After a long time of sticking almost entirely to research reading, I've finally got back to Cabell's massive "Biography of the Life of Manuel", first with Gallantry and now a re-read (for the first time in nearly twenty years) of Something About Eve. The former was much more "naturalistic", I suppose you could say... though, given that it is often reminiscent of the sort of plays Sheridan & Co. would write, that's debatable; the latter was one of my favorite of his books when I first read it many years ago. Reading it this time, I am reminded of its close connection as far as tone and manner are concerned, with Jurgen, though it has rather a different theme and aspect to it; more a "companion" volume examining another aspect of some of the same ideas than otherwise, but a lovely book, all the same, with the typical Cabellian mixture of irony, farce, and a strange sort of heroic, wistful sadness and pathos. Gallantry, on the other hand, I was completely surprised by as, despite the reliance of the times and characters to take things so lightly, the genuine heart of each story was often stark and touching. More and more I'm finding that I'd place Cabell in a camp of the most humane of writers, right along with such people as Edgar Pangborn....
You should be an expert by now on Grav waves, Grayson politics, squadron tactics, and a quasi-English democratic system.
