The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck (1921) is a comic romance novel by
James Branch Cabell. Set in a world where history and fantasy collide,
where the laws of chivalry and honor continue to hold sway in postbellum
South, The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck is included in a series of
novels, essays, and poems known as the Biography of the Life of
Manuel. "For Colonel Musgrave was by birth the lineal head of all the
Musgraves of Matocton, which is in Lichfield, as degrees are counted
there, equivalent to what being born a marquis would mean in England.
Handsome and trim and affable, he defied chronology by looking ten years
younger than he was known to be." A man of honor and tradition, Colonel
Musgrave comes from a prominent family whose wealth and power once
depended on its ownership of slaves. Despite his illustrious title, "won
by four years of arduous service at receptions and parades while on the
staff of a former Governor of the State," Musgrave is a librarian whose
influence in town depends largely on the esteem of his ancestors. When a
distant cousin visits Lichfield, bringing with her the intellect and wit
of a modern woman, Colonel Musgrave finds how easily traditions can
falter. Set in a fictionalized Southern town, The Rivet in
Grandfather's Neck is a captivating, hilarious tale of chivalry and
romance. 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 The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck, 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 The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck is a
classic of fantasy and romance reimagined for modern readers.
