New Averoigne Book and Neighbouring Poictesme

I interrupt my almost excruciatingly detailed analysis, adaptation, and “re-mix” of the Night of the Walking Dead in order to bring news about The Averoigne Chronicles as well as my learning of the realm of Poictesme which was contemporary to Averoigne.

THE AVEROIGNE CHRONICLES

I do not normally promote any products or services, but in this case I am making an exception because I am genuinely excited about this book I have ordered. First off, a huge thank you to OldJoe (Jeff Hall) for alerting everyone over at the Eldritch Dark Forum. The Averoigne Chronicles was originally published by Centipede Press as a signed 200 copy limited edition hardcover which listed for $225 and is now sold out. Hippocampus Press has now released a trade paperback edition for only $20! While the book contains all of the published stories and poems it does not contain all of the fragments and earlier versions of stories which can be found over at the Eldritch Dark in the short stories section. So while I would vastly prefer a true complete collection with all of the drafts and fragments, given that there are no other Averoigne Cycle books in print, I went ahead an ordered a copy of my own.

POICTESME

Poictesme is the imaginary province or region in Southern France created by James Branch Cabell for his series of books, essays, and poems in the collection called Biography of the Life of Manuel. Apparently they were quite popular when they were written between 1901 and 1929. Clark Ashton Smith was certainly familiar with them when he joked about the two provinces being neighbours according to Kipling (John Hitz) at the Eldritch Dark Forum on a discussion of Averoigne vs. Zothique. You can read Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances for free at the Gutenberg Project. According to Wikipedia:

Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances (1921) is a fantasy novel or ironic romance by James Branch Cabell, set in the imaginary French province of Poictesme during the first half of the 13th century. The book follows the earthly career of Dom Manuel the Redeemer from his origins as a swineherd, through his elevation to the rank of Count of Poictesme, to his death. It forms the second volume of Cabell's gigantic Biography of the Life of Manuel.

I have not read Figures of the Earth just yet, having learnt about it a scant hour ago. Another book, Domnei: A Comedy of Woman-Worship is set in the second half of the 13th century so that makes it closer to our period (1st half of the 14th C.). Below is what Wikipedia has to say:

Domnei: A Comedy of Woman-Worship (1913) is a fantasy novel by James Branch Cabell, set in the imaginary French province of Poictesme during the second half of the 13th century.

It forms the fifth volume of Cabell's gigantic Biography of the Life of Manuel, and tells the story of Dom Manuel's daughter Melicent, and of the disastrous struggle between her successive husbands Demetrios of Anatolia and Perion de la Forêt. Carl Van Doren characterised the book as “Mr. Cabell's highest flight in the representation of the extravagant woman-worship developed out of the chivalric code,” and as being “unified and dramatic beyond any other of the Cabell novels.”

The Gutenberg Project has the story here.