Gallantry (1922) is a collection of comic fantasy tales by James
Branch Cabell. Set in a fictionalized version of 18th century England,
Gallantry is a relative outlier among Cabell's body of work, and is
included in a series of novels, essays, and poems known as the
Biography of the Life of Manuel. "We begin at a time when George the
Second was permitting Ormskirk and the Pelhams to govern England, and
the Jacobites had not yet ceased to hope for another Stuart Restoration,
and Mr. Washington was a promising young surveyor in the most loyal
colony of Virginia." Moving away from his usual setting of 13th century
France, Cabell transports his favorite themes of aristocratic life and
romance to the tumultuous world of 18th century England. As the country
rebuilds following a period of civil war, famine, and disease, its
wealthy elite enjoy an existence of ease at Tunbridge Wells, a legendary
spa town on the outskirts of London. Gallantry is a captivating
collection of tales from a historical period not so 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 Gallantry, 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
Gallantry is a classic of fantasy and romance reimagined for modern
readers.
