# The Cream of the Jest — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for The Cream of the Jest by James Branch Cabell.

- [Dedication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/dedication.md): The author dedicates the book to Louisa Nelson with a Latin epigraph expressing that no old age will separate him from her love.
- [The Cream of the Jest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/the-cream-of-the-jest.md): The chapter introduces the novel's central conceit: a comedy of evasions, where the protagonist, Felix Kennaston, navigates the blurred boundaries between waking life and a dream world, using art and illusion to escape t
- [Book First](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/book-first.md): The opening chapter introduces the central figure of Ettarre, comparing her to the mythical Phoenix and establishing her as a paragon of grace and beauty, setting the stage for the themes of idealization and the power of
- [I: Palliation of the Gambit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/i-palliation-of-the-gambit.md): The narrator introduces Felix Kennaston's mysterious transformation from a writer of tolerable verse to the genius behind 'Men Who Loved Alison,' attributing the change to Kennaston's encounter with a sigil. The chapter 
- [II: Introduces the Ageless Woman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/ii-introduces-the-ageless-woman.md): Count Emmerick plans a marriage-feast for his sister La Beale Ettarre and Sir Guiron des Rocques. Ettarre, watching from the turrets of Storisende, confides in Horvendile her lingering fear of Maugis d'Aigremont. Horvend

> 43 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=the_cream_of_the_jest_se_771kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [III: Wherein a Clerk Appraises a Fair Country](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/iii-wherein-a-clerk-appraises-a-fair-country.md)
- [Of the Double-Dealer’s Traffic with a Knave](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/iv-of-the-double-dealer-s-traffic-with-a-knave.md)
- [V: How the Double-Dealer Was of Two Minds](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/v-how-the-double-dealer-was-of-two-minds.md)
- [VI: Treats of Maugis d’Aigremont’s Pottage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/vi-treats-of-maugis-d-aigremont-s-pottage.md)
- [VII: Journey's End: With the Customary Unmasking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/vii-journey-s-end-with-the-customary-unmasking.md)
- [Book Second](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/book-second.md)
- [VIII: Of a Trifle Found in Twilight](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/viii-of-a-trifle-found-in-twilight.md)
- [IX: Beyond Use and Wont Fares the Road to Storisende](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/ix-beyond-use-and-wont-fares-the-road-to-storisende.md)
- [Of Idle Speculations in a Library](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/x-of-idle-speculations-in-a-library.md)
- [XI: How There Was a Light in the Fog](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xi-how-there-was-a-light-in-the-fog.md)
- [XII: Of Publishing: With an Unlikely Appendix](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xii-of-publishing-with-an-unlikely-appendix.md)
- [XIII: Suggesting Themes of Universal Appeal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xiii-suggesting-themes-of-universal-appeal.md)
- [XIV: Peculiar Conduct of a Personage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xiv-peculiar-conduct-of-a-personage.md)
- [XV: Of Vain Regret and Wonder in the Dark](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xv-of-vain-regret-and-wonder-in-the-dark.md)
- [Book Third](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/book-third.md)
- [XVI: They Come to a High Place](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xvi-they-come-to-a-high-place.md)
- [XVII: Of the Sigil and One Use of It](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xvii-of-the-sigil-and-one-use-of-it.md)
- [XVIII: Treats of a Prelate and, in Part, of Pigeons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xviii-treats-of-a-prelate-and-in-part-of-pigeons.md)
- [XIX: Local Laws of Nephelococcygia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xix-local-laws-of-nephelococcygia.md)
- [XX: Of Divers Fleshly Riddles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xx-of-divers-fleshly-riddles.md)
- [XXI: In Pursuit of a Whisper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxi-in-pursuit-of-a-whisper.md)
- [XXII: Of Truisms: Treated Reasonably](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxii-of-truisms-treated-reasonably.md)
- [Book Fourth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/book-fourth.md)
- [XXIII: Economic Considerations of Piety](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxiii-economic-considerations-of-piety.md)
- [Deals with Pen Scratches](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxiv-deals-with-pen-scratches.md)
- [XXV: Byproducts of Rational Endeavor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxv-byproducts-of-rational-endeavor.md)
- [XXVI: “Epper Si Muove”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxvi-epper-si-muove.md)
- [Evolution of a Vestryman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xvii-evolution-of-a-vestryman.md)
- [XXVIII: The Shallowest Sort of Mysticism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxviii-the-shallowest-sort-of-mysticism.md)
- [Book Fifth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/book-fifth.md)
- [XXIX: Of Poetic Love: Treated with Poetic Inefficiency](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxix-of-poetic-love-treated-with-poetic-inefficiency.md)
- [XXX: Cross-Purposes in Spacious Times](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxx-cross-purposes-in-spacious-times.md)
- [XXXI: Horvendile to Ettarre: At Whitehall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxi-horvendile-to-ettarre-at-whitehall.md)
- [XXXII: Horvendile to Ettarre: At Vaux-le-Vicomte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxii-horvendile-to-ettarre-at-vaux-le-vicomte.md)
- [Horvendile to Ettarre: In the Conciergerie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxiii-horvendile-to-ettarre-in-the-conciergerie.md)
- [Of One Enigma That Threatened to Prove Allegorical](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxiv-of-one-enigma-that-threatened-to-prove-allegorical.md)
- [XXXV: Treats of Witches, Mixed Drinks, and the Weather](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxv-treats-of-witches-mixed-drinks-and-the-weather.md)
- [Book Sixth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/book-sixth.md)
- [Sundry Disclosures of the Press](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxvi-sundry-disclosures-of-the-press.md)
- [Considerations Toward Sunset](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxvii-considerations-toward-sunset.md)
- [One Way of Elusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxviii-one-way-of-elusion.md)
- [Past Storisende Fares the Road of Use and Wont](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xxxix-past-storisende-fares-the-road-of-use-and-wont.md)
- [XL: Which Mr. Flaherty Does Not Quite Explain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters/xl-which-mr-flaherty-does-not-quite-explain.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cream_of_the_jest_se/chapters