Straws and Prayer-Books cabell's reading list
Talk The Rabble Discuss Cabell: James Branch Cabell &c
Join LibraryThing to post.
1wreade1872
So just reading this and Cabell gives a long section about books he's been reading and they're all sort of obtuse references.
I'll be trying to google my through and decipher what in particular he's referencing here but if anyone sees anything they recognise feel free to chime in, any help appreciated.
I believe the Endymion, Phaeton reference is to Lucian's True History. Not sure what version exactly the Lancelot story is from. I'll work on the rest later.
In another part of the book he also recommends the novel 'Messer Marco Polo by Donn Byrne' (1921) so adding that to my to-do.
Anyway here's the quote
"For, thanks to these haphazard sorcerers, my life has been a marvellous affair. I look back, for example, upon the last month, which, as my high-flown and roystering way of living averages, has been uneventful enough.
Yet in that time, I have quested through Thessaly, disguised by the old magic of Apuleius as Mr. Gilbert Seldes, in pursuit of all the lively arts, and, somewhat more necessitously, of a wreath of roses; and have, with an intrepidity which I perforce admired, sailed for the moon, to take part in the wars between Endymion and Phaethon. . . .
Descending, I have passed that night with a fair and charming woman—in a bed very white and wide, with two coverlets of scarlet silk cloth,—and all our queer intercourse has been conducted, amid many other incomprehensible happenings, chastely.
In the morning we two went out into sunlit fields; and so came to a spring of clear water enclosed by a stone basin, upon which someone had left forgotten a comb of gilded ivory. Entangled in this comb, as I (whom men called Lancelot) saw with glad wondering, and with the heroic passion for which I had long suspected myself to have the talent, was near a handful of the hair of Guenevere.
And I remember how I thought that gold a hundred thousand times refined would seem darker than midnight compared with the brightest day of that year’s summer, if anyone were to set such gold beside this hair. . . .
Soon passing thence,—and travelling now under the alias of Gil Bias de Santillane,—I have disastrously changed rings with a plump, dimpled brown-eyed niece of the governor of the Philippine Islands; I have come, disguised as a green and gold pasteboard dragon, into the bedroom of the most beautiful of Casmirians; I have criticised the sermons of the Archbishop of Granada and found him in nothing different from any other author under criticism.
Fleeing episcopal wrath, I chatted, near Plessis les Tours, with a thm-nosed and threadbare burgess, who turned out to be the most shrewd of kings, and who sent me perilously journeying to the court of yet another bishop. But Louis de Bourbon had been murdered, I discovered, at an over-uproarious supper-party conducted by the Wild Boar of Ardennes. . . .
So I journeyed instead into England, to fetch back the Queen’s diamonds in good time for her to foil the nefarious Cardinal, by duly wearing these twelve gems when she danced in the ballet of La Merlaison at the fete of Messieurs the Echevins. In England, though, I wandered so far astray, both northward and chronologically, that, lost, I paused, under the wood of Lettermore, to ask my way of red Colin Campbell, in the very moment the great, ruddy jovial gentleman was shot down from ambush; and through this mishap I became again a fugitive, now wandering through the howes and bracken of wild Scotland. . . . Always, you perceive, no matter what mage guided, he kept to the tried formula, and led me, footloose and at free adventure, through eras and surroundings which were to him and me in nothing familiar.
... So that eventually I came, by way of the British Linen Company’s bank, and so past the lair of Tharagavverug, to the steel gate, to The Porte Resonant, of the Fortress Unvanquishable; and I am now upon the point of going in to cut off, for the third or fourth time, Gaznak’s evil head."
I'll be trying to google my through and decipher what in particular he's referencing here but if anyone sees anything they recognise feel free to chime in, any help appreciated.
I believe the Endymion, Phaeton reference is to Lucian's True History. Not sure what version exactly the Lancelot story is from. I'll work on the rest later.
In another part of the book he also recommends the novel 'Messer Marco Polo by Donn Byrne' (1921) so adding that to my to-do.
Anyway here's the quote
"For, thanks to these haphazard sorcerers, my life has been a marvellous affair. I look back, for example, upon the last month, which, as my high-flown and roystering way of living averages, has been uneventful enough.
Yet in that time, I have quested through Thessaly, disguised by the old magic of Apuleius as Mr. Gilbert Seldes, in pursuit of all the lively arts, and, somewhat more necessitously, of a wreath of roses; and have, with an intrepidity which I perforce admired, sailed for the moon, to take part in the wars between Endymion and Phaethon. . . .
Descending, I have passed that night with a fair and charming woman—in a bed very white and wide, with two coverlets of scarlet silk cloth,—and all our queer intercourse has been conducted, amid many other incomprehensible happenings, chastely.
In the morning we two went out into sunlit fields; and so came to a spring of clear water enclosed by a stone basin, upon which someone had left forgotten a comb of gilded ivory. Entangled in this comb, as I (whom men called Lancelot) saw with glad wondering, and with the heroic passion for which I had long suspected myself to have the talent, was near a handful of the hair of Guenevere.
And I remember how I thought that gold a hundred thousand times refined would seem darker than midnight compared with the brightest day of that year’s summer, if anyone were to set such gold beside this hair. . . .
Soon passing thence,—and travelling now under the alias of Gil Bias de Santillane,—I have disastrously changed rings with a plump, dimpled brown-eyed niece of the governor of the Philippine Islands; I have come, disguised as a green and gold pasteboard dragon, into the bedroom of the most beautiful of Casmirians; I have criticised the sermons of the Archbishop of Granada and found him in nothing different from any other author under criticism.
Fleeing episcopal wrath, I chatted, near Plessis les Tours, with a thm-nosed and threadbare burgess, who turned out to be the most shrewd of kings, and who sent me perilously journeying to the court of yet another bishop. But Louis de Bourbon had been murdered, I discovered, at an over-uproarious supper-party conducted by the Wild Boar of Ardennes. . . .
So I journeyed instead into England, to fetch back the Queen’s diamonds in good time for her to foil the nefarious Cardinal, by duly wearing these twelve gems when she danced in the ballet of La Merlaison at the fete of Messieurs the Echevins. In England, though, I wandered so far astray, both northward and chronologically, that, lost, I paused, under the wood of Lettermore, to ask my way of red Colin Campbell, in the very moment the great, ruddy jovial gentleman was shot down from ambush; and through this mishap I became again a fugitive, now wandering through the howes and bracken of wild Scotland. . . . Always, you perceive, no matter what mage guided, he kept to the tried formula, and led me, footloose and at free adventure, through eras and surroundings which were to him and me in nothing familiar.
... So that eventually I came, by way of the British Linen Company’s bank, and so past the lair of Tharagavverug, to the steel gate, to The Porte Resonant, of the Fortress Unvanquishable; and I am now upon the point of going in to cut off, for the third or fourth time, Gaznak’s evil head."
2paradoxosalpha
The "lair of Tharagavverug" all the way through "Gaznak's evil head" is from Dunsany's "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth." I'm not sure about the "British Linen Company's bank" reference.
bibliography
a discussion on LT
bibliography
a discussion on LT
3wreade1872
Ahh.. yes i thought Tharagavverug sounded like Dunsany all right, one down. I also have no idea what the linen company reference is yet either.
Edit: oh that's in scotland, maybe Dunsany worked there or something? will check.
Edit again: no dunsany connection found however the novel 'Kidnapped' ends outside the linen company bank so maybe he was just doing a very quick reference to that.
"I have quested through Thessaly, disguised by the old magic of Apuleius as Mr. Gilbert Seldes, in pursuit of all the lively arts, and, somewhat more necessitously, of a wreath of roses;"
This bit is referencing Gilbert Seldes who adapted some greek stuff for the stage, I think the wreath of roses is a stage thing. Seldes also wrote the a book The Seven Lively Arts in 1923.
Apuleius is the author of the Golden Ass but its probably just a reference to Seldes adaptations of greek works for the stage. Apuleius also wrote the Apologia in defense of being accused of magic, this whole section of the Straws and Prayer-Books work being about how authors are magic users.
Edit: oh that's in scotland, maybe Dunsany worked there or something? will check.
Edit again: no dunsany connection found however the novel 'Kidnapped' ends outside the linen company bank so maybe he was just doing a very quick reference to that.
"I have quested through Thessaly, disguised by the old magic of Apuleius as Mr. Gilbert Seldes, in pursuit of all the lively arts, and, somewhat more necessitously, of a wreath of roses;"
This bit is referencing Gilbert Seldes who adapted some greek stuff for the stage, I think the wreath of roses is a stage thing. Seldes also wrote the a book The Seven Lively Arts in 1923.
Apuleius is the author of the Golden Ass but its probably just a reference to Seldes adaptations of greek works for the stage. Apuleius also wrote the Apologia in defense of being accused of magic, this whole section of the Straws and Prayer-Books work being about how authors are magic users.
4paradoxosalpha
"The magic of Apuleius" is, I think, the transformation of Lucius into a donkey in The Golden Ass, set in Thessaly. This sorcery is echoed in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and I suspect the Seldes work at issue has to do with either or both. The wreath of roses would relate to the rose that was instrumental in returning Lucius to human form.
5paradoxosalpha
Second thought, JBC is simply referencing The Golden Ass as his reading matter, and using it to elliptically call Seldes an ass: "disguised ... as Mr. Gilbert Seldes" = in the shape of a donkey.
6wreade1872
That's a funny thought :) . If he is calling him an ass its probably because he disagrees with what he wrote in The Seven Lively Arts as he says 'as Mr. Gilbert Seldes, in pursuit of all the lively arts'.
Gil Bias de Santillane is a reference to Gil Blas by Alain René Le Sage, but i can't tell how much of that paragraph is about just that work or whether he's mixing other things in.
Gil Bias de Santillane is a reference to Gil Blas by Alain René Le Sage, but i can't tell how much of that paragraph is about just that work or whether he's mixing other things in.
7wreade1872
I think most, possibly all of this section
"I chatted, near Plessis les Tours, with a thm-nosed and threadbare burgess, who turned out to be the most shrewd of kings, and who sent me perilously journeying to the court of yet another bishop. But Louis de Bourbon had been murdered, I discovered, at an over-uproarious supper-party conducted by the Wild Boar of Ardennes."
is referencing Quentin Durward by Walter Scott.
"I chatted, near Plessis les Tours, with a thm-nosed and threadbare burgess, who turned out to be the most shrewd of kings, and who sent me perilously journeying to the court of yet another bishop. But Louis de Bourbon had been murdered, I discovered, at an over-uproarious supper-party conducted by the Wild Boar of Ardennes."
is referencing Quentin Durward by Walter Scott.
8wreade1872
"So I journeyed instead into England, to fetch back the Queen’s diamonds in good time for her to foil the nefarious Cardinal, by duly wearing these twelve gems when she danced in the ballet of La Merlaison at the fete of Messieurs the Echevins."
This section is referencing The Three Musketeers as far as i can tell.
This section is referencing The Three Musketeers as far as i can tell.
9wreade1872
Ah.. yes colin campbell is also a Kidnapped reference so all of this bit is Kidnapped
"ask my way of red Colin Campbell, in the very moment the great, ruddy jovial gentleman was shot down from ambush; and through this mishap I became again a fugitive, now wandering through the howes and bracken of wild Scotland. . . . Always, you perceive, no matter what mage guided, he kept to the tried formula, and led me, footloose and at free adventure, through eras and surroundings which were to him and me in nothing familiar.
... So that eventually I came, by way of the British Linen Company’s bank,"
So i think that's all of them?:
The Golden Ass
The Seven Lively Arts
Lucian's True History
some version of the arthurian legends
Gil Blas
Quentin Durward
The Three Musketeers
Kidnapped
The Fortress Unvanquishable
Not sure about this bit
"Descending, I have passed that night with a fair and charming woman—in a bed very white and wide, with two coverlets of scarlet silk cloth,—and all our queer intercourse has been conducted, amid many other incomprehensible happenings, chastely."
I can't tell if its related to True History or Golden Ass which goes before it or the Lancelot stuff after or is its own thing.
"ask my way of red Colin Campbell, in the very moment the great, ruddy jovial gentleman was shot down from ambush; and through this mishap I became again a fugitive, now wandering through the howes and bracken of wild Scotland. . . . Always, you perceive, no matter what mage guided, he kept to the tried formula, and led me, footloose and at free adventure, through eras and surroundings which were to him and me in nothing familiar.
... So that eventually I came, by way of the British Linen Company’s bank,"
So i think that's all of them?:
The Golden Ass
The Seven Lively Arts
Lucian's True History
some version of the arthurian legends
Gil Blas
Quentin Durward
The Three Musketeers
Kidnapped
The Fortress Unvanquishable
Not sure about this bit
"Descending, I have passed that night with a fair and charming woman—in a bed very white and wide, with two coverlets of scarlet silk cloth,—and all our queer intercourse has been conducted, amid many other incomprehensible happenings, chastely."
I can't tell if its related to True History or Golden Ass which goes before it or the Lancelot stuff after or is its own thing.
10paradoxosalpha
Yeah, I'd strike The Seven Lively Arts. It's not a work of fiction and doesn't fit the larger conceit of Cabell's passage, and I don't see sufficient detail to indicate it. I really think he was just calling its author an ass.
