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Customer Review: Book published in 1921; Good but difficult and different.
I read this 1921 book because H.L. Mencken, my guide when it comes to literature, thought so highly of it. It is perhaps most difficult to read because it is a fable and fables of course, do not consist of characters and actions which are based in reality. The book is a little hard to follow at the beginning. It is rather hard to explain what the story is about.
When the book starts, Jurgen is a pawnbroker in a mythical kingdom. Knowing what actions will please an elderly sorceress, he elicits from her the privillege of living as a young nobleman in several different kingdoms over the course of a year, all under different names and noble titles. Cabell writes in a slightly tongue in cheek tone as he describes Jurgen's vanity, and most explicitly his penchant for the ladies. The most common phrases Cabell uses to describe Jurgen's sexual exploits are that Jurgen "intended to deal fairly" with a particular lady and to the effect that when Jurgen retired to a lovemaking place with the lady, the place therein was dark and nobody can see anything in the dark. Because of the darkness the old sorceress, whose shadow followed Jurden, did not see Jurgen engage in sex acts which would have displeased her. Probably my favorite part of the book is where Cabell tongue in cheek uses evasive language to describe Jurgen's sexual actions, such as on page 140. At that point in the book Jurgen is married to the Queen Anaitis. Anaitis catches Jurgen and a lady at court, a resident expert on the Kama Sutra, involved in a "philosophical experiment, necessarily performed in the dark." Stella had asserted that a certain sexual position could only be performed in the dark and asserted that "in simple equity," she was entitled to prove her assertions. "So Jurgen proceeded to deal fairly with her," i.e. peformed the sex act with her. It is when he leaves the kingdome of Guenevere's father and goesto live with Anaitis that the book gets really good. Jurgen also goes to live on the outskirts of the kingdom of Pseudopolis, getting married to a tree dweller and livining in a tree. He invades the home of Queen Helen of Troy in Pseudopolis and observes her sleeping. He goes to Hell and gets married to a female vampire and has an affair with Satan's wife.
The prose in this book is really quite beautiful.
A strong theme of this book is how reality is so covered up by our illusions about ourselves. We think that there is a God or a Devil that watches our every move, looking for virtue or sin. We think we are that important even though we are a tiny speck in the universe. Another theme relates to Jurgen never being able to find happiness, despite the sorceress granting him the privillege of living out all his longstanding dreams of being a king and nobleman and husband of some of the most beautiful women on earth. He discovers at the end of the story that he prefers to go back where he was before the sorceress granted him all his illusions.
I found it a somewhat difficult book. Particulary in the beginning of the book, Jurgen jumps from situation to situation without a certain logic that would make it easy for the reader to understand. Of course, the book is a fable and fables are not meant to be logical. The characters speak their dialogue in very beautiful language, though sometimes the meaning of the sentences are opaque.
However, I think it is easy to understand the book, if you just keep reading, you can understand everything eventually if you don't worry.
Cabell also constructs a phony introduction to the book written by some make believe bookish verbose academic or book reviewer. He also places some unintelliglbe blurbs after the title page, written by imaginary verbose, bookish book reviewer critics. This was all pretty funny.
Product Description
It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, saying: In the ‘old days lived a pawnbroker named Jurgen; but what his wife called him was very often much worse than that. She was a high-spirited woman, with no especial gift for silence. Her name, they say, was Adelais, but people by ordinary called her Dame Lisa.
Customer Review: Loved it
Stumbled across this writer while researching something else. James Branch Cabell is wonderful, and JURGEN is one of those books that delivers just what you hope it will. The hero is an aging pawnbroker who has lost his belligerent wife and sets out to find her as a matter of propriety more than will. Managing to regain his youth, he begins a year long journey that takes him to various worlds including heaven and hell. Jurgen takes up with many brilliant and pretty women along the way, but somehow is never satisfied. Then, he meets his wife Lisa again.. This was a publishing sensation in the 1920s and deserves to be again. It is funny, poetic, witty, and sometimes poignant. Cabell writes about youth, the loss of innocence, maturity and love in a uniquely refreshing and poetic way. I liked the sound of Cabell's 'THERE WERE TWO PIRATES..' so I also bought it and enjoyed it. I am currently reading his AS I REMEMBER IT, a memoir mostly of his wife, which reveals the brilliance and humanity of a real Southern gentleman of letters as much as it does the woman behind him.
Customer Review: A tedious Victorian curiosity
After the fervent reviews of other readers -- which prompted me to buy the book in the first place -- I have been reading along waiting for the moment of illumination that would make me find something redeeming about this book. I am halfway through and about to throw in the towel. In this plotless ramble of Victorian soft porn (there are only so many conversations about one's "big lance" that a reader can take) I just don't see rhyme, reason, or much in the way of entertainment, much less profound statements on the human condition. Jurgen sleeps his way through a dozen fairylands. Yawn. Next book.
Customer Review: America's secret weapon - it rates 10 stars.
I accidentally bumped into this book when I was in my 20s. Had no idea where it would lead me. Read it practically in one sitting. I was amazed that I understood what Cabell was driving at even tho I could not have explained it coherently to anyone.
Next I re-read it in my 50s. I never read books twice. Still amazed by it.
The book was buried in a box, after house moving many times. I re-discovered it last night. Now in my 80s I'm reading it all over again. Amazed as ever.
Customer Review: One of My Very Favorites
"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 says the word that I've been trying to pronounce for so long. It tells me everything I am, and have been, and may be, unsparingly...I don't know why I cry over it so much. It's too -- something-or-other -- to stand. I've been sitting here tonight, reading it aloud, with the tears streaming down my face..." -- Deems Taylor, in a letter dated December 12, 1920.
What can I add to that? Jurgen is on my short list of very favorite books. It 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. Wow, I'm making this sound awfully depressing, aren't I? But that's not right. Jurgen is humorous and fun and weirdly uplifting. Jurgen's strange adventures manage to represent all that a man may pursue and aspire to. The tale burns, but in a wonderfully brilliant way. (I made that comment about the tragedy of "male life" because Jurgen is, among other things, the quintessential rogue. His notion of how happiness might be ideally pursued differs somewhat from the ideas of the females he holds discourse with. Thus does Cabell illustrate a reality that we can either acknowledge or deny; take your choice. Enlightened people will prefer the latter.)
Jurgen isn't for everyone. Some will "get it" and some won't. I once handed a copy to a person who returned it with the comment that he wasn't a fan of the S&S ("swords & sorcery") genre. This surprised me; the book can only be described as S&S by someone who does not look below the surface. I mention this not to mock but to warn. Jurgen may be better appreciated 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. Otherwise you'll chuck the manuscript against the wall.
It's worth noting that Jurgen, in its circumspect way, managed to offend the contemporary powers-that-be. The book 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 great, and that's all there is to say.
The tale incorporates supporting characters and environments rummaged from myth and history. You won't need to know all these background details to understand or enjoy the plot; however if you should want to follow up, some rabid fans (of which there were many) put together a collection of footnotes way back in 1928. It's long out of print, but you'll find an Amazon listing on it (Amazon lists everything!); search Amazon books for ASIN=B00085DJ0A. A copy of the notes is also posted online; search the web on the phrase "Notes on Jurgen".
If you buy the book, you'll want the Dover paperback edition (ISBN=0486235076), which is a trade paperback and includes the wonderful old illustrations. Holding this edition in my hands just feels right. There's also a great unabridged audio cassette (ISBN=1574534505), rendered by a troupe of actors. They do a very nice job, switching to the most appropriate character to read the text as the book progresses.
Cabell was a prolific author, with "Jurgen" being his best-known (and probably his greatest) work. If you're unfamiliar with Cabell, "Jurgen" is the book to start with. If you want to follow up, look for "Figures of Earth".
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