Owing to the intensity of starting a new job in a rushed situation, my reading of Witch World has been placed on hold. I have, however, been able to get some Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice in, for reasons only immediately obvious to myself.
Jurgen is an odd but wonderful admixture. Filled to the brim with sexual innuendo, it contrasts starkly with the writing of, say Robert Heinlein (who is said, I’m informed by the Internet, to have been a fan of James Branch Cabell). Heinlein’s narration often comes across a familiar, casual, and self-assured, and his profligate sexual materiel is quite explicit.
Cabell’s Jurgen, in contrast, feels to me like an adventure story about a “hero’s” sexcapades, written in such a way that you can ignore the sex! Some have described Cabell’s writing style as “droll,” and I think this is an apt descriptor. His prose is quite poetic and interesting without becoming too florid or pretentious (for my taste, at any rate.). His characters, both mundane and fantastical, are curious and engaging; their dialogue often witty and littered with double-meanings.
As to the title character, Jurgen strikes me as a proto-Cugel. I don’t believe I’m the first to have made this claim/observation, but the character in tandem with the writing style and the nature of the story’s adventure present to me a very convincing argument for Cabell’s influence upon Jack Vance and his Cugel stories.
Jurgen is perhaps a little more “human” than Cugel; that is, he is a little more self-aware, a little more sympathetic, a little less of a rake. But like Cugel, he estimates himself to be quite clever, for good or ill, and he is a serial dissembler and manipulator.
I said he’s a little less of a rake, for he’s still primarily self-concerned and honorless. He’s not above stabbing a rival in the back to compensate for “the power that gave him strength and gave me weakness, and gave to each of us his desires!”
I’m sure there’s much more to be said of Jurgen, but I’m still fairly early on in my reading. Perhaps I’ll share some more reflections in due course. And perhaps I’ll rename the blog “Bushi’s Jack Vance Fan Site!” =P
You could do a lot worse than Vance.
Have you read any James Branch Cabell, John?