The War Prayer

{{Short description|1905 short story by Mark Twain}} {{about|the Mark Twain short story|the ''Babylon 5'' TV episode|The War Prayer (Babylon 5)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} "'''The War Prayer'''", a short story or prose poem by [[Mark Twain]], is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind [[patriotism|patriotic]] and [[religion|religious]] fervor as motivations for war. The structure of the work is simple: an unnamed country goes to war, and patriotic citizens attend a church service for soldiers who have been called up. The people call upon [[God]] to grant them victory and protect their troops. Suddenly, an "aged stranger" appears and announces that he is God's messenger. He explains to them that he is there to speak aloud the second part of their prayer for victory, the part which they have implicitly wished for but have not spoken aloud themselves: the prayer for the suffering and destruction of their enemies. What follows is a grisly depiction of hardships inflicted on war-torn nations by their conquerors. The story ends with the man being condemned as a lunatic, "for there was no sense in what he said".

==History== "The War Prayer" was written in 1905, and is believed to be a response to both the [[Spanish–American War]] and the subsequent [[Philippine–American War]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ordealofmark00broorich |title=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain |author= J. R. LeMaster |year=2011 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref> It was left unpublished by Mark Twain at his death in April 1910, largely due to pressure from his family, who feared that the story would be considered [[sacrilege|sacrilegious]].<ref name="Brooks">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ordealofmark00broorich |title=Ordeal of Mark Twain |author=Van Wyck Brooks |year=1920 |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company}}</ref> Twain's publisher and other friends also discouraged him from publishing it.<ref>{{cite news|last=Twain|first=Mark|title=The War Prayer|url=http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig/twain1.html|access-date=25 February 2013|newspaper=[[LewRockwell.com]]}}</ref> According to one account, his illustrator [[Daniel Carter Beard|Dan Beard]] asked him if he would publish it anyway, and Twain replied, "No, I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead."<ref name="Paine">{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2988 |title=Mark Twain: A Biography : the Personal and Literary Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens |author=Albert Bigelow Paine |year=1912 |publisher=Harper & Brothers}}</ref> Mindful of public reaction, he considered that he had a family to support<ref name="Brooks"/> and did not want to be seen as a lunatic or fanatic.<ref name="Paine"/>

Many sites on the internet claim that "The War Prayer" was first published in ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' in November 1916,<ref>{{cite web |title=Harper's |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Harper%27s |website=Wikisource |access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref> but this was the concluding chapter of a different Twain story, "The Mysterious Stranger."<ref>{{cite web |title=Harper's 133, Nov 1916, pp. 883-892 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1916-11_133_798/page/882/mode/2up |website=Archive.org |date=November 1916 |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref> It was, however, included in ''Europe and Elsewhere'' (1923), a collection of Twain's essays edited by Albert Bigelow Paine, Twain's literary estate agent and biographer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Twain |first1=Mark |title=Europe and Elsewhere |url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=421aAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-421aAAAAMAAJ&rdot=1 |via=Google Play |year=1923 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |isbn=9781646793402 |access-date=26 December 2021}}</ref>

==Works based on the short story== The 1981 [[PBS]] filmed version of Twain's "A Private History of a Campaign That Failed" contains "The War Prayer" as an epilogue, which takes place during the [[Spanish–American War]]. [[Edward Herrmann]] played the Stranger, as well as the innocent man who had been killed accidentally by the boys years before in the [[American Civil War]], thus lending a supernatural air to the Stranger's origins.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081377/combined|title=The Private History of a Campaign That Failed (TV Movie 1981) - IMDb|website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211206/sVYIRbmxHpc Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120107235531/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYIRbmxHpc Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYIRbmxHpc| title = THE WAR PRAYER - Mark Twain | website=[[YouTube]]| date = 26 June 2008 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2006, the short film, ''War Prayer'' (2005), won the Best Director Award at the [[Beverly Hills Film Festival]]. [[Harold Cronk]] directed the film and adapted the screenplay from Twain's "The War Prayer".<ref>{{cite web|title=Beverly Hills Film Festival 2006|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000919/2006|website=[[IMDb]]|access-date=26 February 2013}}<br>- {{cite news|last=Guis|first=Dee|title=Beverly Hills Film Festival: And the Envelope Please...|url=http://www.canyon-news.com/artman/publish/article_4280.php|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=[[Canyon News]]|date=16 April 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923060626/http://www.canyon-news.com/artman/publish/article_4280.php|archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref>

In April 2007, a ten-minute, short film adaptation, entitled ''The War Prayer'', was released by Lyceum Films. Written by [[Marco Sanchez]] and directed by [[Michael A. Goorjian|Michael Goorjian]], the adaptation starred [[Jeremy Sisto]] as "The Stranger" and [[Tim Sullivan (director)|Tim Sullivan]] as "The Preacher".<ref>''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1202055/ The War Prayer]'', Internet Movie Database</ref>

That same year, the journalist and ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' president [[Markos Kounalakis]] directed and produced an animated short film based on Twain's piece, also entitled ''The War Prayer''. Narrated by [[Peter Coyote]], it starred [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] as the Minister and Eric Bauersfeld as the Stranger.<ref>[http://web.me.com/newshook/War_Prayer/The_War_Prayer.html ''The War Prayer''] by Markos Kounalakis</ref>

In 2023, an illustrated book, entitled ''Mark Twain's War Prayer'', was released. Illustrated by [[Seymour Chwast]] and including abridged words by Mark Twain regarding "[[The Lowest Animal]]".<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210879291-mark-twain-s-war-prayer?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=t21lOFPmrI&rank=4 ''Mark Twain's War Prayer''] by Seymour Chwast</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Wikisource}} *[[s:Harper's|November 1916 ''Harper's Monthly'' reference in Wikisource]] *[http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/Sketches/War_Prayer.htm One act adaptation for the stage by Gerald P. Murphy] *[http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE05.html Five-minute ''Reader's Theater Edition'' adaptation by Aaron Shepard] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZmEAZCOYSE The entire 2007 Lyceum Films adaptation] *[https://www.youtube.com/user/MarkosProduction The entire 2007 animated short, in two parts, on YouTube] *[http://www.harpercollins.com/books/War-Prayer-Mark-Twain/?isbn=9780060911133 The 96 page book published by Harper Collins] * {{librivox book | title=The War Prayer | author=Mark Twain}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:War Prayer, The}} [[Category:Short stories by Mark Twain]] [[Category:American short stories adapted into films]] [[Category:Spanish–American War]] [[Category:Anti-war works]] [[Category:1905 short stories]]

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