2f:T499,

The Cords of Vanity by James Branch Cabell is the thirteenth installment in his Biography of the Life of Manuel series.

Robert Etheridge Townsend is an arrogant young man from a prominent wealthy family (he is the great-grandson of Jurgen of Poictesme). As a teenager, he falls in love with Stella, beginning the first of many love affairs. Townsend’s vanity allows him to proceed through these love affairs with disregard for the women who are the objects of his “affection.” As the years pass, he begins to mature, but still struggles to overcome the need to avoid any situation that may cause him unpleasantness.

The Cords of Vanity was originally published in 1909, and was revised in 1920 (the edition on which this ebook is based) with an introduction by author Wilson Follett. Six of the chapters were originally published as short stories in the monthly literary magazine The Smart Set.

30:T47c,

Chivalry, a collection of romantic tales written by the supposed medieval poet Nicolas of Caen, is the fifth installment in James Branch Cabell’s Biography of the Life of Manuel. The stories take place in medieval France and England, and involve royal figures from history. The theme of courtly love, where a knight preserves honor and stays true to his mistress, is common thread throughout. Characters take on the role of troubadour, singing of their love and devotion.

The subtitle “Dizain des Reines” refers to a type of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century French poetry featuring ten-line stanzas. Here, it corresponds to the ten stories and their respective queens.

Chivalry was written in 1909. Later, Cabell developed the idea of arranging some of his works into a biographical series that traces the life and legacy of the fictional Dom Manuel. He revised Chivalry in 1921 to work Manuel into the storyline and connect it to his other works.

James Branch Cabell

Books by James Branch Cabell (50 max)

Jurgen: a comedy of justice.

Figures of earth: a comedy of appearances

The cords of vanity.

Domnei: a comedy of woman-worship ...

The cream of the jest

The line of love

The Eagle's Shadow

The High Place

Chivalry

The rivet in grandfather's neck: a comedy of limitations

Gallantry: an eighteenth century dizain in ten comedies, with an afterpiece

Straws and prayer-books: dizain des diversions

certain hour: (Dizain des poëtes)

Beyond life: dizain des demiurges

Chivalry dizain des reines

Let me lie: being in the main an ethnological account of the remarkable commonwealth of Virginia and the making of its history

Chivalry

Domnei

The silver stallion: a comedy of redemption

Something about Eve: a comedy of fig-leaves

Hamlet Had an Uncle

From the hidden way: being seventy-five adaptations in verse

The way of Ecben: a comedietta involving a gentleman

These restless heads: a trilogy of romantics

The King Was in His Counting House

The Witch-Woman: A Trilogy About Her

The Devil's Own Dear Son

Gallantry--Dizain Des Fetes Galantes

Gallantry

Chivalry

Chivalry: Illustrated

Taboo: a legend retold from the Dirghic of Saevius Nicanor, with prologomena, notes, and a preliminary memoir.

Joseph Hergesheimer: an essay in interpretation

The jewel merchants: a comedy in one act

Gallantry dizain des fêtes galantes

Ladies and gentlemen: a parcel of reconsiderations.

Smirt: an urbane nightmare

There Were Two Pirates: A Comedy of Division

Quiet, Please

As I Remember It

Eagle's Shadow

Rivet in Grandfather's Neck

Certain Hour

Chivalry

Novel of Tomorrow And the Scope of Fiction

Certain Hour Gold Deluxe Edition

Beyond Life

The judging of Jurgen.

Between dawn and sunrise: selections from the writings of James Branch Cabell

The silver stallion;: A comedy of redemption,