The Cream of the Jest
Cover of first edition
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| Author | James Branch Cabell |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Biography of the Life of Manuel |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Publisher | Robert M. McBride & Company |
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Publication date
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1917 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | xv, 280 pp |
| Preceded by | The Eagle's Shadow |
| Followed by | The Lineage of Lichfield |
The Cream of the Jest : A Comedy of Evasions is a comical and philosophical novel with possible fantasy elements, by James Branch Cabell, published in 1917. Much of it consists of the historical dreams and philosophical reflections of the main character, the famous writer Felix Kennaston. An early reviewer said it was more a series of essays than a novel.
The novel takes place almost entirely around Lichfield, Virginia, Cabell's fictionalization of Richmond, Virginia, particularly in Kennaston's house, in the country. However, Kennaston's dreams take place in various parts of Europe and the Mediterranean basin at various times in the past. Also, part of The Cream of the Jest consists of the ending of the first version of Kennaston's novel, which is set in the Middle Ages around the castle of Storisende in a mythical country.
The time covers a few years, apparently not long before the novel's publication in 1917.
The book begins with a chapter in which Richard Harrowby, a Virginian cosmetics manufacturer, promises to explain the sudden appearance of "genius" in his late neighbor, Felix Kennaston. His story will be based on his notes from a conversation with Kennaston.
There follow the last six chapters of Kennaston's first draft. A clerk named Horvendile is in love with the heroine, Ettare, but sees her as the ideal woman who is in all desired women, not someone he can love with the disappointments of living with a flesh-and-blood person. He brings about the climactic confrontation between hero and villain. After the hero wins, Horvendile reveals to him and Ettare that they are characters in a book and that he is the Author's stand-in. He must return to his own, prosaic country. As safe-conduct back to Storisende, Ettare gives him half of a talisman she wears, the Sigil of Scoteia.
Having composed this while walking in his garden, Kennaston realizes he has dropped a piece of lead: a broken half of a disk inscribed with indecipherable characters. He surmises he was unconsciously inspired by it to invent the sigil. That night he falls asleep looking at the gleaming metal and has a lucid dream of Ettare, who is also aware that she is dreaming. When he touches her, he wakes up.
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