The Cream of the Jest

The Cream of the Jest, James Branch Cabell, Ballantine, 1971

First published in the early 1900s, and set in America (possibly in Virginia) this is the story of Felix Kennaston, a budding writer of romances. One day, he finds a broken piece of metal with rows of strange characters carved in it. Later that day, dozing over the piece of metal, he finds himself transported into a world of his own creation, as one of his characters. He finds that he can travel anywhere in history, from ancient Rome to medieval Europe and beyond, as anyone. In all his travels, he encounters a beautiful woman named Ettarre. The only problem with his traveling is that if he physically touches Ettarre or anyone else, the dream immediately ends and he returns to early 20th century America. The feeling of being some sort of demiurge begins to come over Kennaston. After all, what happens when a person can do literally whatever he wants? He composes romances using the world for its settings and real people as characters.

Meantime, back in the "real" world, Kennaston writes a romance called "The Audit at Storisende", his Great Contribution to Literature. The publisher rejections start to pile up. They all love the book, but all feel that the potential audience is too small to make the book worth publishing. Finally, a publisher accepts the book, changing its name to Men Who Loved Allison. The initial reaction to the novel is underwhelming, but, helped by a couple of scandalous chapters, it becomes something of an underground bestseller.

Part of a series, this is a very urbane and polished sort-of contemporary fantasy story. Many of Cabell's novels (he wrote more than fifty of them) contain much more than meets the eye. This is not a very easy or quick read, but it's a very complex and satisfying read.