The Biography of Manuel is a series of novels, essays and poetry by James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell, ; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his...

. It purports to trace the life, illusions and disillusions of Dom Manuel, Count of Poictesme

Poictesme

Poictesme is a fictional country or province which forms the setting of the fantasy works of James Branch Cabell, known collectively as The Biography of Manuel. Poictesme is ruled by the Count Dom Manuel....

 (a fictional province of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

), and of his physical and spiritual descendants through many generations. The series is more fully titled The Biography of the Life of Manuel, notwithstanding the implicit redundancy.

Theme

The conceit of the series is that the life (or at least the expectations) of Dom Manuel 'the Redeemer', which is the subject of the novel Figures of Earth

Figures of Earth

Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances is a fantasy novel or ironic romance by James Branch Cabell, set in the imaginary French province of Poictesme during the first half of the 13th century. The book follows the earthly career of Dom Manuel the Redeemer from his origins as a swineherd,...

, did not end in his death but was continued in his heirs. The life of each follows the same pattern.

The comedy is always the same. In the first act, the hero imagines a place where happiness exists. In the second, he strives towards that goal. In the third, he comes up short, or what amounts to the same thing: he achieves his goal only to find that happiness lies a little further down the road.

Sequence

The components of the Biography were written between 1901 and 1929; some of them were originally conceived before Cabell had thought of Manuel and had to be rewritten to a greater or lesser extent to enable them to fit into the sequence. Although the Biography is a mix of fantasies, historical romances, social satires, verse, plays, and essays, Cabell said that he considered it a single work.

Biography of the Life of Manuel

• Beyond Life (1919) S1, B1. Essentially a non-fiction essay on life and fiction-writing.
• Figures of Earth
  Figures of Earth
  Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances is a fantasy novel or ironic romance by James Branch Cabell, set in the imaginary French province of Poictesme during the first half of the 13th century. The book follows the earthly career of Dom Manuel the Redeemer from his origins as a swineherd,...
  
  (1921) S2, B2 The tale of the rise of Dom Manuel himself from swineherd to count.
• The Silver Stallion (1926) S3, B3. The story of the Lords of the Silver Stallion, Manuel's court, after his death
• The Witch-Woman (1948) B4. Consists of three related books: The Music From Behind the Moon (1926; S4*, B45), The Way of Ecben (1929; S18*, B48), and The White Robe (1928; S18*, B47), plus a new introduction (which does not appear in the Storisende edition).
• Domnei
  Domnei
  Domnei is an Old Provençal word meaning the attitude of chivalrous devotion of a knight for his Lady.-The Cabell Book:In modern times the word is especially known for the use made of it in the title and plot of Domnei: A Comedy of Woman-Worship , a fantasy novel by James Branch Cabell, set in the...
  
  (1920) S4*, B5. The original version of this was published as The Soul of Melicent in 1913.
• Chivalry (1909, revised 1921) S5, B6. The 1909 edition had no references to Manuel.
• Jurgen
  Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice
  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 shortly after its publication.-The book and its reception:...
  
  (1919) S6, B7 (1919) Cabell's most famous book.
• The Line of Love (1905, revised 1921) S7, B8.
• The High Place (1923) S8, B9.
• Gallantry (1907, rev. 1922) S9, B10. The 1907 edition had no references to Manuel or Jurgen.
• Something About Eve (1927) S10, B11.
• The Certain Hour (1916) S11, B12.
• The Cords of Vanity (1909, rev. 1920) S12, B13.
• From the Hidden Way (1916) S13*, B14 (verse)
• The Jewel Merchants (1921) S13*, B15 (play)
• The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck (1915) S14, B16.
• The Eagle's Shadow (1904, rev. 1923) S15, B17.
• The Cream of the Jest
  The Cream of the Jest
  The Cream of the Jest : A Comedy of Evasions is a comical and philosophical novel with possible fantasy elements, by James Branch Cabell, published in 1917. Much of it consists of the historical dreams and philosophical reflections of the main character, the famous writer Felix Kennaston...
  
  (1917) S16*, B18.
• The Lineage of Lichfield, (1922) S16*, B 19 (a fantastic genealogy
  Genealogy
  Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
  
   of the Biography)
• Straws and Prayer-Books (1924) S17, B20. Essays, plus two fantasy stories.
• Townsend of Lichfield (1930) S18*, B 21. Essays, published since 1920.
• Taboo, (1921, rev. 1930) S18*, B44 (a thinly veiled fantasy-style recounting of the Jurgen obscenity trial)
• Sonnets from Antan (1929) S18*, B49 (verse)

Related to the Biography are the following:

• Preface to the Past (1936) B22. Prefaces and notes extracted from the Storisende Edition.
• The Judging of Jurgen (1920) B 42. Like 'Taboo', a parody of the proceedings against 'Jurgen'.

Some of Cabell's other books appear to have teasing references to the Biography. For example, the hero of Hamlet Had an Uncle

Hamlet had an uncle

Hamlet Had an Uncle: A Comedy of Honor is a Shakespearean satire by James Branch Cabell, published in 1940. It is the second book of his trilogy Heirs and Assigns. Cabell had incubated a Shakespeare satire for decades, and based his tale on the Saxo Grammaticus, an epic saga that recounts the...

(1927, B27) is the historical prince Horwendill

Horwendill

Horwendill was a legendary Jutish chieftain, who is the prototype for William Shakespeare's King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet's father. He appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum ....

, whose name suggests Manuel's nemesis, Horvendile.

External links

• Intro to Cabell and his works by Eric Walker,
• Full text of Jurgen and other information
• Full text of The Cream of the Jest
• Notes on Jurgen; Text of footnotes and references collected by enthusiasts in 1928, augmented by modern additions