The cover page is adapted from A Bedroom in Bernstorff Palace Near Copenhagen, a painting completed circa 1845 by Johan Vilhelm Gertner. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Vilhelm_Gertnerwww.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
The Cream of the Jest
Chapitres (47)
- Dedication 0:00
- Book First 0:09
- I: Palliation of the Gambit 0:31
- II: Introduces the Ageless Woman 4:17
- III: Wherein a Clerk Appraises a Fair Country 14:59
- IV: Of the Double-Dealer’s Traffic with a Knave 19:07
- V: How the Double-Dealer Was of Two Minds 23:32
- VI: Treats of Maugis d’Aigremont’s Pottage 27:34
- VII: Journey’s End: With the Customary Unmasking 31:01
- Book Second 41:27
- VIII: Of a Trifle Found in Twilight 41:50
- IX: Beyond Use and Wont Fares the Road to Storisende 45:14
- X: Of Idle Speculations in a Library 56:29
- XI: How There Was a Light in the Fog 1:04:13
- XII: Of Publishing: With an Unlikely Appendix 1:10:19
- XIII: Suggesting Themes of Universal Appeal 1:23:26
- XIV: Peculiar Conduct of a Personage 1:32:35
- XV: Of Vain Regret and Wonder in the Dark 1:47:08
- Book Third 1:56:56
- XVI: They Come to a High Place 1:57:22
- XVII: Of the Sigil and One Use of It 2:02:24
- XVIII: Treats of a Prelate and, in Part, of Pigeons 2:04:55
- XIX: Local Laws of Nephelococcygia 2:13:49
- XX: Of Divers Fleshly Riddles 2:21:54
- XXI: In Pursuit of a Whisper 2:27:14
- XXII: Of Truisms: Treated Reasonably 2:34:33
- Book Fourth 2:38:36
- XXIII: Economic Considerations of Piety 2:38:56
- XXIV: Deals with Pen Scratches 2:46:33
- XXV: Byproducts of Rational Endeavor 2:53:13
- XXVI: “Epper Si Muove” 3:01:41
- XVII: Evolution of a Vestryman 3:13:23
- XXVIII: The Shallowest Sort of Mysticism 3:35:16
- Book Fifth 3:40:25
- XXIX: Of Poetic Love: Treated with Poetic Inefficiency 3:40:52
- XXX: Cross-Purposes in Spacious Times 3:59:06
- XXXI: Horvendile to Ettarre: At Whitehall 4:07:25
- XXXII: Horvendile to Ettarre: At Vaux-le-Vicomte 4:12:34
- XXXIII: Horvendile to Ettarre: In the Conciergerie 4:17:13
- XXXIV: Of One Enigma That Threatened to Prove Allegorical 4:25:15
- XXXV: Treats of Witches, Mixed Drinks, and the Weather 4:34:14
- Book Sixth 4:43:34
- XXXVI: Sundry Disclosures of the Press 4:43:55
- XXXVII: Considerations Toward Sunset 4:49:39
- XXXVIII: One Way of Elusion 4:53:32
- XXXIX: Past Storisende Fares the Road of Use and Wont 4:57:24
- XL: Which Mr. Flaherty Does Not Quite Explain 5:05:42
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The Cream of the Jest is a later entry in James Branch Cabell’s Dom Manuel series. The series as a whole is a fantasy series, and this entry takes a philosophical turn: after the first few chapters of standard high-fantasy fare, the narrative pulls out to reveal the point of view of the narrative’s author, Felix Kennaston.
Kennaston’s life slowly starts to blur with his fantasy world. He finds himself constantly dreaming of Etarre, a mysterious, Beatrice-like figure; but every time he tries to touch her, he wakes up. Soon his neglected wife begins to blur in to Etarre, and his increasingly philosophical dream worlds begin to become less distinguishable from his day-to-day life.
Though The Cream of the Jest is a kind of capstone to a larger fantasy series, the book itself feels more like philosophy than fantasy. Kennaston’s journeys through his dream worlds explore a series of thoughtful threads, from the interface of thought and reality, to the power of religion, to the human condition.