Talk:Figures of Earth

Fantasy or Allegory?

As an avid fan of James Branch Cabell's works, I cannot understand why they are regularly classified as works of "fantasy", rather than as works of moral allegory, as I believe they truly are, in the medieval tradition to which they very blatantly refer. Any views?--Gfglegal (talk) 15:38, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Point taken. Along with other parameters, let me set parameter |fantasy-task-force=yes without meaning to resolve that debate. --P64 (talk) 00:15, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't understand why you say "rather than". I don't see any conflict between the categories of fantasy and allegory; in fact, I'd say a great many allegories are fantasies.

There's a lot of Cabell I haven't read, including Figures of Earth, but it seems to me that Jurgen, at least, is obviously a fantasy. Allegory is a matter of interpretation, though, and I'd want a source before calling Jurgen an allegory. I doubt there would be much difficulty in finding one.

The Cream of the Jest is another matter. I think you could make a good case that it's not a fantasy. —JerryFriedman (Talk) 15:32, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Jerry, I see that User:Gfglegal left the same 1970 comment at Talk:Jurgen —where it's much more remarkable that the talk page is otherwise empty.

Yesterday I visited these two articles (Cream and Figures) during the hour after discovering a near-orphan article with no Talk page, Domnei (Cabell Book) —but now see Talk: Domnei: A Comedy of Woman-Worship. You may be interested to visit.

Relying on blue links, these four are the only books in Biography of the Life of Manuel which have articles here: Jurgen and three of the six that Lin Carter reprinted in the 1970s Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

I read them soon after the reprint and cannot contribute substantially without research. --P64 (talk)

There isn't a strong Allegorical book market. It would certainly be dwarfed by fantasy, but then many are. I have read Jurgen and Figures of Earth and they definitely fit in a fantasy genre. It may well be that they are works underpinned by allegory .. the writer was a noted master, yet under siege by moralists on legal charges of vast absurdity. Yet the description 'allegory' usually works to allow others to attribute meaning an author may not have intended, and that would be an injustice for a prospective reader. DDB (talk) 10:12, 6 June 2012 (UTC)