James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell (April 14, 1879 - May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres.

Related Topics:
April 14 - 1879 - May 5 - 1958 - American - Author - Fantasy fiction - Belles lettres

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Cabell was born in Richmond, Virginia. In his lifetime he published some fifty-two books, his eighth book, Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice, (1919) creating a scandal shortly after its publication. The eponymous hero, who considers himself a "monstrous clever fellow", embarks on a journey through ever more fantastic realms, even to hell and heaven. Everywhere he goes, he winds up seducing the local women, even the Devil's wife. The novel was denounced by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice; they attempted to bring a prosecution for obscenity. The case went on for two years before Cabell and his publishers won: the "indecencies" were double entendres that also had a perfectly decent interpretation, though it appeared that what had actually offended the prosecution most was a joke about papal infallibility. Cabell took an author's revenge: the revised edition of 1926 included a previously "lost" passage in which the hero is placed on trial by the Philistines, with a large dung-beetle as the chief prosecutor. He also wrote a short book, Taboo, in which he thanks John H. Sumner and the Society for Suppresion of Vice for generating the publicity that gave his career

Related Topics:
Richmond, Virginia - 1919 - New York Society for the Suppression of Vice - Papal infallibility - 1926 - Philistines

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a boost.

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Other works include Figures of Earth, which tells a story of Manuel the swineherd, a scoundrel who raises to conquer a realm by playing on others' expectations - his motto Mundus Vult Decipi meaning "the world wishes to be deceived". The Silver Stallion is a loose sequel that deals with the creation of the legend of Manuel the Redeemer, in which Manuel is pictured as an infallible hero, an example to which all others should aspire; but some of the former knights of Manuel have not yet passed away, and remember how things really were.

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All of these books are part of The Biography of Manuel, the story in 18 volumes (or 20 or 22, depending on how works published both separately and jointly are counted) of Dom Manuel and his descendants through many generations. Cabell stated that he considered the Biography to be a single work, and supervised its publication in a single uniform edition, known as the Storisende Edition, published fron 1927 to 1930.

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Most of these books take place in a fictional country known as "Poictesme", pronounced "pwa-tem". It was the author's invention to situate Poictemse roughly in the south of France.

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Cabell's work was thought of very highly by a number of his peers, including Mark Twain, Sinclair Lewis, and H. L. Mencken. And although now largely forgotten by the general public, his work was remarkably influential on later authors of fantastic fiction. Robert A. Heinlein was greatly inspired by his boldness, and originally described his famous masterpeice Stranger in a Strange Land as "a Cabellesque satire", and a later work Job, A Comedy of Justice (with the title derived from Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice) has an appearance of the Slavic god Koschei (who also appeared in Jurgen). Fritz Leiber's Swords of Lankhmar was also influenced by Jurgen. Jack Vance's Dying Earth books show considerable stylistic resemblances to Cabell; Cugel the Clever in those books bears a strong resemblance, not least in his opinion of himself, to Jurgen.

Related Topics:
Mark Twain - Sinclair Lewis - H. L. Mencken - Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land - Job, A Comedy of Justice - Koschei - Fritz Leiber's - Jack Vance's

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There are also references to Cabell in the works of many other fantasy and science fiction authors. For example, the Leshy Circuit stories by Larry Niven feature planets and places whose names are taken from Cabell. H. Beam Piper also used names from Cabell for some of his invented planets, although no stories are actually set on any such planets.

Related Topics:
Larry Niven - H. Beam Piper

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From 1969 through 1972, the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series returned six of Cabell's novels to print, and elevated his profile in the fantasy genre. Today, also many more of his work is available on Wildsidepress.

Related Topics:
1969 - 1972 - Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series

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Other works include:

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• The High Place
• Something about Eve
• The Cream of the Jest
• Domnei
• The Nightmare Has Triplets (trilogy comprising Smirt, Smith, and Smire)
• The King Was in His Counting House
• The Devil's Own Dear Son

Cabell died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. In 1970, Virginia Commonwealth University, also located in Richmond, named its main campus library after Cabell.

Related Topics:
Cerebral hemorrhage - Hollywood Cemetery - Virginia Commonwealth University

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James Branch Cabell: Quotations ►