Showing results for "Yankees" in Literary Fiction

After Hank Morgan of Hartford, Connecticut, takes a blow to the head, he inexplicably awakens in sixth-century Camelot. At first lost and confused, the time traveler soon realizes that he can use modern knowledge and his ability to foretell the future to his advantage. Consequently, he is granted a place in the king’s court as Arthur’s right-hand man. When the Catholic Church grows fearful of his power, the Connecticut Yankee aims higher and concocts a grandiose plan to bring American ideals to sixth-century England to change the future.

An ingenious Yankee mechanic, knocked unconscious in a fight, awakens to find himself in Camelot in 528 A.D. Imprisoned by Sir Kay the Seneschal and exhibited before the knights of the Round Table, he is condemned to death but saves himself by posing as a Merlin-like magician, correctly predicting an eclipse, and becoming a minister to King Arthur. He increases his power by applying 19th century knowledge of gunpowder, electricity, and industrial methods.

When Connecticut mechanic and foreman Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious, he wakes not to the familiar scenes of 19th century America, but to the bewildering sights and sounds of 6th century Camelot. Although confused at first and quickly imprisoned, he soon realizes that his knowledge of the future can transform his fate. Correctly predicting a solar eclipse from inside his prison cell, Morgan terrifies the people of England into releasing him and swiftly establishes himself as the most powerful magician in the land, stronger than Merlin and greatly admired by Arthur himself.

The hit on the head that sends Hank Morgan back through 13 centuries does not affect his natural resourcefulness. Using his knowledge of an upcoming eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, and secures an important position at court. Gradually, he introduces 19th century technology and soon has an easy life. He becomes "The Boss" of the Kingdom, second only to the King.

The story of Hank Morgan, a 19th-century American who is accidentally returned to sixth-century England, is a powerful analysis of such issues as monarchy versus democracy and free will versus determinism, but it is also one of Twain's finest comic novels, still fresh and funny after more than 100 years.

Cracked on the head by a crowbar in nineteenth-century Connecticut, Hank Morgan wakes to find himself in King Arthur's England. Branded by Twain's aptitude for broad comedy and biting social satire, the grim truths of Twain's Camelot, fear, injustice, ignorance, resound as clearly now as when it was written.