's wonderful to read how Hank sets up the first
stock market, and then--in a move that Bernie Madoff would admire--puts
his faltering St. Stylite shirt works on the market, then sells all the
stock to some gullible knights, who are all badly burned in the deal,
and who lead the charge on Hank's death trap in the final battle. 

I've posted one of my favorite humorous passages, culminating with St.
Stylite, mentioned above, on my website:

http://www.richardhenzel.com/yanksampstylus.mp3

And thanks to Stephen Railton, you can see what Mark Twain used for his
research on The Saints here:

http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/yankee/lecky&cy.html

The truth is always stranger, eh?

Persevere.

Richard Henzel