Part 4

Pages 161-8--Deal with Jurgen’s matrimonial quarrels with Anaitis, who, for all she is a nature myth and believes in symbolism, is quarrelsome. She does not like Jurgen to “talk so flippantly about her religion” (165) and regrets his dislike of his “in-laws”, such as Apis, the well-known Egyptian god, who “will go about in public wearing a bull’s head”. What is lewd or obscene here? Surely not the terms “sacti-sodhana” and “muntrus”. They may look obscene because they are in an unfamiliar language, but in that language, Sanscrit, counsel are informed, they refer to religious rites of the Brahmins, who are not commonly rated as lewd.

Pages 170-1--Shows that nature myths last only as long as the philologists let them, hence they are Epicureans. But Jurgen, being a doubter, is not sure that death ends all. Is there anything Lewd or obscene in this quaint turning of the tables on the materialists?

Pages 174-7--Continues the matrimonial life of Jurgen and Anaitis, ending with the conviction, forced on him, that the ruling spirit of this land of hers is nothing else but Cybele, the Roman goddess of earth, or Æsred, or Sereda, as she is variously called. And so he became convinced “that all such employment was a peculiarly unimaginative pursuit of happiness” (177). Surely a good moral lesson, if anything.

Page 186--Simply a symbolic way of telling us that “Time begets nothing”. He sleeps in Atlantis, while Briareus watches. Life is a ceaseless round, history is a ceaseless round, of old things. It is a commonplace of Greek mythology that Chronos, [Time] was mutilated by his son Zeus.

Pages 186, 321, 154--Carry reference to the fact that there are such things as eunuchs. If it is wrong to refer to eunuchs, then most literature, not only of the East, but referring to it, should be expunged. St. Philip’s first convert was an eunuch (Acts VIII, 26-40). In “Innocents Abroad” Mark Twain gives the story of the revenge which Heloise’s uncle caused to be taken upon Abelard.

Page 211--Refers to the priests of Cybele. If they were eunuchs, that would not be, as said above, an obscene fact. But they were not eunuchs, as it happened. The priests of Cybele were madmen: that is, they had been deprived of their wits, and had thus “parted with possessions which Jurgen valued”. Above all things the practical-minded Jurgen valued sanity. See Tooke’s “Pantheon,” p. 172: “The Priests of Cybele were named Galli, from a river of Phrygia. Such was the nature of the water of this river, that whoever drank of it immediately grew mad. The Galli, as often as they sacrificed, furiously cut and slashed their arms with knives; and thence all furious and mad people were called Galantes.”

Pages 196-200, 203, 206-7, 124-8, 148-150--_References to objects_:--

(_a_) Jurgen’s staff (196-200, 203). The answer to this, like the answer to the insinuations about the lance in chapter 22 (_vide supra_) is that it was a staff, and nothing else (see p. 95).

(_b_) Harpocrates, “who held an astonishing object” (206-7). This is attacked along with the reference to the People of the Fields, who practise eudæmonism. Jurgen sees the People of the Fields, “who dwell between the forest and the city of Pseudopolis” (204). These people “did one and all what they had always done” (204) whereas, “whoever heard of the People of the Wood doing anything useful?” So Jurgen, after being informed that the People of the Field never take a holiday (206) decides to see what the People of the Wood do about it (206). He finds them practicing eudæmonism outdoors instead of indoors. Eudæmonism: “The type of utilitarian ethical theory that makes the pursuit, enjoyment and production of happiness the supreme end in moral conduct.”--Funk & Wagnalls’ Dictionary. This was of course the creed of Cocaigne--“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” The point here is that satyrs do not go indoors, for the reason that for a satyr to go indoors is unheard of. If it is indecent to mention a satyr, then not only should Keats and Swinburne be destroyed, but Elizabeth Barrett Browning should be reprimanded for writing that poem “A Musical Instrument”, which is all about “The Great God Pan”, chief of Satyrs. As to Harpocrates, we refer to Tooke’s “Pantheon of the Heathen Gods”,--a most respectable authority. It is there said (p. 352): “The Egyptians worshipped Harpocrates as the god of Silence * * * They consecrated the tree persea to him; because the fruit was like a heart * * * He was painted with a finger upon his lips, thereby commanding silence.” It is, therefore, probably the persea fruit which Harpocrates is carrying, and the astonishment of Jurgen at seeing the human heart thus publicly displayed is equally nature and good allegory. The custom that led to stiffness was of course Harpocrates’ custom of not speaking to or answering the remarks of others.

(_c_) Jurgen’s sword (124-8, 148-150). Mention is made of Jurgen’s sword. But, like the staff and the lance (_vide supra_) all that need be said is that it really is a sword, Caliburn. The book tells just where and how he got it (72, 76).

(_d_) The doorknocker on the entrance to Cocaigne (150). These were simply the nude figures of Adam and Eve. Jurgen, being conventional, and yet seeking sin, is embarrassed at the nude, and thinks it is indecent; so he talks about it.

Pages 196-200, 203--Jurgen’s meeting, and marriage, with Chloris, the Hamadryad. There is nothing in this does not bear comparison with the “Endymion” of Keats, or the Chorus from Swinburne’s “Atalanta in Calydon”. As to the marriage, see two books in common publication:--Flaubert’s “Temptation of St. Anthony,” Modern Library, p. 226: “These are the deities of marriage. They await the coming of the bride. Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her girdle,--Subigo place her in the bed,--and Praema open her arms, and whisper sweet words into her ear.” Tooke’s “Pantheon of the Heathen Gods, Adapted for the Use of Students of Every Age and of Either Sex,” p. 281: “Jugatinus joined the man and the woman together in the yoke of matrimony. Domiducus guided the bride into the bridegroom’s house * * * Priapus, or Mutinus was also reckoned one of the nuptial gods, because in his lap the bride was commanded to sit.”

Pages 271-2, 286--The marriage with the vampire goes no further than passages in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey and the novels of Fielding. The conversation of the vampire leaves things unsaid rather than said. There is no reason for taking in a wrong sense the reference to the sceptre.

Pages 236-9, 241-2. Jurgen’s conversation with the Queen of Philistia is nothing but a take-off on the mediæval--occasionally modern--belief in the magic of numbers. See Baring-Gould’s “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” Appendix E, p. 651: “Pythagoras taught that each number had its own peculiar character, virtue and properties. The unit, or the monad, he says, is the principle and the end of all; it is this sublime knot which binds together the chain of causes; it is the symbol of identity, of existence, of conservation, and of general harmony * * * The number +Two+, or the dyad, the origin of contrasts, is the symbol of diversity, or inequality, of division, and of separation. +Two+ is accordingly an evil principle, characterizing disorder and confusion * * * +Three+, or the triad, is the number containing the most sublime mysteries, for everything is composed of three substances * * * +Nine+, or the ennead, being the multiple of +Three+, should be regarded as sacred. Finally, +Ten+, or the decad, is the measure of all, since it contains all the numeric relations and harmonies.” “Eight (p. 652) is the number of the Beatitudes.”

Pages 340-3--contain nothing but a statement of the fact that Venus, as a cult, has her followers and her temples,--nothing that poets of times past have not told us again and again. The temples existed, and are mentioned freely in all books of classical mythology.

We are almost at the end of Mr. Sumner’s particulars; but there are two that deserve notice.

He finds obscenity on pages 228-9. There we find Jurgen standing at the bed of the sleeping Helen, but leaving her untouched, because he wants to retain his “unreasonable dreams”. If this is obscenity, then indeed Keats wrote in lewdest mood the “Eve of St. Agnes”.

And Mr. Sumner finds obscenity on page 142. What do we find there? We find Jurgen kneeling before a crucifix!

And there let us leave the case.

7--In conclusion.

No book, no matter by whom it is written, should be read without an appreciation of the motive of its writing. It is the embarrassment of a case such as this, that the very fact of an indictment, the notoriety attending it, makes it difficult to sit down to the reading with the frame of mind that is present when we take a book from a library shelf. However one may attempt to resist it, there is always present a certain feeling, if somebody has said that the book is indecent. That suggestion can influence minds, even the most philosophical. In Lord Haldane’s most recent book, “The Philosophy of Humanism” (p. 75), he quotes from the memoirs of the great German philosopher, Hegel, as illustrating how suggestion can lead to conceptions:--

“In my youth I remember hearing a city magistrate complain that book writers were going too far, and trying to rout out Christianity altogether. Some one, it appeared, had written a defense of suicide. It was horrible, too horrible! On further inquiry it turned out that the book in question was ‘The Sorrows of Werther’.”

The last resort against this influence of suggestion is now made. The book is submitted to this court for judicial scrutiny, guided by the tests of the law.

Dated October 16, 1922.

Respectfully submitted,

+Goodbody, Danforth & Glenn+, Attorneys for Defendants, 27 Cedar Street, +New York City.+

+Garrard Glenn+ (42 Broadway), +William U. Goodbody+, +William L. Glenn+, of Counsel.

DECISION OF JUDGE CHARLES C. NOTT IN PEOPLE VS. HOLT, McBRIDE & CO., ET AL

+People+

+vs.+

+Holt, McBride & Co. et al.+

The defendants herein, at the close of the People’s case, have moved for a direction of acquittal and the dismissal of the indictment on the ground that the book “Jurgen” on the possession of which the indictment is based, is not an “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent or disgusting book” within the meaning and intent of section 1141 of the Penal Law, for the alleged violation of which the indictment has been found.

I have read and examined the book carefully. It is by Mr. James Branch Cabell, an author of repute and distinction. From the literary point of view its style may fairly be called brilliant. It is based on the mediæval legends of Jurgen and is a highly imaginative and fantastic tale, depicting the adventures of one who has been restored to his first youth but who, being attended by a shadow in the guise of the shadow of his old self, retains the experience and cynicism of age which frustrates a perfect fulfillment of his desire for renewed youth.

The adventures consist in wanderings through mediæval and mythological countries and a sojourn in Hell and Heaven. He encounters beings of mediæval folk-lore and from classical Mythology. The most that can be said against the book is that certain passages therein may be considered suggestive in a veiled and subtle way of immorality, but such suggestions are delicately conveyed and the whole atmosphere of the story is of such an unreal and supernatural nature that even these suggestions are free from the evils accompanying suggestiveness in more realistic works. In fact, it is doubtful if the book could be read or understood at all by more than a very limited number of readers.

In my opinion the book is one of unusual literary merit and contains nothing “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent or disgusting” within the meaning of the statute and the decisions of the courts of this state in similar cases. (See Halsey v. New York Society, 234 N. Y. 1; People v. Brainard, 192 App. Div. 116; St. Hubert Guild v. Quinn, 64 Misc. 336.)

The motion, therefore, is granted and the jury is advised to acquit the defendants.

STATUTES RELATING TO THE PUBLICATION, SALE, ETC., OF OBSCENE LITERATURE

NEW YORK STATUTES

+Penal Law--Sections 1141 and 1143+

+Sec. 1141.+ _Obscene prints and articles._ 1. A person who sells, lends, gives away or shows, or offers to sell, lend, give away, or show, or has in his possession with intent to sell, lend or give away, or to show, or advertises in any manner, or who otherwise offers for loan, gift, sale or distribution, any obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent or disgusting book, magazine, pamphlet, newspaper, story paper, writing, paper, picture, drawing, photograph, figure or image, or any written or printed matter of an indecent character; or any article or instrument of indecent or immoral use, or purporting to be for indecent or immoral use or purpose, or who designs, copies, draws, photographs, prints, utters, publishes, or in any manner manufactures, or prepares any such book, picture, drawing, magazine, pamphlet, newspaper, story paper, writing, paper, figure, image, matter, article or thing, or who writes, prints, publishes, or utters, or causes to be written, printed, published, or uttered, any advertisement or notice of any kind, giving information, directly or indirectly, stating, or purporting so to do, where, how, of whom, or by what means any, or what purports to be any, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, disgusting or indecent book, picture, writing, paper, figure, image, matter, article or thing, named in this section can be purchased, obtained or had or who has in his possession, any slot machine or other mechanical contrivance with moving pictures of nude or partly denuded female figures which pictures are lewd, obscene, indecent or immoral, or other lewd, obscene, indecent or immoral drawing, image, article or object, or who shows, advertises or exhibits the same, or causes the same to be shown, advertised, or exhibited, or who buys, owns or holds any such machine with the intent to show, advertise or in any manner exhibit the same; or who,

2. Prints, utters, publishes, sells, lends, gives away or shows, or has in his possession with intent to sell, lend, give away or show, or otherwise offers for sale, loan, gift or distribution, any book, pamphlet, magazine, newspaper or other printed paper devoted to the publication, and principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures, or stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime; or who,

3. In any manner, hires, employs, uses or permits any minor or child to do or assist in doing any act or thing mentioned in this section, or any of them,

Is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to not less than ten days nor more than one year imprisonment or be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or both fine and imprisonment for each offense.

+Sec. 1143.+ _Mailing or carrying obscene prints and articles._ A person who deposits, or causes to be deposited, in any post-office within the state, or places in charge of an express company, or of a common carrier, or other person, for transportation, any of the articles or things specified in the last two sections, or any circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice relating thereto, with the intent of having the same conveyed by mail or express, or in any other manner, or who knowingly or wilfully receives the same, with intent to carry or convey, or knowingly or wilfully carries or conveys the same, by express, or in any other manner except in the United States mail, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Footnotes

[1] “James Branch Cabell is making a clean getaway with _Jurgen_, quite the naughtiest book since George Moore began ogling maidservants in Mayo. How come? Dreiser had the law hot after him for _The Genius_ and _Hager Revelly_ came close to landing Daniel Carson Goodman in Leavenworth, yet these volumes are innocent compared with _Jurgen_, which deftly and knowingly treats in thinly veiled episodes of all the perversities, abnormalities and damn-foolishness of sex. There is an undercurrent of extreme sensuality throughout the book, and once the trick of transposing the key is mastered one can dip into this tepid stream on every page. Cabell has cleansed his bosom of much perilous stuff--a little too much, in fact, for _Jurgen_ grows tiresome toward the end--but he has said everything about the mechanics of passion and said it prettily. He has a gift of dulcet English prose, but I like better the men who say things straight out and use gruff Anglo-Saxon monosyllables for the big facts of nature that we are supposed to ignore.

“It is curious how the non-reading public discovered _Jurgen_. A few days after it appeared on the newsstands a male vampire of the films who once bought Stevenson’s _Underwoods_ in the belief that it was a book of verses hymning a typewriter, began saying up and down Broadway: ‘Say, kid, get a book called _Jurgen_. It gets away with murder.’

“This sold the first edition quickly. How do they discover these things?”

+Walter J. Kingsley.+

[2] See page 77.

[3] “John S. Sumner, Agent New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, being duly sworn, says: That on the 6th day of January, 1920, and prior, and sworn thereto at the city and county aforesaid Robert M. McBride & Company, a corporation, and Guy Holt, manager of said corporation, Book Department, did at No. 31 East 17th Street in the city and county aforesaid, unlawfully print, utter, publish, manufacture and prepare, and did unlawfully sell and offer to sell and have in their possession with intent to sell a certain offensive, lewd, lascivious and indecent book, in violation of Section 1141 of Penal Code of the State of New York. At the time and place aforesaid, the said Robert M. McBride & Company by and through its officers, agents and employees did print, publish, sell and distribute and on information and belief the said Guy Holt did prepare for publication and cause to be printed, published, sold and distributed a certain book entitled _Jurgen_ by one James Branch Cabell, which said book represents and is descriptive of scenes of lewdness and obscenity, and particularly upon pages 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 63, 64, 67, 80, 84, 86, 89, 92, 93, 98, 99, 100, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 114, 120, 124, 125, 127, 128, 134, 135, 142, 144, 148, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 170, 171, 174, 175, 176, 177, 186, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 203, 206, 207, 211, 228, 229, 236, 237, 238, 239, 241, 242, 271, 272, 275, 286, 321, 340, 342, 343, thereof, and which said book is so obscene, lewd, lascivious and indecent that a minute description of the same would be offensive to the Court and improper to be placed upon the records thereof. Wherefore a fuller description of the same is not set forth in this complaint....”

[4] COURT OF GENERAL SESSIONS OF THE PEACE IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK

+People of the State of New York+:

+vs+

+Guy Holt, Robert M. McBride & Co., and Robert M. McBride+:

THE GRAND JURY OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK by this indictment, accuse Guy Holt, Robert M. McBride & Co. and Robert M. McBride of the crime of UNLAWFULLY POSSESSING AN INDECENT BOOK, committed as follows:

The said Guy Holt, Robert M. McBride & Co., a corporation at all times herein mentioned existing under the laws of the State of New York, and Robert M. McBride, acting together and in concert, in the County of New York aforesaid, on the 14th day of January, 1920, and for a considerable time prior thereto, with intent to sell and show, unlawfully possessed a lewd, lascivious, indecent, obscene and disgusting book entitled JURGEN, a more particular description of which said book would be offensive to this Court and improper to be spread upon the records thereof, wherefore such description is not here given; against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the people of the State of New York, and their dignity.

+Edward Swann+, District Attorney.

[5] The numerals in parentheses refer to the pages.

[6] (Cf. the old Scottish Border legend, “The Eve of St. John”, to be found in Scott’s “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border”; and Compton Mackenzie’s latest novel, “Altar Steps”.)

[7] It would be impossible to go further except by quoting all (290-308). It should be read.

Transcriber’s Notes

- Original italic text is pre- and postfixed with an underscore, "_".

- Original text in small caps is pre- and postfixed with a plus, "+".

- The prologue has numbered footnotes and the body text used footnotes marked with asterisks. Continued the numbered footnotes through the body text. Moved the footnotes to the end of the text.

- Changed three instances of “mediaeval” to “mediæval” which was used in four other instances.

- Changed three instances of "to-day" to "today", which was used more frequently in both plain and quoted texts.

- The author uses "_St. Hubert’s Guild_ v. _Quinn_ (64 Misc. 336)" both with and without the possessive on "Hubert." These inconsistencies left as in the original.

- p. 43 Corrected "typefies" to "typifies".

- p. 52 Removed duplicate “have” from “should never have have been allowed”.

- p. 64 Added missing end quote after “city of Pseudopolis”.

- p. 65 Section (d) in the original was originally labelled as section (e) and there was no section (d).

- p. 78 In the New York state code, the paragraph starting with "3." ends with a comma. Corrected this to be consistent with other numbered paragraphs.

- p. 78 Corrected "misdeameanor" to "misdemeanor".

- All other uncommon or contemporary spellings and punctuation left as in the original.

- The text under discussion is available from Project Gutenberg: Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell. (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8771)