Editing James Branch Cabell (section)

=== ''Biography of the Life of Manuel'' ===
{{Main|Biography of the Life of Manuel}}
A great deal of Cabell's work consists of the ''[[Biography of the Life of Manuel]]'', the story of a character named Dom Manuel and his descendants through many generations. The biography includes a total of 25 works that were written over a 23-year period. Cabell stated that he considered the ''Biography'' to be a single work, and supervised its publication in a single uniform edition of 18 volumes, known as the ''Storisende Edition'', published from 1927 to 1930. A number of the volumes of the Biography were also published in editions illustrated by [[Frank C. Papé]] between 1921 and 1926.

The themes and characters from ''Jurgen'' make appearances in many works included in the Biography. ''[[Figures of Earth]]'' tells the story of Manuel the swineherd, a morally ambiguous protagonist who rises to conquer a realm by playing on others' expectations—his motto being [[Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur|Mundus Vult Decipi]], meaning "the world wishes to be deceived." ''The Silver Stallion'' is a loose sequel to ''Figures of Earth'' that deals with the creation of the legend of Manuel the Redeemer, in which Manuel is pictured as an infallible hero, an example to which all others should aspire; the story is told by Manuel's former knights, who remember how things really were and take different approaches to reconciling the mythology with the actuality of Manuel.<ref name="curious"/>

Many of these books take place in the fictional country eventually ruled by Manuel, known as "[[Poictesme]]" (pronounced "pwa-tem"). It was the author's intention to situate Poictesme roughly in the south of France. The name suggests the two real French cities of [[Poitiers]] (medieval Poictiers) and [[Angoulême]] (medieval Angoulesme). Several other books take place in the fictional town of Lichfield, Virginia.

After concluding the ''Biography'' in 1932, Cabell shortened his professional name to ''Branch Cabell''. The truncated name was used for all his new, "post-''Biography''" publications until the printing of ''There Were Two Pirates'' (1946).