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The Biography of Manuel #22
Taboo: A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Sævius Nicanor with Prolegomena, Notes & a Preliminary Memoir
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46 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1921
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About the author
James Branch Cabell
257 books125 followersJames Branch Cabell was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when they were most popular. For Cabell, veracity was "the one unpardonable sin, not merely against art, but against human welfare."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 5, 2022
In response to the censorship of "Jurgen," Cabell wrote "Taboo." In the actual book, "Jurgen," the titular hero travels to the land of Leukê to meet Helen of Troy, who resides in Pseudopolis, a city inhabited entirely by figures from Greek mythology. The city is invaded by Queen Delores of Philistia. In the speech Queen Delores gives her Philistine troops, she states that they are fighting for the cause of Realism. Thus, they want to see Pseudopolis, defended by it's soldiers of Romance, destroyed.
If Cabell's depiction of Hell in "Jurgen" was supposed to be allegorical to the United States, with it's worship of patriotism, democratic government, and allusions to Prohibition, then Philistia represents the American Puritan culture, the "Mrs. Grundy" of society.
The Philistines worship the god Vel-Tyno, which is an anagram for "novelty." America is a new country that was built by destroying the old worlds. The native peoples were all but extinguished. The American government was based off the ideals of the French Revolution that ended centuries of monarchy in mob mentality and constant slaughter. And America was constantly reinventing itself, tearing down the forests and building new cities, only for those cities to fall, neighborhoods to decline, and old estates to be turned into haunted house remnants of the success of forgotten families. Since their founding, the States had been involved in multitudinous wars and colonialism. They even fought among themselves, and long after the Civil War ended, they continued to find new ways to discriminate and fight among themselves. Class wars, gender wars, religious wars, neighborhood wars, gang wars. Jew vs. Muslim vs. Catholics, Catholics vs. Protestants vs. Orthodox, Italians vs. Hispanics vs. Irish. The Yellow Peril. World War I. The literature of the time was becoming increasingly bleak as it focused on the gritty realism of the kind of American life that they continued to choose for themselves, for wasn't America a democracy?
I don't think Cabell intended his sentiments to be anti-American at all, though likening Hell to his home country was probably a bit extreme. But he certainly meant to attract attention. He wanted folks to wake up to what people lose when they don't have a mythology. A country built upon diversity, a melding pot of cultures and beliefs from all over the world, is by nature not a unified country without some form of glue. Cabell saw mythology as that glue. Is it not true? Look at our favorite entertainment franchises. Does it matter what race or religion you are if you love Spiderman or Captain Marvel? Or look forward to the next Halloween or Friday the 13th movie? Do you have to be Japanese to be a Godzilla fanatic, or conversely, American to love King Kong? No, we are separate in our individual identities, but we are united in our stories.
That is why, in "Jurgen," Cabell attempted to create a new mythology, one which reflected American diversity of the time, combining legendary personages from epics and myths from around the world. These included traditions from Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Nordic, Chinese, African, Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, English, Greek, Roman, Arabic, Jewish, and Frankish sources. He mixed all these elements in with his own unique creations in truly original stories. He later expanded "Jurgen" as part of his entire Dom Manuel universe, the central theme of which is that no matter what identity we cling to, we are all the same. I think that if Cabell were alive today, he'd probably say that diversity is not really America's strength, but that our ability to live and work together despite that diversity as Americans is the key to the success of the country.
But the Philistines missed the point, as they were focused instead on his linguistic choices regarding sex and romance. Kind of like your four-year-old fascinated by the ant pile in the zoo right next to the hippopotamus exhibit.
The real Philistines in this case was the New Society for the Suppression of Vice (or SSV), which was founded in 1873. The institution sported a seal depicting two images: a man being flung into jail and a book burning. I think it's telling, based on this choice of imagery, what they really enjoyed. But under this fascist mission, they thought they were making things safe for democracy and a decent society. Before you snigger at the quaintness of this organization, the sentiment has remained. Americans remain hungry for thought police and for censorship. Asking questions or voicing descent has become a vice, and people really are surprised to find themselves labeled as Russian propagandists and other "-ists" in a so-called democracy. Twitter accounts are banded, videos demonetized, and people are fired for what is written or said by modern-day "priests of Philistia."
And so just like today, Americans in 1920 evidently needed protection from indecent thought, and so what was needed were heroes who were experts in smut. The SVV managed to ban such clearly corrupting influences as Joyce's "Ulysses," "Lady Chatterley's Lover," and works by Oscar Wilde, Théophile Gautier, and Sigmund Freud. This was the year that the SVV seized the printing plates for "Jurgen."
Therefore, "Taboo" is dedicated to John S. Sumner, the head of the SVV. If it hadn't been for him, Cabell says, few would have been moved to purchase his books. The dirt-slinging brought enough attention to Cabell and "Jurgen" that sales of his books skyrocketed so that his writing became a business and not just a private exercise in poetry and fantasy. He called Sumner a "philanthropic sorcerer," having awakened interest in Cabell's earlier works that he thought long dead.
The rest of this brief book concerns a supposed fragment of ancient text depicting Horvendile (a recurring character in the Biography who is the literary alter-ego of Cabell) being put on trial in Philistia for writing a book that could be interpreted as being about eating. Replacing this necessary daily bodily function as taboo instead of sex further drives home the point of the absurdity of censorship.
"Taboo" can be found in the last volume of the Storisende edition of the complete Biography of Dom Manuel, along with "Townsend of Lichfield" and "Sonnets from Antan," but it also has been published separately. If you've read "Jurgen," I encourage you to give a little time to this companion piece.
If Cabell's depiction of Hell in "Jurgen" was supposed to be allegorical to the United States, with it's worship of patriotism, democratic government, and allusions to Prohibition, then Philistia represents the American Puritan culture, the "Mrs. Grundy" of society.
The Philistines worship the god Vel-Tyno, which is an anagram for "novelty." America is a new country that was built by destroying the old worlds. The native peoples were all but extinguished. The American government was based off the ideals of the French Revolution that ended centuries of monarchy in mob mentality and constant slaughter. And America was constantly reinventing itself, tearing down the forests and building new cities, only for those cities to fall, neighborhoods to decline, and old estates to be turned into haunted house remnants of the success of forgotten families. Since their founding, the States had been involved in multitudinous wars and colonialism. They even fought among themselves, and long after the Civil War ended, they continued to find new ways to discriminate and fight among themselves. Class wars, gender wars, religious wars, neighborhood wars, gang wars. Jew vs. Muslim vs. Catholics, Catholics vs. Protestants vs. Orthodox, Italians vs. Hispanics vs. Irish. The Yellow Peril. World War I. The literature of the time was becoming increasingly bleak as it focused on the gritty realism of the kind of American life that they continued to choose for themselves, for wasn't America a democracy?
I don't think Cabell intended his sentiments to be anti-American at all, though likening Hell to his home country was probably a bit extreme. But he certainly meant to attract attention. He wanted folks to wake up to what people lose when they don't have a mythology. A country built upon diversity, a melding pot of cultures and beliefs from all over the world, is by nature not a unified country without some form of glue. Cabell saw mythology as that glue. Is it not true? Look at our favorite entertainment franchises. Does it matter what race or religion you are if you love Spiderman or Captain Marvel? Or look forward to the next Halloween or Friday the 13th movie? Do you have to be Japanese to be a Godzilla fanatic, or conversely, American to love King Kong? No, we are separate in our individual identities, but we are united in our stories.
That is why, in "Jurgen," Cabell attempted to create a new mythology, one which reflected American diversity of the time, combining legendary personages from epics and myths from around the world. These included traditions from Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Nordic, Chinese, African, Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, English, Greek, Roman, Arabic, Jewish, and Frankish sources. He mixed all these elements in with his own unique creations in truly original stories. He later expanded "Jurgen" as part of his entire Dom Manuel universe, the central theme of which is that no matter what identity we cling to, we are all the same. I think that if Cabell were alive today, he'd probably say that diversity is not really America's strength, but that our ability to live and work together despite that diversity as Americans is the key to the success of the country.
But the Philistines missed the point, as they were focused instead on his linguistic choices regarding sex and romance. Kind of like your four-year-old fascinated by the ant pile in the zoo right next to the hippopotamus exhibit.
The real Philistines in this case was the New Society for the Suppression of Vice (or SSV), which was founded in 1873. The institution sported a seal depicting two images: a man being flung into jail and a book burning. I think it's telling, based on this choice of imagery, what they really enjoyed. But under this fascist mission, they thought they were making things safe for democracy and a decent society. Before you snigger at the quaintness of this organization, the sentiment has remained. Americans remain hungry for thought police and for censorship. Asking questions or voicing descent has become a vice, and people really are surprised to find themselves labeled as Russian propagandists and other "-ists" in a so-called democracy. Twitter accounts are banded, videos demonetized, and people are fired for what is written or said by modern-day "priests of Philistia."
And so just like today, Americans in 1920 evidently needed protection from indecent thought, and so what was needed were heroes who were experts in smut. The SVV managed to ban such clearly corrupting influences as Joyce's "Ulysses," "Lady Chatterley's Lover," and works by Oscar Wilde, Théophile Gautier, and Sigmund Freud. This was the year that the SVV seized the printing plates for "Jurgen."
Therefore, "Taboo" is dedicated to John S. Sumner, the head of the SVV. If it hadn't been for him, Cabell says, few would have been moved to purchase his books. The dirt-slinging brought enough attention to Cabell and "Jurgen" that sales of his books skyrocketed so that his writing became a business and not just a private exercise in poetry and fantasy. He called Sumner a "philanthropic sorcerer," having awakened interest in Cabell's earlier works that he thought long dead.
The rest of this brief book concerns a supposed fragment of ancient text depicting Horvendile (a recurring character in the Biography who is the literary alter-ego of Cabell) being put on trial in Philistia for writing a book that could be interpreted as being about eating. Replacing this necessary daily bodily function as taboo instead of sex further drives home the point of the absurdity of censorship.
"Taboo" can be found in the last volume of the Storisende edition of the complete Biography of Dom Manuel, along with "Townsend of Lichfield" and "Sonnets from Antan," but it also has been published separately. If you've read "Jurgen," I encourage you to give a little time to this companion piece.
August 1, 2022
Interesting enough and funny enough but not much too it. Pretty straightforward bit of satire about the censorship case surrounding the publishing of Jurgen.
A little heavy handed for my taste but also still obscure with what/who exactly certainly elements are meant to represent.
Also his first argument is that they're reading naughtiness into Jurgen, a pretty disingenuous argument considering Jurgen is intentionally a sexual book even if it is all double-entendres etc.
The later arguments about the stupidity of the censorship is more apt.
Translation Notes (because i'm nice like that):
at melius fuerat non scribere namque tacere Tutum semper erit
but it had been better not to write, for to be silent will always be safe
Laudataque virtus crescit
Praised virtue increases
Sevius Nicanor Marci libertus negabit:
Saevius Nicanor, freedman of Marcus, will deny
Expansion:
Sevius Nicanor Marci libertus negabit:
Sevius Nicanor Pothos idem ac Marcus docebit.
Saevius Nicanor, freedman of Marcus, will deny
he's the same person as Saevius Pothos, even if Marcus says so.
Sine injuria
Without injury
sumpsi, non surripui
I took, I did not steal.
minime malificae quod nullius opus vellicantes faciunt deterius
[the bee] is not in the least harmful, as it injures no man's work by pulling it apart
Nec caput habentia, nec caudam
Having neither head nor tail
fit ex his consuetudo, inde natura.
Hence springs habit, and habit in time becomes second nature.
Expansion:
nostras amicas, nostros concubinos vident, omne convivium obscenis canticis strepit, pudenda dictu spectantur. fit ex his consuetudo, inde natura. discunt haec miseri, antequam sciant vitia esse; inde soluti ac fluentes non accipiunt ex scholis mala ista sed in scholas adferunt.
they hear us use such words, they see our mistresses and minions; every dinner party is loud with foul songs, and things are presented to their eyes of which we should blush to speak. Hence springs habit, and habit in time becomes second nature. The poor children learn these things before they know them to be wrong. They become luxurious and effeminate, and far from acquiring such vices at schools, introduce them themselves.
- Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 1, trans. Quintilian, With an English Translation (1920) by Harold Edgeworth Butler.
A little heavy handed for my taste but also still obscure with what/who exactly certainly elements are meant to represent.
Also his first argument is that they're reading naughtiness into Jurgen, a pretty disingenuous argument considering Jurgen is intentionally a sexual book even if it is all double-entendres etc.
The later arguments about the stupidity of the censorship is more apt.
Translation Notes (because i'm nice like that):
at melius fuerat non scribere namque tacere Tutum semper erit
but it had been better not to write, for to be silent will always be safe
Laudataque virtus crescit
Praised virtue increases
Sevius Nicanor Marci libertus negabit:
Saevius Nicanor, freedman of Marcus, will deny
Expansion:
Sevius Nicanor Marci libertus negabit:
Sevius Nicanor Pothos idem ac Marcus docebit.
Saevius Nicanor, freedman of Marcus, will deny
he's the same person as Saevius Pothos, even if Marcus says so.
Sine injuria
Without injury
sumpsi, non surripui
I took, I did not steal.
minime malificae quod nullius opus vellicantes faciunt deterius
[the bee] is not in the least harmful, as it injures no man's work by pulling it apart
Nec caput habentia, nec caudam
Having neither head nor tail
fit ex his consuetudo, inde natura.
Hence springs habit, and habit in time becomes second nature.
Expansion:
nostras amicas, nostros concubinos vident, omne convivium obscenis canticis strepit, pudenda dictu spectantur. fit ex his consuetudo, inde natura. discunt haec miseri, antequam sciant vitia esse; inde soluti ac fluentes non accipiunt ex scholis mala ista sed in scholas adferunt.
they hear us use such words, they see our mistresses and minions; every dinner party is loud with foul songs, and things are presented to their eyes of which we should blush to speak. Hence springs habit, and habit in time becomes second nature. The poor children learn these things before they know them to be wrong. They become luxurious and effeminate, and far from acquiring such vices at schools, introduce them themselves.
- Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 1, trans. Quintilian, With an English Translation (1920) by Harold Edgeworth Butler.
September 29, 2011
A short read indeed! Took me five-minutes. This story is about an old manuscript or at least what
survives thereof, this fragment amply shows you, I think, that even in remote Philistia, whenever this question of "indecency" arose, everybody (including the accused) was apt to act very foolishly. And perhaps, "the readiness with which you may read ambiguities into the most respectable of authors; as well as the readiness with which a fanatical training may lead you to imagine some underlying impropriety in all writing about any natural function, even though it be a function so time-hallowed and general as that to which this curious Dirghic legend refers."
survives thereof, this fragment amply shows you, I think, that even in remote Philistia, whenever this question of "indecency" arose, everybody (including the accused) was apt to act very foolishly. And perhaps, "the readiness with which you may read ambiguities into the most respectable of authors; as well as the readiness with which a fanatical training may lead you to imagine some underlying impropriety in all writing about any natural function, even though it be a function so time-hallowed and general as that to which this curious Dirghic legend refers."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews