The Cords of Vanity [Paperback]

James Branch Cabell (Author), Wilson Follett (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001

James Branch Cabell (1879-1956) is best known for his tales of the imaginary land of Poictesme, where chivalry and galantry live on. All of Cabell’s works from before 1930 (including The Cords of Vanity, an otherwise “mainstream” novel) were assembled into the grand “Biography of the Life of Manuel,” the supposed redeemer of the land of Poictesme, and they form a series which follows Manuel and his descendants through the centuries. Cabell has been a favorite author of many famous writers, raniging from Lin Carter to Robert A. Heinlein. THE CORDS OF VANITY Introduction by Wilson Follett “Mr. Cabell gives an airy chronicle of the love affairs of his hero, Robert Townsend, who has adopted “infancy” as a profession, and never gets out of boyhood. Townsend is also one of the self-hypnotized persons who, in the moment of saying it, believes everything that he says, and thus romances alluringly of himself with no regard to the fetters of fact—truly a captivating liar. In this “higher carelessness” all his contradictions and repetitions are merged into a fine unity. By playing at emotion so long he finally breaks down the inward integrities, so that he is not able to realize when he is acting a part and when he is sincere. And his sin overtakes him in the circumstance that, having played at love so long, he finally is not able to love anybody in reality.” —Edwin Markham, in N. Y. American

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Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587154749
• ISBN-13: 978-1587154744
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,129,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chivalry, Gallantry & Poetry in a Relict Leisure Class, July 31, 2000

By 

Robert Throckmorton (Las Vegas, Nevada USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cords of Vanity (The Collected Works of James Branch Cabell - 46 Volumes) (Library Binding)

Robert Etheridge Townsend, a young writer, recounts his twelve amatory encounters on his path to a conventional life style. Within his tales, he left an account of the behaviors of members of a relict leisure class in which ancestry, snobbery and pride of place were kept alive by infusions of wealth acquired through marriages of convenience.