James Branch Cabell was a Richmond author of fifty-two books, including an eighteen book series and many other publications in genres such as fantasy, science fiction, comedy, satire and various works of genealogy. This rather shy, yet talented southern gentlemen’s life was filled with scandal and drama, which would lead him to briefly become a household name before returning to a respected local and eventual recluse.
James Branch Cabell was born in 1879 to Robert Gamble Cabell and Anne Harris Branch. James was born into a prominent family, with his father being assistant superintendent at a lunatic asylum and his grandfather and great-grandfather on his mother’s side both being successful investment bankers. James’ paternal great-grandfather, William H. Cabell, even served as Governor of Virginia.
Cabell attended The College of William and Mary and enjoyed a successful undergraduate career. As an upperclassman, he was distinguished enough to be asked to teach undergraduate French and Greek. Unfortunately, Cabell’s success and distinction was eventually marred by harsh and reportedly false rumors. Cabell was accused of having homosexual relations with one of his professors and other university faculty, though accounts of this incident vary.
These rumors became widespread through the campus, causing Cabell to temporarily withdraw from the University.
As if setting aside his studies was not enough, Cabell was also forced to end his courtship of Gabriella Moncure. Ending his pursuit of this beautiful and seemingly unattainable young woman was said to haunt Cabell for years, as several characters in Cabell’s novels bore her likeness.
Once things blew over on campus, Cabell returned and graduated in June, 1898. After Graduation, Cabell worked as a reporter In New York City. After a brief time in New York, Cabell returned to his home in Virginia to new allegations. Shortly after his return, Cabell was accused of murdering wealthy Richmonder, John Scott, a man with whom his mother was supposedly having an affair.
Though the culprits were found, Cabell would still be assaulted by passive-aggressive jabs and insinuations of his guilt for the rest of his life.
Cabell’s early literary career began in genealogy. With the help of his family’s money, he spent much of his young adulthood traveling between the British Isles and France, researching the Branch family pedigree. Cabell published his findings titled, Branchiana: Being a Partial Account of the Branch Family in Virginia while also having several short stories published in trendy magazines of the time. In 1913, Cabell married Rebecca Priscilla Bradley Shepherd, a widow with five children from her previous marriage. Together, they had a son, Ballard Cabell, in 1915.
In 1919, Cabell gained most of his notoriety with the publication of his most famous and controversial book, Jurgen. In this eponymously named novel, the nagging wife of a medieval pawn broker named Jurgen is abducted, forcing the hero on a reluctant journey to save her. During his odyssey through several fantasy realms, this “monstrous clever fellow” has intimate encounters with maidens and deities alike before eventually being reunited with his wife and falling back into the normalcy of domestic matrimony.
Shortly after the publication of Jurgen, Cabell came under fire by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, who charged that the book was too obscene. Following these accusations, the book was quickly banned. Copies were seized and printing came to an abrupt halt. The case remained in court for two years until the case ended with Cabell being acquitted. It is said that in Cabell’s defense, the obscenities were double entendres whose moral meanings were over looked.
Cabell’s fame skyrocketed overnight.
Jurgen quickly became a best seller, and Cabell a favorite cult author. Authors supported Cabell’s freedom of expression and his right to publish his work, while college students likely wanted the book because it was banned. In a type of author’s revenge, Cabell would rerelease Jurgen with a lost passage where the main character is put on trial and the presiding Judge is a dung beetle. This new found fame allowed Cabell’s next few titles: The High Place, The Silver Stallion and Something about Eve, to enjoy decent critical and commercial success.
In 1927, he would combine his works into an eighteen volume series titled Biography of the life of Manuel. In this volume, he creates the fantasy world of Poictesme, where Manuel and his family, through several generations, rise from humble beginnings to eventually become the ruling family. Cabell created Poictesme as a world with its own customs, head families and genealogy trees, which were meant to resemble his own twentieth century Virginia.
In later years, Cabell’s popularity dwindled as the American literary community began to turn from the aesthetic style with which Cabell wrote most of his stories. While Cabell continued to publish stories, he fell back to his roots in the genealogy field. Cabell and his wife were both active in many of Virginia’s historic and patriotic societies, and Cabell would often do genealogy for the organizations. By 1935 Cabell became more reclusive and he would often spend his winters in Florida with his wife, who passed away in 1949. The following year Cabell would marry Margaret Waller Freeman, a prominent Richmond journalist and long time friend of Cabell. After surviving a stroke and heart attack, Cabell died of a brain hemorrhage in his home in 1958. He now resides in Hollywood Cemetery next to his first wife.
Though Cabell was on the edge of obscurity for most of his career, he is hailed as one of the first contemporary writers from the South and an asset to Southern literary tradition. Some will recognize him as a pioneer of early fantasy writing and for his style of blending myth with satire. In 1970, Virginia Commonwealth University would honor the respected Richmond author by naming its library after him and storing his personal book collection inside. Today, thousands of college students spend long hours sleeping in his library and mispronouncing his name.
