The Cream of the Jest; The Lineage of Lichfield : Two Comedies of Evasion
by James Branch Cabell
The Biography of Manuel in order of publication (Collections and Selections — 10a), The Biography of the Life of Manuel (Collections and Selections — volume 17), Cabell (Brewer Order) (Collections and Selections — No. 18 and No. 19)
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One of the best of Cabell's novels in The Biography of Manuel. It is probably best to come to this after reading some of the earlier novels dealing with Horvendile, though: Jurgen and Figures of Earth. (The Way of Ecben was written later and can be read later.)
It is especially interesting because Cabell filters his own experience of the Jurgen controversy through Kennaston's experience in the controversy of Men who Loved Alison, and uses that to present not only a completion of the biography in one sense, with a circling back to Poictesme, but also a distanced and critical response to the changes in the modern world.
It is especially interesting because Cabell filters his own experience of the Jurgen controversy through Kennaston's experience in the controversy of Men who Loved Alison, and uses that to present not only a completion of the biography in one sense, with a circling back to Poictesme, but also a distanced and critical response to the changes in the modern world.
A tale of an author who starts dreaming about one of his creations and starts wondering about the nature of reality. Decent enough for the most part, picks up quite a bit towards the end.
Highly recommended to ambitious fans of fantasy, as it contains the best meta-discussion of fantasy writing I've ever seen. It's also a good conclusion/summation of Cabell's novels overall.
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821 works; 358 members
Author Information
245+ Works 5,502 Members
James Branch Cabell (1879-1956) is best known for his tales of the imaginary land of Poictesme, where chivalry and galantry live on
Some Editions
Series
The Biography of Manuel in order of publication
25 works (Collections and Selections — 10a)
The Biography of the Life of Manuel
20 works (Collections and Selections — volume 17)
Cabell (Brewer Order)
53 works (Collections and Selections — No. 18 and No. 19)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Cream of the Jest; The Lineage of Lichfield : Two Comedies of Evasion
- Original publication date
- 1930
- Important places
- Poictesme; Storisende; Lichfield, Virginia, USA
- Epigraph
- "Le pays ou je voulais aller, tu m'y as mene en songe, cette nuit, et tu etais belle ... ah! que tu etais belle! ... Mais, comme je n'ai aime que ton ombre, tu me dispenseras, chere tete, de remercier ta realite."
- Dedication
- To LOISA NELSON
"At me ab amore tuo diducet nulla senectus" - First words
- Much has been written critically about Felix Kennaston since the disappearance of his singular personality form the field of contemporary writers; and Mr. Froser's Biography contains all it is necessary to know as to the fact... (show all)s of Kennaston's life.
- Quotations
- Perhaps ... man must simply go on striving to gain a little money, food, and sleep, a trinket or two, some moments of laughter, and at the last a decent bed to die in. (1927/166)
Misery was about them, death awaited without: and it did not matter a pennyworth. (1927/195)
I want to be happy. And that is impossible, because there is no happiness anywhere in the world. [...] For there are but three desirable things in life -- love and power and wisdom: and I, the king, have sounded the depths ... (show all)of these, and in none is happiness. (1927/202)
Fate, as always frugal of display, used simple tools. (1927/218)
People marry through a variety of other reasons, and with varying results: but to marry for love is to invite inevitable tragedy. (1927/229) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And I reflected that it is only preserving faith in human dreams that we may, after all, perhaps some day make them come true.
- Blurbers
- Machen, Arthur
- Disambiguation notice
- The Cream of the Jest was published in 1917 in its own volume. It was reissued in 1922 with an introduction by Harold Ward. It was included in the Modern Library in 1927. It was always subtitled A Comedy of Evasion. Th... (show all)e edition edited by Joseph Flora, and the Wildside, Kessinger and other generic reprints are of the stand-alone edition.
In 1930, in the collected Works of Cabell (the Storisende edition), Cream was combined in one volume with The Lineage of Lichfield and so they shared the subtitle Two Comedies of Evasion. This double edition is the one that that was reissued in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series with an introduction by Lin Carter (and an isbn prefix beginning with 0345-).
Stand alone editions of Cream have now been separated from Cream+Lineage double editions (containing two distinct works), and should not be combined. Probably a few inadequately described copies are in the wrong group, but the double edition can be identified by "Lineage" or "Two Comedies" or "Lin Carter" or "Ballantine" or an isbn beginning with "0345".
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.05)
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- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 3
