Jurgen by James Branch Cabell

Jurgen by James Branch Cabell

From the introduction: In a letter dated December 12, 1920, Deems Taylor wrote, 'I have finished Jurgen; a great and beautiful book, and the saddest book I ever read. I don't know why, exactly. The book hurts me--tears me to small pieces--but somehow it sets me free. It tells me everything I am, and have been, and may be, unsparingly.' Jurgen wrestles, in its odd way, with the fundamental tragedy of human life in general and male life in particular: We are doomed to age and die; meanwhile happiness will prove elusive. Jurgen isn't for everyone. Some will get it and some won't. It's a story of fantastic adventures, but it will be fully appreciated only by those who are stirred by symbol and metaphor. We may not be prancing through a magical world as Jurgen does, but some of us will see echoes of our own dreams and nightmares in his story. If you're such a person, then Jurgen may hit you like a ton of bricks. For those who are interested, some rabid fans (of which there are many) put together a collection of explanatory footnotes in 1928, and these have been included in this edition. It's worth noting that Jurgen is obscurely suggestive without being explicit; it went over the heads of some, but others saw what was going on, and they either guffawed or objected vigorously. There were serious attempts to suppress it, which of course only made the text notorious. It was (and still is) politically incorrect, and it garnered something of a counter-cultural following for all the wrong reasons. Well, so be it. The book is among the greatest works of fantasy, and that's all there is to say. Along with the notes, this edition of Jurgen includes the classic illustrations of Frank C. Pape and a map of Jurgen's land, making this the most complete version of the book ever published. Newly designed and beautifully typeset in a 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

Cabell, James Branch: -

George Copway (1818-1869) was a Mississauga Ojibwa writer, missionary, and advocate. Born in Trenton, Ontario, his Ojibwa name was Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, meaning He Who Stands Forever. His father John was a medicine man and Mississauga chief who converted to Methodism in 1827. Sent to a nearby mission school, Copway became a missionary in 1834, working in Wisconsin to translate the Book of Acts and the Gospel of St Luke into Ojibwa. After earning an appointment as a Methodist minister, Copway moved with his wife to Minnesota, where they would raise a son and daughter while serving as missionaries. In 1846, accusations of embezzlement for his work on the Ojibwe General Council forced him to leave the Methodist church. The next year, he published The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, a bestselling memoir that was the first book published by a Canadian First Nations writer. Encouraged by this success, Copway launched a weekly New York City newspaper called Copway's American Indian but failed to keep his venture afloat despite letters of support from Lewis Henry Morgan, James Fenimore Cooper, and Washington Irving. Over the next decade, he succumbed to alcoholism and debt, and was left by his wife and daughter in 1858. Copway spent the last years of his life writing on Indian history, working as an herbalist, and recruiting troops for the Union army.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780486479156
ISBN 10	0486479153
Title	Jurgen
Author	James Branch Cabell
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Dover Publications Inc.
Year published	2011-06-24
Number of pages	400
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable