Abstract

Cabell's Last Word?

The article presents information on the book "The Way of Ecben. A Comedietta Involving a Gentleman," by James Branch Cabell. In the commentary that makes up a considerable portion of this book, Cabell accepts the disadvantages incident to his advanced years and finds fifty the precise and suitable moment for terminating the biography. He describes the unfortunate condition of the aging romancer who must needs repeat himself in a declining achievement, and sets himself to outwit time by renouncing the stage long before the curtain shows any disposition to come rumbling down. Elsewhere he has spoken approvingly of certain young men who were so fortunate or so wise as to die to life or literature at the age of twenty-nine, and it may be that he has concluded that the game is not worth the candle and that there remain other diversions to life than the peculiar one of making marks on paper.