Jurgen

Jurgen, by James Brance Cabell

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Title: Jurgen A Comedy of Justice
Author: James Brance Cabell
Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8771] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 12, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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JURGEN
A Comedy of Justice

By
JAMES BRANCH CABELL
1922

"Of JURGEN eke they maken mencioun, That of an old wyf gat his youthe agoon, And gat himselfe a shirte as bright as fyre Wherein to jape, yet gat not his desire In any countrie ne condicioun."

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."
--PHILIP BORSDALE.
"A forced construction is very idle. If readers of The High History of Jurgen do not meddle with the allegory, the allegory will not meddle with them. Without minding it at all, the whole is as plain as a pikestaff. It might as well be pretended that we cannot see Poussin's pictures without first being told the allegory, as that the allegory aids us in understanding Jurgen."
--E. NOEL CODMAN.
"Too urbane to advocate delusion, too hale for the bitterness of irony, this fable of Jurgen is, as the world itself, a book wherein each man will find what his nature enables him to see; which gives us back each his own image; and which teaches us each the lesson that each of us desires to learn."
--JOHN FREDERICK LEWISTAM.
* * * * *

CONTENTS
A FOREWORD: WHICH ASSERTS NOTHING
I WHY JURGEN DID THE MANLY THING
II ASSUMPTION OF A NOTED GARMENT
III THE GARDEN BETWEEN DAWN AND SUNRISE
IV THE DOROTHY WHO DID NOT UNDERSTAND
V REQUIREMENTS OF BREAD AND BUTTER
VI SHOWING THAT SEREDA IS FEMININE
VII OF COMPROMISES ON A WEDNESDAY
VIII OLD TOYS AND A NEW SHADOW
IX THE ORTHODOX RESCUE OF GUENEVERE
X PITIFUL DISGUISES OF THRAGNAR
XI APPEARANCE OF THE DUKE OF LOGREUS
XII EXCURSUS OF YOLANDE'S UNDOING
XIII PHILOSOPHY OF GOGYRVAN GAWR
XIV PRELIMINARY TACTICS OF DUKE JURGEN
XV OF COMPROMISES IN GLATHION
XVI DIVERS IMBROGLIOS OF KING SMOIT
XVII ABOUT A COCK THAT CROWED TOO SOON
XVIII WHY MERLIN TALKED IN TWILIGHT
XIX THE BROWN MAN WITH QUEER FEET
XX EFFICACY OF PRAYER
XXI HOW ANA?TIS VOYAGED
XXII AS TO A VEIL THEY BROKE
XXIII SHORTCOMINGS OF PRINCE JURGEN
XXIV OF COMPROMISES IN COCAIGNE
XXV CANTRAPS OF THE MASTER PHILOLOGIST
XXVI IN TIME'S HOUR-GLASS
XXVII VEXATIOUS ESTATE OF QUEEN HELEN
XXVIII OF COMPROMISES IN LEUK��
XXIX CONCERNING HORVENDILE'S NONSENSE
XXX ECONOMICS OF KING JURGEN
XXXI THE FALL OF PSEUDOPOLIS
XXXII SUNDRY DEVICES OF THE PHILISTINES
XXXIII FAREWELL TO CHLORIS
XXXIV HOW EMPEROR JURGEN FARED INFERNALLY
XXXV WHAT GRANDFATHER SATAN REPORTED
XXXVI WHY COTH WAS CONTRADICTED
XXXVII INVENTION OF THE LOVELY VAMPIRE
XXXVIII AS TO APPLAUDED PRECEDENTS
XXXIX OF COMPROMISES IN HELL
XL THE ASCENSION OF POPE JURGEN
XLI OF COMPROMISES IN HEAVEN
XLII TWELVE THAT ARE FRETTED HOURLY
XLIII POSTURES BEFORE A SHADOW
XLIV IN THE MANAGER'S OFFICE
XLV THE FAITH OF GUENEVERE
XLVI THE DESIRE OF ANA?TIS
XLVII THE VISION OF HELEN
XLVIII CANDID OPINIONS OF DAME LISA
XLIX OF THE COMPROMISE WITH KOSHCHEI
L THE MOMENT THAT DID NOT COUNT

A FOREWORD
"Nescio quid cert�� est: et Hylax in limine latrat."

A Foreword: Which Asserts Nothing.
In Continental periodicals not more than a dozen articles in all would seem to have given accounts or partial translations of the Jurgen legends. No thorough investigation of this epos can be said to have appeared in print,