Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances

Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances (1921) is a comic fantasy novel by James Branch Cabell. Set in a world where history and fantasy collide, where a lowly swineherd can rise to be Count of Poictesme, Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances is one of Cabell's best-known works of fiction, and is included in a series of novels, essays, and poems known as the Biography of the Life of Manuel. "They of Poictesme narrate that in the old days when miracles were as common as fruit pies, young Manuel was a swineherd, living modestly in attendance upon the miller's pigs. They tell also that Manuel was content enough: he knew not of the fate which was reserved for him." Unsatisfied with life as a lowly swineherd, Manuel follows his heart in pursuit of place where true happiness exists. A proponent of medieval chivalry, he encounters gods and goddesses, kings and queens, as he passes from one otherworldly realm to the next. As the chains of the past begin to fall away, Manuel discovers that through determination and valor, he can excel the circumstances of his humble birth. Set in a fictionalized France of the 13th century, Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances is a captivating story of fantasy and adventurer featuring a flawed hero whose mythical world is not entirely different from our own. Cabell's work has long been described as escapist, his novels and stories derided as fantastic and obsessive recreations of a world lost long ago. To read Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances, however, is to understand that the issues therein-the struggle for power, the unspoken distance between men and women-were vastly important not only at the time of its publication, but in our own, divisive world. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of James Branch Cabell's Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances is a classic of fantasy and romance reimagined for modern readers.

Author: James Branch Cabell
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mint Editions
Published: 08/03/2021
Series: Mint Editions--Fantasy and Fairytale
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.52d
ISBN: 9781513295701

About the Author
Cabell, James Branch: -

George Copway (1818-1869) was a Mississauga Ojibwa writer, missionary, and advocate. Born in Trenton, Ontario, his Ojibwa name was Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, meaning He Who Stands Forever. His father John was a medicine man and Mississauga chief who converted to Methodism in 1827. Sent to a nearby mission school, Copway became a missionary in 1834, working in Wisconsin to translate the Book of Acts and the Gospel of St Luke into Ojibwa. After earning an appointment as a Methodist minister, Copway moved with his wife to Minnesota, where they would raise a son and daughter while serving as missionaries. In 1846, accusations of embezzlement for his work on the Ojibwe General Council forced him to leave the Methodist church. The next year, he published The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, a bestselling memoir that was the first book published by a Canadian First Nations writer. Encouraged by this success, Copway launched a weekly New York City newspaper called Copway's American Indian but failed to keep his venture afloat despite letters of support from Lewis Henry Morgan, James Fenimore Cooper, and Washington Irving. Over the next decade, he succumbed to alcoholism and debt, and was left by his wife and daughter in 1858. Copway spent the last years of his life writing on Indian history, working as an herbalist, and recruiting troops for the Union army.