"Luck" is an 1886

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

which was first published in 1891 in ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

''. It was subsequently reprinted in 1892 in the anthology '' Merry Tales''; the first British publication was in 1900, in the collection '' The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg''. It is one of Twain's more neglected stories, and received little critical attention upon its publication.

Plot summary

The story concerns a decorated English military hero, Lord Arthur Scoresby, a total idiot who triumphs in life through good luck. At the time of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

Scoresby is a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Despite his complete incompetence, everyone misinterprets his performance, taking his blunders for military genius, and his reputation is enhanced with every false step he makes. At the climax of the story, Scoresby mistakes his right hand for his left and leads a charge in the wrong direction, surprising a Russian force which panics and causes a retreat of the Russian army, thus securing an Allied victory. Another interpretation of the story is that the Reverend is simply jealous of the successes Scoresby has achieved. The Reverend, in the past, was an instructor at a military academy, where he taught a young Scoresby. According to the Reverend, Scoresby was a poor student, and "blundered" his way through promotions. When the war began, the Reverend joined the conflict, but with a lower rank of his ex-student. Throughout the story one can see that the Reverend is bitter, and his apparent distaste for the lord seems at odds with his role as a clergyman. The "absolute fool" in the story is not Scoresby, who ascended the ranks of the military through action, but rather the Reverend, who cannot accomplish anything in his lifetime. He also wrote something above the paper. e wrote "this is not a fancy sketch. I got it from a clergyman who was an instructor at the Woolwich Military school forty years ago, and who vouched for its truth."—M.T.

Notes on the story

* The story is said by some to be based on a real person; Twain himself writes in a footnote to the story that it was "not a fancy sketch"; i.e., not a work of fancy or imagination. Twain had heard the story from his old friend and confidant Joseph Twichell (who appears in '' A Tramp Abroad'' as "Harris"), who was visited by a British

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

who told him the tale of a famous general whose victories were entirely due to luck. However, Twain's footnote states that the story was related to him by an instructor at Woolwich Academy. One candidate for the famous soldier is Sir Garnet Wolseley. For other possible candidates who did not participate in the Crimean War, see http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crimea/beck/1.html The Victorian Web. 2005-08-15. * Another possible candidate is James Yorke Scarlett as the details of the Crimean War battle strongly match those of the Charge of the Heavy Brigade in the

Battle of Balaclava The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russian Empire, Russia's principal naval base on the Bl ...

References

External links

*Stephen Railton'
Mark Twain in His Times
project
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & MuseumLuck by Mark Twain
* {{Twain Short stories by Mark Twain 1886 short stories Works originally published in Harper's Magazine

Plot summary

Notes on the story

See also

References

External links