[Gutenberg 17134] • Taboo / A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Sævius Nicanor, with / Prolegomena, Notes, and a Preliminary Memoir

This short book, published in 1921, is Cabell's response to the publicity that attended the publication of his novel "Jurgen," the subject of a notorious obscenity trial. Here, in his inimitable ironic style, he thanks those who sought to persecute him and, in doing so, launched his career to undreamed-of heights.

Excerpt:

I know, be employed to interpret the dicta Of Ackermann and Macrobius, or even the canons Of Doctors Matthews and Sherman herein cited, and thus open dire vistas wherein critic would prey on critic, and the most respectable would be locked in fratricidal strife. Moreover, I have applied your method to many Of the Mother Goose rhymes with rather curious results. But happily, I have here to confess to you, not any disputable literary standards I may harbor, but only my nu arguable debt.