The Cream of the Jest: A comedy of evasions

In Short

Felix Kennaston is a quiet, middle-aged writer whose ordinary life in Lichfield offers little excitement. Seeking an escape from his drab reality, he uses a mysterious metal token—the sigil of Scoteia—to dream himself into the persona of Horvendile, a wandering hero. In his dreams, he travels across centuries in pursuit of an ideal, unattainable woman named Ettarre. This satirical fantasy explores the tension between creative imagination and everyday life, showing how human beings construct romantic illusions to endure their mundane realities before ultimately confronting the quiet value of the actual world.

The Story

Felix Kennaston leads a quietly comfortable but uninspiring life as a married man in Lichfield. Having written a medieval romance titled Men Who Loved Alison, he finds little fulfillment in his domestic routine or in the superficial social world around him. His life changes dramatically when he finds half of a strange, shining metal disc that he calls the sigil of Scoteia. Clasping this talisman as he sleeps, Kennaston discovers he can slip out of his ordinary self and enter a vivid dream realm.

In these dreams, Kennaston lives as Horvendile, a heroic adventurer who moves through various historical eras and famous settings. Across ancient Jerusalem, Renaissance Europe, 17th-century France, and the French Revolution, Horvendile pursues Ettarre, a woman who embodies an ideal and unattainable beauty. In each era, he observes history's great moments—from royal courts to execution sites—while maintaining a sense of detachment, knowing he is playing a part in a larger grand design crafted by a mysterious Author. The sigil acts as his key to this dreamscape, and touching Ettarre allows him to exit a dream whenever a scenario turns unpleasant or dull.

While his dream life expands across time and space, Kennaston's actual life continues its ordinary course. He attends vestry meetings, engages in small-talk about politics and technology, handles domestic errands, and interacts with his practical wife, Kathleen. To the outside world—and to his friend Harrowby, who observes him—Kennaston seems an unexceptional, slightly dull man. Yet Kennaston views his waking hours as mere interruptions between his glorious nocturnal travels.

Eventually, the boundary between his dream visions and his actual life breaks down. Through a chance encounter, Kennaston notices that a woman in his waking life carries a small item resembling his beloved talisman, forcing him to consider how his romantic ideals map onto reality. Soon after, he discovers the truth about the sigil itself: it is not an ancient, magical relic at all, but simply the broken metal cap of a ordinary cosmetic bottle.

This revelation shatters his romantic delusions, forcing him to recognize that his quest for an unattainable ideal was built on a commonplace illusion. Returning his gaze to his home and his marriage, Kennaston realizes that Kathleen herself possesses a quiet, overlooked grace, mirroring the very beauty he had been chasing across time. Accepting his place as a mortal actor in life's drama, he settles back into his everyday world, reconciled to its limitations and appreciative of its quiet comforts.

How It Unfolds

The journey begins Felix Kennaston completes his novel, Men Who Loved Alison, navigating minor editorial disagreements with his publisher over its title and preface. Though the book earns little public excitement, it captures his private obsession with medieval romance and the unreachable heroine Ettarre.

A secret key is found Walking through a garden in the twilight, Kennaston discovers half of a small, gleaming metal object. When he holds this sigil while sleeping, he opens a gateway to vivid historical dreams where he takes on the identity of the wandering hero Horvendile.

Wandering through history As Horvendile, Kennaston travels across centuries, standing in ancient cities, royal courts, and revolutionary prisons. In every era, he meets Ettarre, enjoying a sense of detachment because he knows he is dreaming and can return home at any time.

The weight of everyday life Between his nightly journeys, Kennaston maintains a routine existence in Lichfield, attending local club meetings, talking with neighbors, and living alongside his pragmatic wife, Kathleen. He views these waking hours as an unimportant prelude to his nights.

A shattering revelation Kennaston learns that his cherished sigil of Scoteia is merely the discarded metal lid of a standard vanity bottle. Forced to abandon his romantic illusions, he looks at his real life with fresh eyes and realizes that true beauty was present in his ordinary home all along.

The People

• Felix Kennaston (Horvendile)

A middle-aged author who wants to escape his unglamorous existence and find a transcendent, romantic ideal. Restricted by his ordinary nature and social awkwardness, he uses his dreams to live as the hero Horvendile, only to end up realizing that his actual life holds its own quiet value.

• Ettarre

The ageless, unattainable woman whom Horvendile pursues across different eras. She represents perfect beauty and the artistic ideal, remaining forever just beyond Kennaston's reach until he learns to see her qualities mirrored in the real world.

• Kathleen Kennaston

Felix’s practical, good-natured wife. She manages their home and social obligations with cool efficiency, standing as the steady, real-world counterpart to the romantic phantoms Felix chases in his sleep.

• Harrowby

A wealthy local acquaintance who serves as a commentator on Kennaston's life. He observes Kennaston’s odd habits and views him as an ordinary, somewhat inadequate man who represents humanity's universal struggle to reconcile high dreams with low realities.

In Its Own Voice

“No one, I take it, can afford to do without books unless he be quite sure that his own day and personality are the best imaginable; and for this class of persons the most crying need is not, of course, seclusion in a library, but in a sanatorium.”

— Kennaston sets forth his philosophy on reading as a necessary escape for those dissatisfied with their own lives.

“Forgive me, Ettarre, but you are not real. You are an idea, a dream, a vision that I have built out of my own longings to escape the dullness of things.”

— Horvendile addresses the ageless woman during one of his dream journeys across time, acknowledging her ideal nature.

“For it is in this inadequate flesh that each of us must serve his dream; and so, must fail in the dream’s service, and must parody that which he holds dearest.”

— Harrowby reflects on Kennaston's journey, concluding that human beings are defined by their attempt to hold onto nobility despite their earthly flaws.

What It's Really About

The book explores the human tendency to seek escape from mundane reality through art, illusion, and romantic fantasy. It questions whether the ideal worlds people build in their imaginations are noble pursuits or mere evasions that prevent them from appreciating actual life. Through Kennaston’s double existence, the narrative suggests that human beings are natural storytellers who cast themselves as heroes to endure their limitations. Ultimately, it argues that while ideal perfection is a fiction, the attempt to hold onto romantic dreams is what gives human life its beauty, provided one eventually learns to honor the real world and the people within it.

Why Read It Today

This novel speaks directly to anyone who has ever felt out of place in their own era or sought refuge from daily routines in books, art, and daydreams. It offers a reflective, satirical look at the creative mind, capturing the quiet friction between an individual's grand internal vision and their ordinary external life. Reading it feels like stepping into a stylish, ironical fable that moves effortlessly between realistic domestic scenes and fantastical historical landscapes.

The prose carries a distinct early 20th-century elegance, marked by a dry, philosophical humor and stylized dialogue. Modern readers should be prepared for its deliberate pacing, frame-narrative structure, and frequent references to classical and medieval tropes. It does not rely on fast-paced adventure, but rather on intellectual wit and mood. What remains with the reader is its gentle irony regarding human vanity, alongside a surprisingly tender defense of the small, everyday realities that anchor us when our grandest illusions fall away.