THE DEVIL'S OWN DEAR SON: A Comedy of the Fatted Calf

by James Branch Cabell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 1949

Mr. Cabell's fiftieth and last book, to be published on his 70th birthday, reveals a wise, restrained humor and not a little dabbling in the type of sorcery that calls to mind C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. Told in narrative style, this is the tale of one garrulous Diego de Arrodondo Dodd who arrives in St. Augustine, Florida, via a chimney through the happy and libidinous doings of his Devil father, Red Samael. Diego, who has passed through the fires of youth, desires in middle age to settle down in St. Augustine in a castle with his lady love, Catherine Mary. Possessing a magic green stone, Diego makes his way to Hell and to father, and after bandying about, decides that instead of a castle he merely wants an oil circulator and a paint job done on his foster father's rooming house which he will inherit. Airy, tenuous stuff, with some nice ideas about the over crowded conditions in Hell... Regular Cabell reader fare.

Pub Date: April 14, 1949

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1949

Categories: FICTION