Editing James Branch Cabell

{{short description|American novelist}}
{{use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{use mdy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name         = James Branch Cabell
| image        = Jbcabell.jpg
| caption      = James Branch Cabell photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]], 1935
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1879|4|14}}
| birth_place  = [[Richmond, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1958|5|5|1879|4|14}}
| death_place  = Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
| resting_place = [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]], Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
| alma_mater   = [[The College of William & Mary|College of William and Mary]]
| life         =
| occupation   = Author
| movement     =
| genre        = [[Fantasy fiction]]
| notableworks =
}}

'''James Branch Cabell''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|b|əl}}; April 14, 1879 &nbsp;– May 5, 1958) was an American author of [[fantasy fiction]] and ''[[belles-lettres]]''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including [[H. L. Mencken]], [[Edmund Wilson]], and [[Sinclair Lewis]]. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when they were most popular. For Cabell, veracity was "the one unpardonable sin, not merely against art, but against human welfare".<ref name="curious"/><ref name="Cabell2008">{{cite book|author=James Branch Cabell|title=Between Dawn and Sunrise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4x9Akd95puoC&pg=PA11|date=August 2008|publisher=Wildside Press LLC|isbn=978-1-4344-7445-2|page=11}}</ref>

Although escapist, Cabell's works are ironic and satirical. Mencken disputed Cabell's claim to romanticism and characterized him as "really the most acidulous of all the anti-romantics. His gaudy heroes&nbsp;... chase dragons precisely as stockbrockers play golf." According to Louis D. Rubin, Cabell saw art as an escape from life, but found that, once the artist creates his ideal world, it is made up of the same elements that make the real one.<ref name="curious"/>

Interest in Cabell declined in the 1930s, a decline that has been attributed in part to his failure to move out of his fantasy niche despite the onset of World War II. [[Alfred Kazin]] said that "Cabell and Hitler did not inhabit the same universe".<ref name="curious">{{Citation |title=The Curious Death of the Novel: Essays in American Literature |author1=Louis D. Rubin |author2=Louis Decimus Rubin Jr. |publisher=LSU Press |year=1967 |isbn=0-8071-2470-2 }}</ref>  The library at [[Virginia Commonwealth University]] is named after Cabell.

== Life ==
[[File:James Branch Cabell 1893.jpg|thumb|Cabell in 1893 at age 14]] 
Cabell was born into an affluent and well-connected Virginian family, and lived most of his life in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. The first Cabell settled in Virginia in 1664; Cabell's paternal great-grandfather, [[William H. Cabell]], was Governor of the Commonwealth from 1805 to 1808. [[Cabell County]] in West Virginia is named after the Governor. James Branch Cabell's grandfather, Robert Gamble Cabell, was a physician; his father, Robert Gamble Cabell II (1847–1922), had an MD, but practiced as a druggist; his mother, Anne Harris (1859&ndash;1915), was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel James R. Branch, of the Army of the [[Confederate States of America]]. James was the oldest of three boys—his brothers were Robert Gamble Cabell III (1881&ndash;1968) and John Lottier Cabell (1883&ndash;1946). His parents separated and were later divorced in 1907.<ref name="vcubio">{{citation |url=https://gallery.library.vcu.edu/exhibits/show/jamesbranchcabell/biography |title=James Branch Cabell: Man of Letters and Libraries |periodical= Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries Gallery |access-date=June 20, 2016}}</ref> His aunt was the suffragist and educationist [[Mary-Cooke Branch Munford]].<ref name="JamesJames1971">{{cite book|author1=Edward T. James|author2=Janet Wilson James|author3=Paul S. Boyer|title=Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw02jame_0|url-access=registration|date=1 January 1971|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-62734-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw02jame_0/page/1 1]–}}</ref>

Although Cabell's surname is often mispronounced "Ka-BELL", he himself pronounced it "CAB-ble". To remind an editor of the correct pronunciation, Cabell composed this rhyme: "Tell the rabble my name is Cabell."

Cabell matriculated at the [[College of William and Mary]] in 1894 at the age of fifteen and graduated in June 1898. While an undergraduate, Cabell taught [[French language|French]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] at the college. According to his close friend and fellow author [[Ellen Glasgow]], Cabell developed a friendship with a professor at the college which was considered by some to be "too intimate" and, as a result Cabell was dismissed, although he was subsequently readmitted and finished his degree.<ref name="friendsrivals">{{citation|url=http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/friends1.html |title=Friends and Rivals: James Branch Cabell and Ellen Glasgow |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=June 20, 2016 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127234146/http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/friends1.html |archive-date=November 27, 2011}}</ref> Following his graduation, he worked from 1898 to 1900 as a newspaper reporter in New York City, but returned to Richmond in 1901, where he worked several months on the staff of the ''[[Richmond Times-Dispatch|Richmond News]]''.<ref name="vcubio" />

1901 was an eventful year for Cabell: his first stories were accepted for publication, and he was suspected of the murder of John Scott, a wealthy Richmonder. It was rumored that Scott was involved romantically with Cabell's mother. Cabell's supposed involvement in the Scott murder and his college "scandal" were both mentioned in Ellen Glasgow's posthumously published (1954) autobiography ''The Woman Within''.<ref name="friendsrivals" /> In 1902, seven of Cabell's first stories appeared in national magazines and over the next decade he wrote many short stories and articles, contributing to nationally published magazines including ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's Monthly Magazine]]'' and ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'', as well as carrying out extensive research on his family's genealogy.<ref name="vcubio" />

Between 1911 and 1913, he was employed by his uncle in the office of the Branch coal mines in West Virginia. On November 8, 1913, he married Priscilla Bradley Shepherd, a widow with five children from her previous marriage.<ref name="vcubio" /> In 1915, son Ballard Hartwell Cabell was born. Priscilla died in March 1949; Cabell was remarried in June 1950 to Margaret Waller Freeman.

During his life, Cabell published fifty-two books, including novels, genealogies, collections of short stories, poetry, and miscellanea. He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Branch Cabell |url=https://artsandletters.org/?s=james+branch+cabell |access-date=March 11, 2022 |website=American Academy of Arts and Letters}}</ref>

[[File:Branch cabell grave800px.jpg|thumb|right|Grave of Cabell in Hollywood Cemetery]]
Cabell died of a [[cerebral hemorrhage]] in 1958 in Richmond, and was buried in the graveyard of the [[Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill]]. The following year the remains of Cabell and his first wife were reinterred in [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]].<ref name=EV>{{cite web|last1=Wetta|first1=Stephen R.|title=James Branch Cabell (1879–1958)|url=http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cabell_James_Branch_1879-1958|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Virginia]]|access-date=13 July 2015}}</ref>

Significant Cabell collections are housed at various repositories, including [[Virginia Commonwealth University]] and the [[University of Virginia]].

== Honors ==
In 1970, [[Virginia Commonwealth University]], also located in Richmond, named its main campus library "James Branch Cabell Library" in his honor. In the 1970s, Cabell's personal library and personal papers were moved from his home on Monument Avenue to the James Branch Cabell Library. Consisting of some 3,000 volumes, the collection includes manuscripts; notebooks and scrapbooks; periodicals in which Cabell's essays, reviews and fiction were published; his correspondence with noted writers including [[H. L. Mencken]], [[Ellen Glasgow]], [[Sinclair Lewis]] and [[Theodore Dreiser]]; correspondence with family, friends, editors and publishers, newspaper clippings, photographs, periodicals, criticisms, printed material; publishers' agreements; and statements of sales. The collection resides in the Special Collections and Archives department of the library.<ref name="content">{{citation |url=http://search.vaheritage.org/vivaxtf/view?docId=vcu-cab/vircu00065.xml|title=A Guide to the James Branch Cabell Papers, Special Collections and Archives, VCU Libraries |periodical=James Branch Cabell Library |access-date=June 20, 2016}}</ref> 
The VCU undergraduate literary journal at the university is named ''Poictesme'' after the fictional province in his cycle ''[[Biography of the Life of Manuel]]''.

More recently{{when?|date=January 2023}}, VCU spent over $50 million to expand and modernize the James Branch Cabell Library to further entrench it as the premier library in the Greater Richmond Area and one of the top landmark libraries in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://richmondmagazine.com/api/content/41a4c660-dfea-11e5-b354-22000b078648/|title=Modern Library|last=Robertson|first=Gary|date=2016-03-14|website=richmondmagazine.com|language=en-us|access-date=2019-09-19}}</ref> In 2016 Cabell Library won the New Landmark Library Award.<ref>{{cite web|title=James Branch Cabell Library {{!}} New Landmark Libraries 2016 Winner|url=http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2016/09/buildings/lbd/james-branch-cabell-library-new-landmark-libraries-2016-winner/|website=Library Journal|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref>
The ''[[Library Journal]]''{{'}}s website provides a virtual walking tour of the new James Branch Cabell Library.<ref>{{cite web|title=Academic New Landmark Libraries 2016 Walking Tour: James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond|url=http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2016/09/buildings/lbd/new-landmark-libraries-2016-walking-tour-james-branch-cabell-library-virginia-commonwealth-university-richmond/|website=Library Journal|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref>

== Works ==
{{original research section|date=May 2023}}
[[File:Jurgen Jacket 1919.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Dust jacket]] of ''[[Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice]]'']]

=== ''Jurgen'' ===
{{Main|Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice}}
Cabell's best-known book, ''[[Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice]]'' (1919), was the subject of a celebrated [[obscenity]] case 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.

The novel was denounced by the [[New York Society for the Suppression of Vice]]; they attempted to bring a prosecution for obscenity. The case went on for two years before Cabell and his publisher, [[Robert M. McBride]], won: the "indecencies" were double entendres that also had a perfectly decent interpretation, though it appeared that what had actually offended the prosecution most was a joke about [[papal infallibility]]. The presiding judge, [[Charles Cooper Nott Jr.]], wrote in his decision that "...&nbsp;the most that can be said against the book is that certain passages therein may be considered suggestive in a veiled and subtle way of immorality, but such suggestions are delicately conveyed" and that because of Cabell's writing style "it is doubtful if the book could be read or understood at all by more than a very limited number of readers."<ref name="vcubio" />

Cabell took an author's revenge: the revised edition of 1926 included a previously "lost" passage in which the hero is placed on trial by the [[Philistines]], with a large dung-beetle as the chief prosecutor. He also wrote a short book, ''Taboo'', in which he thanks John H. Sumner and the Society for Suppression of Vice for generating the publicity that gave his career a boost. Due to the notoriety of the suppression of ''Jurgen'', Cabell became a figure of international fame. In the early 1920s, he became associated by some critics with a group of writers referred to as "The James Branch Cabell School", which included such figures as Mencken, [[Carl Van Vechten]] and [[Elinor Wylie]].

=== ''Biography of the Life of Manuel'' ===
{{Main|Biography of the Life of Manuel}}
A great deal of Cabell's work consists of the ''[[Biography of the Life of Manuel]]'', the story of a character named Dom Manuel and his descendants through many generations. The biography includes a total of 25 works that were written over a 23-year period. Cabell stated that he considered the ''Biography'' to be a single work, and supervised its publication in a single uniform edition of 18 volumes, known as the ''Storisende Edition'', published from 1927 to 1930. A number of the volumes of the Biography were also published in editions illustrated by [[Frank C. Papé]] between 1921 and 1926.

The themes and characters from ''Jurgen'' make appearances in many works included in the Biography. ''[[Figures of Earth]]'' tells the story of Manuel the swineherd, a morally ambiguous protagonist who rises to conquer a realm by playing on others' expectations—his motto being [[Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur|Mundus Vult Decipi]], meaning "the world wishes to be deceived." ''The Silver Stallion'' is a loose sequel to ''Figures of Earth'' that deals with the creation of the legend of Manuel the Redeemer, in which Manuel is pictured as an infallible hero, an example to which all others should aspire; the story is told by Manuel's former knights, who remember how things really were and take different approaches to reconciling the mythology with the actuality of Manuel.<ref name="curious"/>

Many of these books take place in the fictional country eventually ruled by Manuel, known as "[[Poictesme]]" (pronounced "pwa-tem"). It was the author's intention to situate Poictesme roughly in the south of France. The name suggests the two real French cities of [[Poitiers]] (medieval Poictiers) and [[Angoulême]] (medieval Angoulesme). Several other books take place in the fictional town of Lichfield, Virginia.

After concluding the ''Biography'' in 1932, Cabell shortened his professional name to ''Branch Cabell''. The truncated name was used for all his new, "post-''Biography''" publications until the printing of ''There Were Two Pirates'' (1946).

=== Others ===
Though Cabell is best known as a fantasist, the plots and characters of his first few novels, ''The Eagle's Shadow'' (1904), ''The Cords of Vanity'' (1909), and ''The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck'' (1915) (later all adapted for inclusion into the ''Biography''), do not wander out of the everyday society of Virginia's gentry. But Cabell's signature droll style is clearly in evidence, and in later printings each book would bear a characteristically Cabellian subtitle: ''A Comedy of Purse-Strings'', ''A Comedy of Shirking'', and ''A Comedy of Limitations'', respectively.

His later novel, ''The First Gentleman of America: A Comedy of Conquest'' (1942), retells the strange career of an [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indian]] from the shores of the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] who sailed away with Spanish explorers, later to return, be made chief of his tribe, and kill all the Spaniards in the new Virginia settlement. Cabell delivered a more concise, historical treatment of the novel's events in ''The First Virginian'', part one of his 1947 work of non-fiction, ''Let Me Lie'', a book on the history of Virginia.

Other works include:

* ''The Nightmare Has Triplets'' trilogy, comprising ''Smirt'' (1934), ''Smith'' (1935), and ''Smire'' (1937)
* The ''Heirs and Assigns'' trilogy, comprising ''[[Hamlet Had an Uncle]]'' (1940), ''The King Was in His Counting House'' (1938), and ''The First Gentleman of America'' (1942)
* The ''It Happened in Florida'' trilogy, comprising ''The St. Johns'' (written in collaboration with [[A. J. Hanna]]), ''There Were Two Pirates'' (1946), and ''The Devil's Own Dear Son'' (1949)

Cabell also wrote a number of autobiographical and [[genealogy|genealogical]] works.

===List of works===
{{div col}}
* ''The Eagle's Shadow'' (1904)
* ''The Line Of Love'' (1905) (also titled: Dizain Des Mariages)
* ''Gallantry'' (1907/22)
* ''Branchiana'' (1907)
* ''The Cords Of Vanity: A Comedy Of Shirking'' (1909/21)
* ''Chivalry: Dizain Des Reines'' (1909/21)
* ''Branch Of Abingdon'' (1911)
* ''The Soul Of Melicent'' (1913)
* ''The Rivet In Grandfather's Neck: A Comedy Of Limitations'', (1915)
* ''The Majors And Their Marriages'' (1915) (available at hathitrust.org)
* ''The Certain Hour'' (1916)
* ''From The Hidden Way'' (1916/1924)
* ''[[The Cream of the Jest]]'' (1917)
* ''[[Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice]]'' (1919)
* ''Beyond Life'' (1919)
* ''Domnei: A Comedy Of Woman-Worship'' (1920)
* ''The Judging Of Jurgen'' (1920)
* ''Jurgen And The Censor'' (1920)
* ''Taboo: A Legend Retold From The Dighic Of Saevius Nicanor'' (1921)
* ''[[Figures of Earth|Figures Of Earth: A Comedy Of Appearances]]'' (1921)
* ''The Jewel Merchants'' (1921)
* ''Joseph Hergesheimer'' (1921)
* ''The Lineage Of Lichfield: An Essay In Eugenics'' (1922)
* ''[[The High Place]] (1923)
* ''Straws And Prayer-Books'' (1924)
* ''The Silver Stallion'' (1926)
* ''The Music From Behind The Moon'' (1926)
* ''Something About Eve'' (1927)
* ''The Works'' (1927-30)
* ''The White Robe'' (1928)
* ''Ballades From The Hidden Way'' (1928)
* ''The Way Of Ecben'' (1929)
* ''Sonnets From Antan'' (1929)
* ''Some Of Us: An Essay In Epitaphs'' (1930)
* ''Townsend Of Lichfield'' (1930)
* ''Between Dawn And Sunrise'' (1930) [edited by John Macy]
* ''These Restless Heads: A Trilogy Of Romantics'' (1932)
* ''Special Delivery: A Packet Of Replies'' (1933)
* ''Ladies And Gentlemen: A Parcel Of Reconsiderations'' (1934)
* ''Smirt: An Urbane Nightmare'' (1934)
* ''Smith: A Sylvan Interlude'' (1935)
* ''Preface To The Past'' (1936)
* ''Smire: An Acceptance In The Third Person'' (1937)
* ''The Nightmare Has Triplets'' (1937)
* ''Of Ellen Glasgow'' (1938)
* ''The King Was In His Counting House'' (1938)
* ''Hamlet Had An Uncle'' (1940)
* ''The First Gentleman Of America'' (1942)  (UK title: The First American Gentleman)
* ''The St Johns: A Parade Of Diversities'' (1943) [with A.J. Hanna]
* ''There Were Two Pirates'' (1946)
* ''Let Me Lie'' (1947)
* ''The Witch Woman'' (1948)
* ''The Devil's Own Dear Son'' (1949)
* ''Quiet Please'' (1952)
* ''As I Remember It: Some Epilogues In Recollection'' (1955)
* ''Between Friends'' (1962)
{{div col end}}

Source:<ref name=authorandbook>{{cite web |title=Author - James Branch Cabell |url=http://www.authorandbookinfo.com/cgi-bin/auth.pl?C000018 |publisher=Author and Book Info}}</ref>

== Influence ==
Cabell's work was highly regarded by a number of his peers, including [[Mark Twain]], [[Sinclair Lewis]], [[H. L. Mencken]], [[Joseph Hergesheimer]], and [[Jack Woodford]].{{cn|date=May 2023}} Although now largely forgotten by the general public, his work was influential on later authors of fantasy fiction.{{cn|date=May 2023}} [[James Blish]] was a fan of Cabell's works, and for a time edited ''Kalki,'' the journal of the Cabell Society. [[Robert A. Heinlein]] was greatly inspired by Cabell's boldness, and originally described his own book ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' as "a Cabellesque satire". A later work, ''[[Job: A Comedy of Justice]]'', derived its title from ''Jurgen'' and contains appearances by Jurgen and the Slavic god [[Koshchei|Koschei]].<ref name="patterson">{{citation|author=Patterson, Bill |url=http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/cabell/prize3.html |title=The Heir of James Branch Cabell: The Biography of the Life of the Biography of the Life of Manuel (A Comedy of Inheritances) [Winner of the "James Branch Cabell Prize" awarded by VCU Libraries in 2000, from the Internet Archive.] |access-date=June 20, 2016 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820102932/http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/cabell/prize3.html |archive-date=August 20, 2010 }}</ref> [[Charles G. Finney]]'s  fantasy ''[[The Circus of Dr. Lao]]'' was influenced by Cabell's work.<ref>[[Gary K. Wolfe]], "The Circus of Dr. Lao" in Magill, Frank Northen. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Vol 1. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Salem Press, Inc., 1983.{{ISBN|0-89356-450-8}} . (pp.&nbsp;282–286).</ref> The Averoigne stories of [[Clark Ashton Smith]] are, in background, close to those of Cabell's [[Poictesme]].{{cn|date=May 2023}} [[Jack Vance]]'s [[Dying Earth]] books show considerable stylistic resemblances to Cabell; Cugel the Clever in those books bears a strong resemblance, not least in his opinion of himself, to Jurgen. Cabell was also a major influence on [[Neil Gaiman]],<ref name="gaiman">{{cite web|url=http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2004/10/novelisting.asp|title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: Novelisting|author=Neil Gaiman|work=neilgaiman.com}}</ref> acknowledged as such in the rear of Gaiman's novels ''[[Stardust (Gaiman novel)|Stardust]]'' and ''[[American Gods]]''. 

Cabell maintained a close and lifelong friendship with well-known Richmond writer [[Ellen Glasgow]], whose house on West Main Street was only a few blocks from Cabell's family home on East Franklin Street. They corresponded extensively between 1923 and Glasgow's death in 1945 and over 200 of their letters survive. Cabell dedicated his 1927 novel ''Something About Eve'' to her, and she in turn dedicated her book ''They Stooped to Folly: A Comedy of Morals'' (1929) to Cabell. In her autobiography, Glasgow also gave considerable thanks to Cabell for his help in the editing of her [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning book ''[[In This Our Life (novel)|In This Our Life]]'' (1941). However, late in their lives, friction developed between the two writers as a result of Cabell's critical 1943 review of Glasgow's novel ''A Certain Measure''.<ref name="friendsrivals"/>

Cabell also admired the work of the Atlanta-based writer [[Frances Newman]], though their correspondence was cut short by her death in 1928. In 1929, Cabell supplied the preface to Newman's collected letters.<ref name=Drake>Drake, Robert Y. "Frances Newman: Fabulist of Decadence." ''The Georgia Review'' 14, no. 4 (1960): 389-398.</ref>

From 1969 through 1972, the [[Ballantine Adult Fantasy series]] returned six of Cabell's novels to print, and elevated his profile in the fantasy genre. Today, many more of his works are available from [[Wildside Press]].

Cabell's three-character one-act play ''The Jewel Merchants'' was used for the libretto of an opera by [[Louis Cheslock]] which premiered in 1940.<ref name="Griffel2012">{{cite book|author=Margaret Ross Griffel|title=Operas in English: A Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8bQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA247|date=21 December 2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-8325-3|page=247|author-link=Margaret Ross Griffel}}</ref>

[[Michael Swanwick]] published a critical monograph on Cabell's work, which argues for the continued value of a few of Cabell's works—notably ''Jurgen'', ''[[The Cream of the Jest]]'', and ''The Silver Stallion''—while acknowledging that some of his writing has dated badly. Swanwick places much of the blame for Cabell's obscurity on Cabell himself, for authorizing the 18-volume Storisende uniform edition of the ''[[Biography of the Life of Manuel]]'', including much that was of poor quality and ephemeral. This alienated admirers and scared off potential new readers. "There are, alas, an infinite number of ways for a writer to destroy himself," Swanwick wrote. "James Branch Cabell chose one of the more interesting. Standing at the helm of the single most successful literary career of any fantasist of the twentieth century, he drove the great ship of his career straight and unerringly onto the rocks."<ref name="Swanwick">{{cite book |last=Swanwick |first=Michael |title=What Can Be Saved From the Wreckage? |publisher=Temporary Culture |location=Upper Montclair, New Jersey |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9764660-3-1}}</ref>

Other book-length studies on Cabell were written during the period of his fame by [[Hugh Walpole]],<ref>Walpole, Hugh, ''The Art of James Branch Cabell'', New York, 1920</ref> [[W. A. McNeill]],<ref>McNeill, W. A., ''Cabellian Harmonics'', Random House, New York, 1928</ref> and [[Carl van Doren]].<ref>Van Doren, Carl, ''James Branch Cabell'', New York, 1925</ref> [[Edmund Wilson]] tried to rehabilitate his reputation with a long essay in ''[[The New Yorker]]''.<ref>Wilson, Edmund, "The James Branch Cabell Case Reopened", ''The New Yorker'', April 21, 1956.  Reprinted in ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TnFWZw0vkGcC&pg=PA291 The Bit Between My Teeth: a Literary Chronicle of 1950–1965]'' (1965), Macmillan, pp. 291–321.</ref>

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{Citation |last=Brewer |first=Frances Joan |author2=Cabell, James Branch (intr.) |title=James Branch Cabell: A Bibliography of his Writings, Biography and Criticism |volume=(2 vols.) |publisher=University of Virginia Press |location=Charlottesville |year=1957}}
* {{Citation |last=Brown |first=Alexander |title=The Cabells and Their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Co. |location=Boston and New York |year=1895}}
* {{Citation |last=Cabell |first=James Branch |title=Between Friends: Letters of James Branch Cabell |year=1962 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and World. |location=New York}}
* {{Citation |last=Davis |first=Joe Lee |title=James Branch Cabell |year=1962 |publisher= Twayne Publishers |location=New York}}
* {{Citation |first=Don |last=D'{{Not a typo|Ammassa}} |chapter=James Branch Cabell: No Fit Employment for a Grown Man |editor-link=Darrell Schweitzer |editor=Schweitzer, Darrell |title=Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction |location=Gillete, New Jersey |publisher=Wildside Press |year=1986 |pages=49–55}}
* {{Citation |editor-last1=Inge |editor-first1=M. Thomas |editor-link1=M. Thomas Inge |editor-first2=Edgar E. |editor-last2=MacDonald |title=James Branch Cabell: Centennial Essays |year=1983 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |location=Baton Rouge and London |isbn=0-8071-1028-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesbranchcabel00inge }}
* {{Citation |last=MacDonald |first=Edgar |title=James Branch Cabell and Richmond-In-Virginia |year=1993 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson|isbn=  0-87805-622-X}}
* {{Citation |last=McNeill |first=Warren A. |title=Cabellian Harmonics |year=1928 |publisher=Random House |location=New York}}
* {{Citation |last=Riemer |first=James |title=From Satire to Subversion: The Fantasies of James Branch Cabell (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction & Fantasy) |year=1989 |publisher=Praeger |location=New York}}
* {{Citation |last=Spencer |first=Paul |chapter=Cabell: Fantasist of Reality |editor=Schweitzer, Darrell |title=Exploring Fantasy Worlds: Essays on Fantastic Literature |location=San Bernardino, California |publisher=Borgo Press |year=1985 |pages=97–106}}
* {{Citation |last=Swanwick |first=Michael |title=What Can be Saved from the Wreckage? James Branch Cabell in the Twenty-First Century|year=2007 |publisher=Temporary Culture |location=Philadelphia and Montclair}}
* {{Citation |last=Van Doren |first=Carl |title=James Branch Cabell |year=1932 |publisher=R.M. McBride and Co. |location=New York}}

'''Further reading'''
* Brewster, Paul G. "''Jurgen'' and ''Figures of Earth'' and the Russian Skazki". In: ''American Literature'' 13, no. 4 (1942): 305–19. Accessed April 3, 2021. doi:10.2307/2920584.
* [[Lin Carter|Carter, Lin]]. "The World's Edge, and Beyond: The Fiction of Dunsany, Eddison and Cabell" in ''Imaginary Worlds: The Art of Fantasy''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973, 27–48.

== External links ==
{{wikisource author|James Branch Cabell}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
;James Branch Cabell
* [https://jamesbranchcabell.library.vcu.edu/ James Branch Cabell: Literary Life and Legacy] 
*[https://gallery.library.vcu.edu/exhibits/show/jamesbranchcabell James Branch Cabell: Man of Letters and Libraries], Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries online exhibit
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znHTT1ZlQKk Who is James Branch Cabell?] VCU Libraries YouTube
* [https://pwatem.com/ Pwatem, Virginia Commonwealth University student literary journal]
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/vculibraries/sets/72157641658509083 James Branch Cabell photo gallery], VCU Libraries Flickr
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078573 Finding aid to James Branch Cabell papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.]

;Cabell works online
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/james-branch-cabell}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=166| name=James Branch Cabell}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11859}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Branch Cabell}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Cabell, James Branch|name=James Branch Cabell|author=yes}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=iUgTOsrSr7YC Domnei] (Google Books)
* [https://archive.org/details/jurgenacomedyju00unkngoog Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice] (Internet Archive)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180916211255/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/CABELL/title.htm Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice] (University of Virginia)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060819210109/http://www.uwm.edu/~mrdunn/cream.frames/cframes.html The Cream of The Jest] (University of Wisconsin)

;Bibliographies
* "[https://jamesbranchcabell.library.vcu.edu/scholarship-and-criticism/bibliographies/cabells-bibliographers/ Cabell's Bibliographers]," ''[https://jamesbranchcabell.library.vcu.edu/ James Branch Cabell: Literary Life and Legacy]''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130307133808/http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/cabell/jbcbib.html Chronology of James Branch Cabell's Published Works from the Internet Archive]
* {{isfdb name |id=James_Branch_Cabell | name=Summary Bibliography}}

;Fan and collector sites
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19990221065201/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1460/mundus.html Mundus Vult Decipi]
* [http://www.silverstallion.karkeeweb.com/cabellmain.html The Silver Stallion]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabell, James Branch}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
<!-- this is a subcat of American novelists, so he doesn't need to be bubbled up -->
[[Category:American fantasy writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)]]
[[Category:College of William & Mary alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Richmond, Virginia]]
[[Category:Writers of American Southern literature]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Virginia]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Cabell family]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]