QUIET, PLEASE

by James Cabell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 21, 1952

The first book after his ""last"" one -- one could almost say with a mean digto air some last minute views about life, literature and society, Virginian and otherwise. A portrait of Cabell by Margery Burke takes up the first part of the book. She, Cabell, a certain Dr. Fulg, a sculptor and a semi-finished head of Cabell that talks are the conversant characters gathered in the patio of the author's St. Augustine house, the head being a characteristic focus for such points of discussion as convention versus freedom, why Cabell has never written a book about himself and so forth. Within the confines of the next part, thirty pieces divided into twelve parts each marked with a title head suggesting the hotel-room doorknob and ""Do Not Disturb"" sign, Cabell chats on about observations and problems; the ten commandments are no longer sacresance today; man is an Island no longer capable of true love because his eyes are too open to the foibles of society; television, the comics, movies detract from the reading of good literature; his own present fall from fame. His prose is ever in the convoluted but richly sonoral, richly descriptive vein of his other works, fun to read and puzzle over, but obscuring to the novice Cabell reader.

Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1952

ISBN: 1592242758

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Young

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1952

Categories: NONFICTION