James Branch Cabell

TO BURTON RASCOE Before each tarradiddle, Uncowed by sciolists, Robuster persons twiddle Tremendously big fists. "Our gods are good," they tell us; "Nor will our gods defer Remission of rude fellows' Ability to err." So this, your JURGEN, travels Content to compromise Ordainments none unravels Explicitly ... and sighs. "Others, with better moderation, do either entertain the vulgar history of Jurgen as a fabulous addition unto the true and authentic story of St. Iurgenius of Poictesme, or else we conceive the literal acception to be a misconstruction of the symbolical expression: apprehending a veritable history, in an emblem or piece of Christian poesy. And this emblematical construction hath been received by men not forward to extenuate the acts of saints.

A FOREWORD PART ONE THE BOOK OF CREDIT CHAPTER I HOW MANUEL LEFT THE MIRE II NIAFER III ASCENT OF VRAIDEX IV IN THE DOUBTFUL PALACE V THE ETERNAL AMBUSCADE VI ECONOMICS OF MATH VII THE CROWN OF WISDOM VIII THE HALO OF HOLINESS IX THE FEATHER OF LOVE PART TWO THE BOOK OF SPENDING X ALIANORA XI MAGIC OF THE APSARASAS XII ICE AND IRON .

Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice is a 1919 fantasy book by James Branch Cabell - the eighth among some fifty-two books written by this author - which gained fame (or notoriety, in the view of some) 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

TO BURTON RASCOE Before each tarradiddle, Uncowed by sciolists, Robuster persons twiddle Tremendously big fists. "Our gods are good," they tell us; "Nor will our gods defer Remission of rude fellows' Ability to err." So this, your JURGEN, travels Content to compromise Ordainments none unravels Explicitly ... and sighs. "Others, with better moderation, do either entertain the vulgar history of Jurgen as a fabulous addition unto the true and authentic story of St. Iurgenius of Poictesme, or else we conceive the literal acception to be a misconstruction of the symbolical expression: apprehending a veritable history, in an emblem or piece of Christian poesy. And this emblematical construction hath been received by men not forward to extenuate the acts of saints.

Excerpt: ...the head, and carried it into the hut. He could now perceive that the head was made of white clay, and could deduce that the Misery of earth, whom some call B

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher. This is the most enjoyable of Cabell's work I've read so far, but I hesitate to recommend him only because he's such an idiosyncratic writer - I've never read anyone quite like Cabell, though I would encourage anyone to try him. Figures of Earth is a good place to start, but Jurgen or The Silver Stallion are also representative and readable examples of his work. And, though they're all linked by theme and many common characters, they're also standalone novels; you can read them in no particular order (Jurgen was my first Cabell novel).

Figures of Earth is, with some superficial air of paradox, the one volume in the long Biography of Dom Manuel's life which deals with Dom Manuel himself. Most of the matter strictly appropriate to a Preface you may find, if you so elect, in the Foreword addressed to Sinclair Lewis. And, in fact, after writing two prefaces to this "Figures of Earth"-first, in this epistle to Lewis, and, secondly, in the remarks 1 affixed to the illustrated edition, -I had thought this volume could very well continue to survive as long as its deficiencies permit, without the confection of a third preface, until I began a little more carefully to consider this romance, in the seventh year of its existence

"Nightly I mark and praise, or great or small, Such stars as proudly struggle one by one To heaven's highest place, as Procyon, Antar s, Na s, Tejat and Nibal Attain supremacy, and proudly fall, Still glorious, and glitter, and are gone So very soon;-whilst steadfast and alone Polaris gleams, and is not changed at all. "Daily I find some gallant dream that ranges The heights of heaven; and as others do, I serve my dream until my dream estranges Its errant bondage, and I note anew That nothing dims, nor shakes, nor mars, nor changes, Fond faith in you and in my love of you."