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C

Cabell, James Branch (1879–1958)
James Branch Cabell was the author of numerous
books, not all fantasy, but the majority of which
were loosely assembled into a sequence known as
the “Biography of the Life of Manuel,” a pivotal
historical figure in the imaginary European nation
of Poictesme. About 20 of his books were listed as
part of this series, which was not written in
chronological order, but the connection is very
loose at times, tracing its way through various de-
scendants, and the order in which the stories are
read is largely irrelevant. Some of the titles are, in
fact, not fiction at all but collections of essays or
verse. The sequence includes the best of his work,
including his most famous novel, Jurgen(1919),
which was banned in New York when it was first
published because of its double entendres—very
tame by contemporary standards—and its satire of
organized religion. Cabell and his publishers won
the court case that followed, and he reaped consid-
erable publicity, which helped his subsequent ca-
reer. Jurgen is also Cabell’s most complex and
rewarding novel, a quest story in which an ordi-
nary man inadvertently wishes his wife away and
then spends much effort trying to find her among
myriad time periods and altered realities. He en-
counters a large number of historical and mytho-
logical figures, including Helen of Troy and a
vampire, before discovering that God is an illusion.
Cabell’s fantasy was an odd but clever mixture
of detailed research into history and mythology,
word play and anagrams, and mannerly behavior
and outrageous acts. The first several Poictesme

books appeared between 1904 and 1916 and are

listed for informational purposes in the bibliogra-

phy, although their fantasy content is minimal or

nonexistent. The first major fantasy title was The

Cream of the Jest(1917), subtitled a Comedy of Eva-

sions.The protagonist finds a magical artifact that

allows him to enter the land of dreams, where his

low-key adventures center around his pursuit of a

beautiful woman, his own personal ideal. Eventu-

ally he discovers that his wife in the real world has

similarly accessed the dream world and that it is

she whom he has been striving to reach. Beyond

Life(1919), mostly nonfiction, is chronologically

the first in the series and provides much of the

background, but it was with Jurgenthat Cabell’s

reputation began to soar.

Domnei(1920, previously published in 1913 in

a shorter version as The Soul of Melicent) is an ad-

venture story set in a magical kingdom that never

existed in historical Europe. The protagonist sets

out to rescue a beautiful woman and has a series of

low-key but very amusing adventures. Figures of

Earth(1921) is the title that deals most specifically

with Manuel and presents him in two not neces-

sarily conflicting roles. On the one hand, he was

the savior of his people, who battled witchcraft

and other evils and triumphed over adversity. On

the other, he was a swindler and a wastrel, greedy

and self-centered, whose victories were more inad-

vertent than planned. Cabell’s broad satire clearly

applied to a wide range of historical figures. He

starts life as a swineherd, is encouraged by a magi-

cian to rescue an imprisoned woman, finds love,