From archive (archive) From: ix230@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU (Chris Hertzog) Organization: University of California, San Diego Subject: Re: fantasy recs Date: 2 Jan 88 01:39:22 GMT In article <2104@haddock.ISC.COM> laura@haddock.ima.isc.com (The writer in the closet) writes: >> I've only started reading fantasy books this past summer >> and now I can't seem to put them down!! I want to ask users for >> their favorite books so I can continue reading GOOD, QUALITY >> stuff. No sf please, only fantasy. Some time I ago I mentioned James Branch Cabell's _Jurgen_ in the ha-ha books discussions. I also misquoted Cabell horribly from memory, so I won't do that again. What I will do is recommend this book as one of the really great Low Fantasies ever written. For those of you unfamiliar with the novel, it concerns the adventures of Jurgen, a "monstrously clever fellow" in the mythical quasi-medieval land of Poictesme. Upon hearing a monk stub his toe and curse the devil, Jurgen points out that the devil's not really a bad guy, he's just a working stiff like you and me, trying to do his job. Of course, a mysterious stranger appears out of nowhere, and grants Jurgen a wish after hearing his defense of the devil; while he doesn't exactly wish for his nagging, shrewish wife to vanish, he does hint that it would be nice to have some space for himself. When Jurgen returns home, he finds his wife gone; in fact, she never really existed. Disturbed, Jurgen sets out on a quest to find his wife, because, after all, it *is* the honorable thing to do. His adventures take him back in time to his lost youth and the girl of his dreams, to the priggish land of Philistia, to Hell, to Heaven, and eventually all the way to the top to the disorganized dusty office of Kastchei, the boss of the universe. (Those of you familiar with Heinlein's *Job* will find that he cribbed a bit from Cabell.) Along the way, Jurgen demonstrates his cleverness and his sexual prowess, and many profound observations about the human condition emerge. There is a Twain-like playfulness in the satiric portraits of royalty, the church, etc. The prose style is a wonderful fairy-tale sort of narrative. While feminists may find the female characters a little stereotyped, the book's ultimate strengths overcome this minor flaw (one common to many books of the period, and still over-exploited by Hollywood and insensitive contemporary authors). _Jurgen_ was banned in Boston in its day (the 1920's) for its playful sexuality; it's really quite tame by today's standards, and yet, it's also a hell of lot more clever in its description of Jurgen's sexual encounters than most fantasy authors today. And it is quite simply one of the wittiest books I've ever read. Chances are you won't find _Jurgen_ in your local bookstore. It's published by Dover books--a facsimile of an early edition, complete with marvelous illustrations. Most bookstores can order it easily. If you look around in old bookstores, every now and then you can stumble on an old hardback edition. . . -- Chris Hertzog ix230@sdcc6.ucsd.edu.UUCP From archive (archive) From: welty@steinmetz.ge.com (richard welty) Subject: The Biography of Manuel: a quick reader's guide, part 1 of ? Date: 24 Jun 88 04:02:08 GMT This is the first part of a quick and dirty guide to the 18 volumes of the Storiesende edition of James Branch Cabell's Biography of Manuel. In this posting, I provide a modest introduction to the Biography. (Some of the comments might be considered spoilers by some readers, but most won't be bothered much.) This is a rough draft, so don't be too violent in your condemnation ... Introduction: The Biography of Manuel contains essentially all the surviving early fiction of James Branch Cabell (Cabell rhymes with rabble, according to JBC himself.) While it is not likely that Cabell initially intended to build one huge cycle, he decided early on reuse characters that he liked in new stories, and the eventual result is the 18 volume biography of Manuel. JBC was a classical scholar, with a substantial background in Latin, Greek, and Classical Mythology. He recieved an A.B. from William and Mary near the turn of the century, and taught classics there while writing his earliest stories and attempting some poetry. He sold a string of stories to, among others, Harper's Magazine. These stories were collected in _Gallantry_, _Chivalry_, and _The_Line_of_Love_. He also wrote a couple of novels. Early on, he tended to write works that were controversial. One chapter of _The_Eagle's_Shadow_ (JBC's first novel) upset a great many readers (it seems very minor now, 80+ years later.) A falling out with Harper's left Cabell scrambling for a publisher. In 1915, Robert McBride published _The_Rivet_in_Grandfather's_Neck_, and the relationship thus established lasted for the remainder of Cabell's life (even through the controversy over _Jurgen_.) On to a volume-by-volume description of the Storiende Edition ... The numerical order of the volumes does not correspond to the order of original publication. Moreover, many of the earliest volumes recieved considerable revision before their publication in the Storiesende Edition. This listing is in the order of publication of the volumes in the Storiesende edition. Volume 1: _Beyond_Life_ Originally published by Robert McBride, January 1919 This is a book-length essay about themes which Cabell pursues in the remainder of the biography. It is in the form of a conversation between JBC and John Charteris, a fictional character whom Cabell invented and used in several volumes of the Biography. Cabell is careful to point out that this book contains Charteris' ideas about art and not Cabell's own. _Beyond_Life_ is primarily of interest to Cabell enthusiasts. It is of almost no interest to someone looking for a light-weight read, and to make complete sense must be read in conjunction with the rest of the Biography. Volume 2: _Figures_of_Earth_ Originally published February 1921 by Robert McBride This is the only book in which Manuel the swineherd appears as a character. In summary, Manuel, who has a squint and is really not very bright, after a series of adventures, becomes Dom Manuel, Count of the French province of Poictesme, all because he accidently fulfills a bizarre series of prophesies. This book is a damned entertaining read, although devotees of Thud and Blunder fantasy will have trouble with Cabell's perpetual smirk. Volume 3: _The_Silver_Stallion_ Originally published April 1926, by Robert McBride During Manuel's accidental rise to power, he collected a group of Knights and Nobles who called themselves the Fellowship of the Silver Stallion. After Dom Manuel's mysterious disappearence at the end of _Figures_of_Earth_, the various members of the Fellowship (independantly) went through a series of rather odd misadventures. Simultaneously, the none-to-bright and now missing Dom Manuel somehow became known as a legendary spiritual Redeemer (some say that his widow had something to do with this.) One interesting point is that Koshchei, who appears to be the bureaucrat in charge of the universe in _Jurgen_ appears as a entirely-too-serious child in one of the chapters of _The_Silver_Stallion_. This book is just as entertaining as _Figures_of_Earth_. The Cabell smirk is displayed to the same extent, as well. ... to be continued, unless my mailbox fills up with hate mail ... -- Richard Welty 518-387-6346 GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York welty@ge-crd.ARPA {uunet,philabs,rochester}!steinmetz!welty From: welty@steinmetz.ge.com (richard welty) Subject: The Biography of Manuel: a quick reader's guide, part 2 of ? Date: 25 Jun 88 05:21:06 GMT This is the second part of a quick and dirty guide to the 18 volumes of the Storiesende edition of the Biography of Manuel. in the Storiesende edition. First, a quick commentary about one of Cabell's major themes: The Witch Woman The Witch Woman runs throughout The Biography -- more a symbol than anything else, she is the woman whose very existance sends men into fits of insanity. Manuel's third daughter, Ettarre, is the archetypal Witch Woman, and she reappears in various guises throughout The Biography. According to _Beyond Life_, Ettarre belongs in the same company as Circe and Me'lusine. Her very function is to draw men astray. Volume 4: _Domnei_ / _The Music From Behind The Moon_ _Domnei_ -- authors title. Originally published by Fredrick Stokes as _The Soul of Melicent_, September, 1913 (the original edition sold 493 copies. The bestseller that year was _Pollyanna_.) Revised by the author and published under the title _Domnei_ by Robert McBride, October 1920. This book is the story of Perion the Rogue, who pursued the oldest daughter of Dom Manuel, Dame Melicent, through great travail and hardship. An older work than _Figures of Earth_ and _The Silver Stallion_, the Cabell smirk is not nearly so obvious. Like many of Cabell's earlier work, this is more in the mode of a romance (not a harlequin romance, dummy) than his later efforts. _The Music From Behind The Moon_, Originally published by John Day, September 1926 In this shorter work, the poet Madoc hears and is enchanted by the music of Ettarre, who is imprisoned by Sargatanet, Lord of the Waste Beyond the Moon, and who is doomed to spend 725 years there (according to the book of the Norns). This book is the story of how Madoc deals with this problem. Volume 5: _Chivalry_ short stories from Harper's Monthly Magazine, originally published by Harpers, October 1909. Revised version published by Robert McBride, November 1921. The stories in _Chivalry_ are concerned with Alianora of Provence, wife of King Henry the Third of England, and her progeny. It is rumored that the line of Kings of descended from Alianora was actually sired by Dom Manuel. These stories are very early Cabell, and the smirk is almost entirely absent. Volume 6: _Jurgen_ Published by Robert McBride, September, 1919. Confiscated by the New York Society for the Supression of Vice, January, 1920. Aquitted of all charges on a directed verdict in the Court of General Sessions, October 1922. The text of a pamphlet written by JBC, _The Judging of Jurgen_ was later incorporated into the forward of the american edition. It was incorporated into the main body of the text of the english edition. The english edition was used as the basis of the Storisende edition, and should be considered the definitive text (the english edition also contains some splendid illustrations by Frank Pape.) This is the book that made Cabell into a household word in the twenties. The court case established that literary merit must be taken into account in judging obscenity, and that a simple count of objectionable words and scenes is not enough. By today's standards, Jurgen is quite tame -- it almost seems like a children's book next to today's bestsellers. The story is that of Jurgen, who married Dame Lisa, but actually desired Dom Manuel's second daughter, Dorothy la Desiree, who had herself wed Heitman Michael of Asch. Jurgen, a failed poet and now a middle-aged pawnbroker, is offered an opportunity to experience all the fantastic imaginings of his youth. Given his youth and his fantasies, he ultimately finds that he cannot whole heartedly give himself to these fantasies. Jurgen, incidentally, is rumored to have been the last person to see Dom Manuel. ... to be continued, as no hate mail has arrived yet ... -- Richard Welty 518-387-6346 GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York welty@ge-crd.ARPA {uunet,philabs,rochester}!steinmetz!welty From: welty@steinmetz.ge.com (richard welty) Subject: The Biography of Manuel: a quick reader's guide, part 3 Date: 26 Jun 88 03:38:46 GMT This is the third part of a quick and dirty guide to the 18 volumes of the Storiesende edition of the Biography of Manuel. Gallantry, Chivalry, and Poetry The inheritors of the life of Manuel at various times displayed one or another of three attitudes towards life: the Chivalric (life as a testing), the Gallant (life as a toy), and the poetic (life as raw material.) Look for these attitudes as you read the biography. Volume 7: _The Line of Love_ Originally published by Harper & Brothers, September 1905. Contains stories originally published in Harper's Monthly Magazine. Revised edition containing two additional stories and a forward by H.L. Mencken published by Robert McBride, November 1921 According the Author's Note in the Storisende Edition, this was the only book of Cabell's published before 1919 (_Jurgen_) which made back for the publisher his investment. 2700 copies were sold. Cabell writes: ``Each page of the book was strangled with a floral bordering of improbable vegetation indecisively tinted somewhere between red and yellow; the book's binding masterfully blended the largest possible assortment of color with the least possible restraint; and the completed, rather appalling product was marketed in a pasteboard box of tumultuous crimson.'' The stories in this book are about the line descended from Dom Manuel's oldest daughter, Melicent. This line ultimately leads to the Bulmers and to the Musgraves of Lichfield, Virginia. The general theme of the stories is the folly of youth. Examples of all three attitudes appear in these stories. Volume 8: _The High Place_ Published by Robert McBride, November 1923 The adventures of Florian de Puysange are described in this book. Florian is presented with many of the same choices as Jurgen was, and makes the opposite decisions. The Puysange and Bulmer families are rather interwined. In addition to their descent from Melicent, there is rumored to be a dash of Jurgen mixed in somewhere. This book was considered indecent because it described various ``sexual eccentricities which were modish during the Orleans Regency.'' It recieved uniformly hostile reviews upon its publication, usually either because it was too much like _Jurgen_ or not enough like _Jurgen_. Volume 9: _Gallantry_ Published by Harper & Brothers, October 1907. Contains stories in various magazines of the period. Revised edition published by Robert M. McBride, June 1922 Whereas the stories in _Chivalry_ were concerned with the Chivalric attitude towards life, the characters in these stories display the Gallant attitude towards life. This book is primarily concerned with members of the Puysange and Bulmer families, although there is some interaction with the, er, persons resulting from the dalliance between Manuel and Queen Freydis. ... to be continued ... -- Richard Welty 518-387-6346 GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York welty@ge-crd.ARPA {uunet,philabs,rochester}!steinmetz!welty From: welty@steinmetz.ge.com (richard welty) Subject: The Biography of Manuel: a quick reader's guide, part 4 Date: 27 Jun 88 03:21:25 GMT This is the fourth part of a quick and dirty guide to the 18 volumes of the Storiesende edition of the Biography of Manuel. Poor Mad Horvendile Horvendile wanders through the Biography. He gets little respect from the other characters. He gives the effect of an ineffectual meddler, who thinks that he really runs things. Appearences may be deceptive in this case. Cabell suggests in the Forward to _Gallantry_ that Horvendile, an immortal, deals with boredom by playing with the lives of the inheritors of the life of Manuel. A character who appears throughout _Gallantry_ is Francis Vanringham. Vanringham is an early version of Horvendile, and in _The Cream of the Jest_, Cabell indicates that they are the same character. In _Gallantry_, Vanringham is apparently more actively involved in events than Horvendile is in other volumes; this is deceiving as well. Horvenile may also be Madoc, the poet/hero in _The Music from Behind the Moon_, and he may also be Ahasuerus. There is a suggestion in _The Cream of the Jest_ that Horvendile is a dream self of Felix Kennaston, the novelist. Whether or not this is true or merely a product of the wild imagination of Kennaston is not currently clear to me. Horvendile has a special relationship with Ettarre; see _The Cream of the Jest_ and _The Way of Ecben_ for details. Volume 10: _Something About Eve_ Originally published by Robert M. McBride, September 1927 This book continues the examination of the Bulmer-Musgrave line. It is specifically concerned with Gerald Musgrave, who trades places with Glaum of the Haunting Eyes (who in life had been Guivric of Perdigon, a companion of the Fellowship of the Silver Stallion. Guivric's original body had been taken over by the original Gluam in events that are described in _The Silver Stallion_.) Gerald, a practising poet, goes on to have a number of rather novel adventures with various women, while Guivric/Glaum carries on a respected and sober scholarly career. Volume 11: _The Certain Hour_ Originally completed, November 1912 Originally published by Robert M. McBride, November 1916 Manuel had natural children by two women, by his lawful wife Niafer and by Queen Alianora of England. In addition, he had unnatural issue when Queen Freydis (with whom he had an affair) animated ten earthen figures that Manuel had sculpted (these events are related in detail in _Figures of Earth_.) These ten figures were spun off in time. The ten stories in _The Certain Hour_ tell of them. The figures were: Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1160-1225), poet and crusader; Alessandro de Medici (1512-1537), Duke of Florence; William Shakespeare; Robert Herrick (1591-1674), clergyman and Rosicrucian; William Wycherley (1640-1715), dramatist; Alexander Pope (1688-1762), Writer; Horace Calverley, Lord Ufford (1725-1762), writer; Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), dramatist; Hilary Rudolph of Saxe-Kesselberg aka Paul Vanderhoffen (1780-1848), critic, essayist, and editor; John Charteris (1857-1903), novelist. Volume 12: _The Cords of Vanity_ Originally published by Doubleday, Page, and company, March 1909 Revised version published by Robert M. McBride, September 1920 This book is concerned with the adventures of Robert Townshend, and is obstensibly his memoir of his life as a philanderer, cur, and egotist. Townshend, a resident of Lichfield, is descended from the Bulmer-Musgrave line. John Charteris is also an important character in this volume; at the end he certainly gets what is coming to him. I found _The Cords of Vanity_ to be the most difficult book to finish, largely due to the fact that the main character is quite unsympathetic. ... to be continued ... -- Richard Welty 518-387-6346 GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York welty@ge-crd.ARPA {uunet,philabs,rochester}!steinmetz!welty From: welty@steinmetz.ge.com (richard welty) Subject: The Biography of Manuel: a quick reader's guide, part 5 Date: 29 Jun 88 03:37:53 GMT This is the fifth part of a quick and dirty guide to the 18 volumes of the Storiesende edition of the Biography of Manuel. Of Fake Sources Cabell generally pretended that the Biography was based on real legends and real people. As should be clear from earlier postings in this series, he made a major effort to tie his characters into real history. He also invented sources and claimed that his writings were based on them. In the case of several volumes of the Biography, he claimed to be collaborating with the fictitious Robert Townsend. He also recorded several conversations with the equally fictitious John Charteris. Volume 13: _From the Hidden Way_ / _The Jewel Merchants_ _From the Hidden Way_ originally published by Robert M. McBride, November, 1916 _The Jewel Merchants_ originally published by Robert M. McBride, December, 1921 _From the Hidden Way_ contains various poems written by Cabell but mostly attributed to characters from the Biography. A number of reviewers were suckered by this, and complimented Cabell on the quality of his translations from the original European languages. _The Jewel Merchants_ is a play based on the short story ``Balthazar's Daughter'', which appeared in the collection _The Certain Hour_ (Volume 11 of the Storisende edition) Volume 14: _The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck_ Originally completed, 1911 Originally published by Robert M. McBride, October 1915 This book tells the story of the chivalrous and rather stiff Col. Rudolph Musgrave and his dealings with women. There are some sidelights on the career of John Charteris as well. Volume 15: _The Eagle's Shadow_ Originally published by Doubleday, Page, and Company, October 1904 Revised version published by Robert M. McBride, August 1923 The important character in this book is Felix Kennaston, although he is not the main character. The primary story here is of the romance between Miss Hugonin and Mr. Woods, and Felix just kinds of walks in and takes over the scenes in which he appears. This was Cabell's first published novel, and he got into considerable trouble by having Miss Hugonin use the word ``damn'' (the publisher evidently forgot to subsitute a 2-em dash in one case.) ... one more part to go ... -- Richard Welty 518-387-6346 GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York welty@ge-crd.ARPA {uunet,philabs,rochester}!steinmetz!welty