VCU Libraries has launched a digital hub focused on the literary work, impact and life of Richmond writer James Branch Cabell (1879-1958), who was the author of 52 works of fiction and nonfiction and is the namesake of Virginia Commonwealth University’s library on the Monroe Park Campus.
The site, James Branch Cabell: Literary Life and Legacy, aims to serve scholars, general readers and fans of Richmond and Virginia history. It includes sections on Cabell’s biography; his books, essays and short stories; scholarship and criticism; illustrations, adaptations and other art inspired by his work; and Cabell at VCU.
Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Doug! I might mention that thru the VCU site you can reach The Silver Stallion (a bibliography and fan site)where one can find pieces on the connections between Cabell and Arthur Machen...
ReplyDeleteOr one can mention the URL here!
ReplyDeletehttp://jamesbranchcabell.org/
Oddly enough, I don't think Cabell has ever had a full biography rather than critical study, which may be due to some dubious episodes in his life (as with Clark Ashton Smith, whose work was influenced by Cabell in the same way that Lovecraft's was influenced by Machen or Howard's by Talbot Mundy). He was a great writer, probably the greatest fantasy writer of the twentieth century in technical terms, though some of the attitudes in his work aren't exactly appealing - mainly due to their truth (e.g. his thoughts on the impermanence of life and happiness, and on the relations between the sexes - all sad but true). What I find most interesting about his work is the intricate interweaving of history and fantasy (in Figures of Earth, it clicked with me suddenly that Alianora the swan-maiden was Eleanor of Provence) and the erudite yet humanly talkative (and sometimes entertainingly-off-colour) authorial tone, a clear precedent for Avram Davidson's historical fantasies such as the Dr Eszterhazy stories and Peregrine Primus - also too little known.
ReplyDeleteThere is one pretty good biography of Cabell: James Branch Cabell and Richmond-in-Virginia (1993) by Edgar MacDonald. I think CAS admired Cabell's style, but not his satire.
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