Cords of Vanity

James Branch Cabell (1879-1956) is best known for his tales of the imaginary land of Poictesme, where chivalry and galantry live on. All of CabellâEUR(TM)s works from before 1930 (including The Cords of Vanity, an otherwise âEURoemainstreamâEURż novel) were assembled into the grand âEURoeBiography of the Life of Manuel,âEURż the supposed redeemer of the land of Poictesme, and they form a series which follows Manuel and his descendants through the centuries. Cabell has been a favorite author of many famous writers, raniging from Lin Carter to Robert A. Heinlein. THE CORDS OF VANITY Introduction by Wilson Follett âEURoeMr. Cabell gives an airy chronicle of the love affairs of his hero, Robert Townsend, who has adopted âEURoeinfancyâEURż as a profession, and never gets out of boyhood. Townsend is also one of the self-hypnotized persons who, in the moment of saying it, believes everything that he says, and thus romances alluringly of himself with no regard to the fetters of factâEUR"truly a captivating liar. In this âEURoehigher carelessnessâEURż all his contradictions and repetitions are merged into a fine unity. By playing at emotion so long he finally breaks down the inward integrities, so that he is not able to realize when he is acting a part and when he is sincere. And his sin overtakes him in the circumstance that, having played at love so long, he finally is not able to love anybody in reality.âEURż âEUR"Edwin Markham, in N. Y. American