CABELL, JAMES BRANCH ), American author, was born at Richmond (Va.), April 14 1879. He was instructor in French and Greek at William and Mary College in 1896-97, graduating with the degree of B.A. in 1898. He began newspaper work at Richmond and was on the staff of the New York Herald in 1899-1901. He later engaged in coal mining in West Virginia, contributed short stories to magazines, and in terested himself in genealogical and historical research. His work has a distinct individuality, presenting a central conception of human life fitted chiefly to an imaginary mediaeval country, Poictesme, in which the principal actions take place, its inhab itants being ancestors of the other characters in his novels.
His various volumes fit into what he called the "Biography" in approximately the following order: Beyond Life (19 9) Figures of Earth (1921) ; The Silver Stallion (1926) ; Domnei (192o) ; revised edition of The Soul of Melicent (1913) ; Chivalry (1909) ; Jurgen (1919) ; The Line of Love (19o5) ; The High Place (1923) Gallantry (1907) ; The Certain Hour (1916) ; The Cords of Vanity (1909) ; From the Hidden Way (1916), verse; The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck (1915) ; The Eagle's Shadow (1904) ; The Cream of the Jest 0917); Straws and Prayer Books (1924) ; Something About Eve (1929) ; and The Way of Ecben (1929). An ironic romancer whose professed object was "to write perfectly of beautiful happenings," Cabell had to wait for the suppression of Jurgen to win him a wide reputation, although he early secured a small, devoted following.
See Carl Van Doren, James Branch Cabell (1925), and Guy Holt, A Bibliography of the Writings of James Branch Cabell (1924), which contains valuable references.