James Branch Cabell
From Philosopedia
Cabell, James Branch (14 April 1879 - 5 May 1958)
A Virginian author of short stories, novels, and poetry, Cabell was a freethinker with an urbane writing style as shown in his The Soul of Melicent (1913), revised as Domnei (1920). The work is the start of a series concerning the pseudo-erudite romances of Dom Manuel, set in a mythical medieval country called Poictesme.
Jurgen (1919) concerns a poetical pawnbroker who makes a pact with the Devil to find his missing wife, and in his resultant pursuits he has erotic adventures, visits Hell where he marries a vampire, and is allowed (disguised as Pope John XX) to visit the Heaven of his grandmother, where he ascends God’s throne before reverting to his previous dull married life with the wife he finally finds. The book was banned, bringing him a great amount of needed publicity, and he then turned out a large body of work.
Cabell died of a cerebral hemorrhage and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
