Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Ali Alizadeh, Giramondo Publishing, $26.95.
The Last Days of Jeanne d’Arc is a challenging new portrait of one of history’s most captivating and mysterious figures, Jeanne, a young woman from rural France.
She’s a knight who wears men’s clothing. Jeanne has led France to victory in epic battles. The English call her Joan of Arc.
Numerous books have been written about the young Frenchwoman who led the armies of France in the war against England in the Middle Ages. She claimed to hear the voices of saints and was captured and burnt for heresy by her enemies.
Driven by a passion for justice and forbidden desire, her courage changed the course of western history.
Based on rigorous study of historical material, Alizadeh’s inventive storytelling draws on his life-long fascination with this inscrutable icon. His re-visualisation of Jeanne’s story laces together several narrative viewpoints to elucidate her presence as a figure of history, myth and obsession.
