Taboo

audiobook

Taboo

by James Branch Cabell

EN·~27 minutes

Chapters

Description

A mischievous blend of scholarly parody and mythic storytelling, this work opens as a “legend retold” from the obscure Dirghic of the ancient grammarian Sævius Nicanor. The author frames the tale with mock‑Latin epigraphs, elaborate dedication to a self‑styled censor, and a cascade of footnotes that wink at both academia and the absurdities of early‑20th‑century publishing. The tone is simultaneously erudite and irreverent, inviting listeners to savor the playful tug‑of‑war between high culture and the ever‑present threat of moral policing.

In the first act, the narrative introduces Sævius Nicanor through a series of witty anecdotes—like a tailor‑shop encounter that spirals into a goat‑riding escapade—setting a whimsical stage for a broader satire of scholarly pretension. The memoir‑style prose, peppered with faux‑historical references, creates a world where ancient grammar meets modern wit, promising an entertaining listening experience that delights in its own cleverness.

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Details

Full title

Taboo A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Sævius Nicanor, with Prolegomena, Notes, and a Preliminary Memoir

Language

en

Duration

~27 minutes (26K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

Release date

2005-11-22

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

Subjects

About the author

James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell

1879–1958

Best known for witty, fantastical novels that poked at romance, heroism, and social convention, this Virginia writer turned literary satire into something strange and memorable. His 1919 novel Jurgen became famous not just for its humor and imagination, but also for the censorship fight that followed it.

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