What an enchantment it is to rediscover the work of a writer like Ernest Bramah! No one today is writing with the studied, elegant wit, the adroit humor, and above all, the superbly controlled English that this lesser-known writer of the early ’twenties used with such obvious pleasure. But it is hardly fair to imply that his talent was commonplace. On the contrary, like Cabell, he was a gifted man who developed, disciplined, and then used his talent with joyous mastery.The mannered, polished irony of Bramah’s style is as unique as the fictitious creation of a remarkable mind—for certainly no “China” remotely like Bramah’s existed outside his imagination. Yet his work is spiced with wry humor and studded with earthy realities. The ultimate test of adult fantasy is that it speaks to us of ourselves. And this Ernest Bramah does through the delicious medium of his anti-hero, Kai Lung.

Ernest Bramah is truly a writer for adults. He is a master of towering clouds of words that pile delicate fantasy upon fantasy—clouds shot through, however, with the lightning of satire, with the homely and charming earthiness of his people. Rich, dry, droll, satiric, and above all, unique—these are just a few of the attributes that permeate the works of Ernest Bramah, and most particularly that body of work in which he retails the adventures of Kai Lung.