Born at Brooklyn, 1881. A. B., Harvard, 1902. Assistant editor of McClure’s Magazine, 1902-6. Literary adviser to various publishing companies. Has recently traveled in the Orient. Under the pseudonyms “Emanuel Morgan” and “Anne Knish,” Bynner and Arthur Davison Ficke ([q. v.]) wrote Spectra, a burlesque of modern tendencies in poetry, which some critics took seriously.
Bibliography
- An Ode to Harvard. 1907. (= Young Harvard, 1918.)
- Tiger. 1913. (Play.)
- The Little King. 1914. (Play.)
- The New World. 1915.
- Spectra. 1916. (Under pseudonym “Emanuel Morgan,” with Arthur Davison Ficke, [q. v.])
- Grenstone Poems. 1917.
- A Canticle of Praise. 1919.
- The Beloved Stranger. 1919.
- A Canticle of Pan and Other Poems. 1920.
- Pins for Wings. 1920. (Under pseudonym “Emanuel Morgan.”)
Studies and Reviews
- Boynton
- Untermeyer.
- Acad. 86 (’14): 687.
- Bookm. 47 (’18): 394.
- Dial, 67 (’19): 302.
- Forum, 55 (’16): 675.
- Freeman, 1 (’20): 476.
- Mentor, 7 (’19): supp. (portrait).
- Nation, 109 (’19): 440.
- New Repub. 9 (’16): supp. p. 13. (Review of Spectra, Bynner.)
- Poetry, 7 (’15): 147; 12 (’18): 169; 15 (’20): 281.
- See also Book Review Digest, 1914, 1920, 1921.
James Branch Cabell—novelist, critic.
Born at Richmond, Virginia, 1879, of an old Southern family. A. B., William and Mary College, 1898, where he taught French and Greek, 1896-7. Newspaper work from 1899-1901. Since then he has devoted his time almost entirely to the study and writing of literature. His study of genealogy and history has an important bearing upon his creative work.
Suggestions for Reading
1. Before reading Mr. Cabell’s stories, read his Beyond Life, which explains his theory of romance. He maintains that art should be based on the dream of life as it should be, not as it is; that enduring literature is not “reportorial work”; that there is vital falsity in being true to life because “facts out of relation to the rest of life become lies,” and that art therefore “must become more or less an allegory.”
2. Mr. Cabell’s fiction falls into two divisions: