Domnei · Chapter
A Preface explained
The preface explores the medieval concept of domnei—a worshipful devotion to women—as exemplified by Melicent and Perion, contrasting it with modern attitudes.
What happens
The preface explores the medieval concept of domnei—a worshipful devotion to women—as exemplified by Melicent and Perion, contrasting it with modern attitudes. It argues that this idealized, spiritual love has been lost in an age of materialism, yet remains a secret desire in both men and women. The author praises Cabell's courage in upholding this vision and highlights the vivid, romantic imagery of the story.
Themes in this chapter
Woman-Worship and Domnei
The central theme of the preface, exploring domnei as a sublimated passion that elevates women to a spiritual ideal.
Idealism vs. Cynicism
Contrasts the medieval ideal of domnei with modern material sentimentality and the loss of such romantic vision.
The Nature of True Love
Examines love as an abstract, spiritual force that transcends the physical and persists as an instinct for men to serve a shining image.
Characters to notice
- Melicent
Presented as the central figure of domnei, holding an image of Perion that keeps her inviolable despite violence.
- Perion de la Forêt
The ideal knight whose image Melicent cherishes; his philosophy and love are central to the preface's argument.
- King Theodoret
Mentioned as Melicent's intended husband at Bellegarde.
- Ahasuerus
Described as buying Melicent for a hundred and two minae and entering her room for an act of abnegation.
- Mélusine
Noted with pale frosty hair, spinning the melancholy of departed passion.
- Count Emmerick of Poictesme
Referenced as the brother of the desirable woman who is the subject of devotion.
Key passages
“It would be absorbing to discover the present feminine attitude toward the profoundest compliment ever paid women by the heart and mind of men in league—the worshipping devotion conceived by Plato and elevated to a living faith in medieval France.”
The author wonders how modern women view the medieval ideal of domnei, a Platonic worship of women that became a living faith.
Introduces the central concept of the preface.
“Hardly a woman, today, would value a sigh the passion which turned a man steadfastly away that he might be with her forever beyond the parched forest of death.”
Few modern women would appreciate a love that leads a man to renounce her in this life for an eternal union after death.
Highlights the gap between medieval and modern attitudes toward love.
“There is never a man, gifted to any degree with imagination, but eternally searches for an ultimate loveliness not disappearing in the circle of his embrace—the instinctively Platonic gesture toward the only immortality conceivable in terms of ecstasy.”
Every imaginative man seeks a beauty that transcends physical possession, a Platonic longing for immortality through ecstasy.
Describes the enduring masculine ideal of abstract love.