University of Virginia Library

Romance Important

That is, he adamantly affirms
that the romance of Joan is more
important than the reality, that the
truth of her story is less important
than that men have been willing
to give themselves to the lie.

The consequences of his commitment,
both for the content and
for the actual writing of the play,
are serious.

He attempts at certain points
to make his play an idyll of the
death of innocence. Thus he deserts
the usual chronologies for a flashback
technique which contrasts, as
Joan says, "the beginning, when
I hear my Voices" with "the end,
when my King and all my friends
have deserted me, when I
doubt and recant and the Church
receives me again."

But he fails because he is in
love with Joan, and insists that it
be from a distance. His program
notes declare that he will not
"attempt to explain the mystery
of Joan," but the result is that
he never knows here character
either. Anouilh loves her; he has
never bothered to listen to her.
When she speaks, she speaks all
the different lines that men since
her time have, in their imaginations,
heard her speak, but with
no unifying thread.

"Playboy" magazine once ran a
cartoon which depicted the filming
of "Spartacus"-Kirk Douglas
with his studiously ragged band of
men; masses and masses of troops,
surrounding them utterly; and the
director saying "All right, Kirk
sweetie-let's take it from your
line, 'Follow me! They can't stop
men who want to be free!"