Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice is a 1919 fantasy novel by American writer James Branch Cabell. It is a humorous romp through a medieval cosmos, including a send-up of Arthurian legend, and excursions to Heaven and Hell as in The Divine Comedy.
The novel quickly became infamous after the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice attempted to bring a prosecution against Cabell for obscenity in 1920, resulting in the printing plates being seized. The case lasted for two years which Cabell and his publisher, Robert Mc Bride, ultimately won. A 1923 reissue of the novel included a new "lost chapter" which satirized the whole affair.
Cabell's work is recognized as a landmark in the creation of the comic fantasy novel, influencing Terry Pratchett and many others.
Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice contains examples of:
- Blasphemous Boast: Jurgen boasts, "I am a monstrous clever fellow, and can walk widdershins 'round all the gods and godlets."
- Fire and Brimstone Hell: Justified in that the Hell the protagonist visits is based on his father's opinion of what Hell should be like.
- King Bob the Nth: Jurgen's ruse to gain entrance to Heaven is to claim to be Pope John XX, there being nobody to contradict that claim.
- Loving a Shadow: Nessus takes Jurgen to a garden inhabited only by imaginary creatures, including fairies, centaurs, and "all the women that any man has ever loved."
- Take That!: The 1923 reissue of the novel contains a new "lost chapter" in which Jurgen is put on trial by the Philistines, with a large dung-beetle as the prosecutor. One guess who they're supposed to represent.
- The Shadow Knows: The judgmental supernatural being Sereda attaches her own shadow to the title character in place of his own, to keep an eye on his behavior. However, Jurgen spots this and, before doing anything which Sereda would consider immoral, carefully puts out all the lights, so there is no shadow around to take notes.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Jurgen learns it so hard that he walks up to his true love's bed, lifts the cover, and leaves her sleeping. He is, after all, a monstrous clever fellow.
