Lord Dunsany

[Connavar]

Fifty-one Tales also contains some of his most poignant writing; it is a very rich collection. Also be aware that The Charwoman's Shadow is a sequel (of sorts) to Don Rodriguez....

I think i have read the sequel of sorts thing before maybe it was you in another thread.

It seems you have read 51 tales, what kind stories are they ? Like his early fantasy collections in Fantasy Masterworks book ? That is so enchanting,fable like stories ?

Since i enjoyed Jorkens who had sf stories i wonder if they appear in other collections.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, very much fables; brief, often poignant, pensive pieces; quite enchanting but with a surprising degree of thought contained within. If you liked those early pieces (perhaps especially those in The Gods of Pegāna), then these should be right down your alley. His Tales of War are of the same sort, though only a tiny number of these have any fantastic element to them....

And yes, I have read the collection (it was one of the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy selections, under the title of one of the stories: The Food of Death), and it is one of my favorite Dunsany books....

 

[Connavar]

Tales of War appeal to me because of the real world,political issue of war.

You wonder how Lord Dunsany would write about war.

It was written for a political rather than artistic purpose, but because it was painfully inspired from life (and death) and because it is written by a great writer it is far more than just a curio.

After it and a novel i plan to collect the collections,novels by publication order. You might as well do that if you want a complete collection,reading.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, though with some of those it can get quite expensive. Incidentally, though, you ought to pick up his biographical pieces as well, as they provide many valuable insights:

Unhappy Far-off Things (1919)
My Ireland (1937)
Patches of Sunlight (1938)
While the Sirens Slept (1944)
The Sirens Wake (1945)

 

[Connavar]

Dunsany is one of three authors currently i would buy no matter the price.

Unhappy Far-off Things (1919) is listed as World War I stories.

The others i have seen are biographies. Have you read his Poems ? Weird how his poetry is out of print except the Prose Poems in the penguin collection of his stories.

 

[j d worthington]

It isn't a volume of stories -- at least, not fiction. It is a volume of biography, and yes, it does concern the war to a fair degree.

I've only come across one or two of his verses; iirc, his poetry is considered among his poorest work, so it isn't terribly surprising that it would be out of print. He still isn't quite as popular as some whose entire body of published work has been brought back out, though he is much more well known now than he was thirty years ago....

 

[Connavar]

It isn't a volume of stories -- at least, not fiction. It is a volume of biography, and yes, it does concern the war to a fair degree.

I've only come across one or two of his verses; iirc, his poetry is considered among his poorest work, so it isn't terribly surprising that it would be out of print. He still isn't quite as popular as some whose entire body of published work has been brought back out, though he is much more well known now than he was thirty years ago....

Heh the listings should say non-fiction then.

Maybe his weakest might be of extra interest, i havent tasted a weak story or poetry of his.


To me he looks like he is having a fine revivle, i mean for an author who was big,world famous in his days. Then nothing for decades if you look at how much of his books are back in print in the last 10-15 years. talk about the right time to become a fan

It would be tragic,criminal if he was totally out of print for someone of his importance,quality.

When was the last you read him by the way ? You seem to have read much of him but i cant rememer you reading him,reading your thoughts of his work.

 

[j d worthington]

Oh, let's see... with his first eight collections of fantastic stories (The Gods of Pegāna through Tales of Three Hemispheres), it has probably been about four years or so since the last time I read them all. The King of Elfland's Daughter... probably about ten years now, maybe slightly less. Don Rodriguez, about the same. The Charwoman's Shadow... probably not for fifteen years (though I hope to rectify that sometime in the near future). His autobiographical volumes (which I don't own but had to get through interlibrary loan), about 20 years now. Various other collections would also vary, but I don't think I've read a collection in less than two or three years now, the most recent being Tales of War in the expanded edition....

In a very real way, we have to thank Lovecraft for the revival of interest in Lord Dunsany, as his work was either completely or almost completely out of print for some time, and it was through his influence on Lovecraft that his name began to be bandied about again in more than a very tiny circle; eventually a lot of Lovecraftians also began doing research on Dunsany and attempting to get his work back into print... and it went from there; the other part of that equation being the reprinting of some of his stories (in new collections) in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series and the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy series....

 

[Fried Egg]

I can say that a love for Dunsany's writing runs in my family. My father was a big fan and he told me that his father was a fan at the time Dunsany wrote much of his work. Although, as I undestand it, neither was a fan of Lovecraft. That's where I break with family tradition.

 

[Connavar]

I can respect Lovecraft for his good taste in Lord Dunsany,REH, his quotes about them. His essay writing about Supernatural horror was very good.

 

[j d worthington]

I can respect Lovecraft for his good taste in Lord Dunsany,REH, his quotes about them. His essay writing about Supernatural horror was very good.

You might also find his essay on Dunsany of interest. The title is simply "Lord Dunsany and His Work", and he wrote it in 1922. While disagreeing with certain points in his views of Dunsany, nonetheless I find it a fascinating essay, and there are points in which I feel he was very much on the nose....

 

[Extollager]

I've written a reminiscence, I suppose about 2500 words, about my "finds" in the field of classic fantasy, circa 1969-77, when I lived in southern Oregon. The piece should appear in Pierre Comtois's Fungi late this year or early next year. Dunsany's At the Edge of the World was one of the first books in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series that I ever bought, and one of the first books whose date of purchase I wrote in the book (26 March 1970; I was 14 and a 9th grader).

I don't find Dunsany too compelling now but what a find he was back in the day.

 

[AE35Unit]

. I have interest in his War stories about WI. Reading about real human tragedy with his magical writing,prose might be something.

!

Yes I find that part of our history strangely fascinating,
and Dunany is on PG so I might download some.( I actually thought Shiel's 'The Purple Cloud' was set in WWI but it was written way earlier)

 

[Extollager]

Has anyone else thought of Dunsany as the "anti-Tolkien"? I don't mean they wouldn't like one another. Tolkien had read and enjoyed some Dunsany, such as "Chu-bu and Sheemish," it seems from his letters. But they are polar opposites as fantasists. Tolkien expended enormous pains in creating a secondary world that was consistent with itself through thousands of years of history, dozens of characters, multiple storylines, several invented languages, etc. He provided an explanation (The Red Book of Westmarch) for how we in our time can know about those ancient events. By contrast Dunsany flaunts the inconsequence of his confections. They are but "dreams" having no impact on us; they may be "a dreamer's tales" but the dreamer never awakens and starts to process what they might mean for him, in the waking world. You could say that any imaginary world fantasy could be placed somewhere on a spectrum with Tolkien at one end and Dunsany at the other.

 

[Connavar]

Has anyone else thought of Dunsany as the "anti-Tolkien"? I don't mean they wouldn't like one another. Tolkien had read and enjoyed some Dunsany, such as "Chu-bu and Sheemish," it seems from his letters. But they are polar opposites as fantasists. Tolkien expended enormous pains in creating a secondary world that was consistent with itself through thousands of years of history, dozens of characters, multiple storylines, several invented languages, etc. He provided an explanation (The Red Book of Westmarch) for how we in our time can know about those ancient events. By contrast Dunsany flaunts the inconsequence of his confections. They are but "dreams" having no impact on us; they may be "a dreamer's tales" but the dreamer never awakens and starts to process what they might mean for him, in the waking world. You could say that any imaginary world fantasy could be placed somewhere on a spectrum with Tolkien at one end and Dunsany at the other.

Maybe not as anti-Tolkien but i thought how different Lord Dunsany was to writers like that in the same field. The dreams,imaginations,his worlds.

But in the end its about how you write and not what you write. Lord Dunsany is today more important to me than 99% of authors i read in every field in how i see his works,ability.
Tolkien is what i dont like to read in High Fantasy.

 

[Fried Egg]

Has anyone else thought of Dunsany as the "anti-Tolkien"? I don't mean they wouldn't like one another. Tolkien had read and enjoyed some Dunsany, such as "Chu-bu and Sheemish," it seems from his letters. But they are polar opposites as fantasists. Tolkien expended enormous pains in creating a secondary world that was consistent with itself through thousands of years of history, dozens of characters, multiple storylines, several invented languages, etc. He provided an explanation (The Red Book of Westmarch) for how we in our time can know about those ancient events. By contrast Dunsany flaunts the inconsequence of his confections. They are but "dreams" having no impact on us; they may be "a dreamer's tales" but the dreamer never awakens and starts to process what they might mean for him, in the waking world. You could say that any imaginary world fantasy could be placed somewhere on a spectrum with Tolkien at one end and Dunsany at the other.

Well yes, Tolkien certainly did start a trend (still being followed religously today) in extensive and detailed world building and it is a style quite at odds with that of Dunsany I think. But I would probably more likely cast Michael Moorcock in that role. At least he was more consciously trying to write fantasy in a non-Tolkienesque way.

 

[neuroticdog]

Hi, new here, first post

Spent the last couple months reading a plethora of Dunsany's short stories ("The Gods of Pegana", "Time and the Gods", "The Sword of Welleran", "A Dreamers Tales", "The Book of Wonder", "Tales of Wonder", "Tales of Three Hemispheres" and "Fifty-One Tales") and also the the novel "Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley".

I have never read such consistently brilliant writing in my life. Many of these shorts (some lasting only a page or two) are basically just written for no other purpose than to appreciate the printed word. I'm ok with that...because in his hands, the printed word becomes art of the highest order. So, many of them, at least for me were just these miniature snapshots of a world steeped in magic, mystery, exotica, adventure, old world romance, mythology and fable. Of the stories that I was able to glean "something more from", such themes as atheism (very prevelant in the early stories) and fear of technological progress (among others) were commented on...sometimes quite overtly, other times hidden in fable.

Like his contemporay, Arthur Machen, Dunsany seemed to be obsessed with the "real" world, i.e. the world that we everyday, mundane humans struggling though our mundane, everyday tasks, eeking out a drab existence on a day to day basis fail to see. Instead, we get gorgeous descriptions of the "fields beyond the fields we know" where life is simple and storybook...obtainable only by dreams.

In the end...if the reader does grok "a point" from any given story is really besides the point. As cliche as this sounds...the reward is in the journey, not the destination.

I'm detouring with the Gormenghast novels right now, but plan on returning to read "The King of Elfland's Daughter" when I'm done.

 

[Connavar]

Interesting to see another new fan and welcome to the forum

"The King of Elfland's Daughter" is by far the most beautiful piece of literature i have read. So beautiful it hurt reading it at times.

Fear of technological progress when it destroys the natural world is a feeling a person of today can really understand. I like that theme of his i feel its terrible people are destroying nature,animals just for being greedy humans. Lord Dunsany wouldnt have liked to have young enough to see w

 

[J Riff]

Yes, welcome N-Dog. This place isn't so arful once you get used to it.
Read some of the 51 takes t'other day, great stuff. Inspiring to those of us in the 75-word writing challenge, tho I don't think any were quite that short, some were brilliant.

 

[neuroticdog]

Hey all...thanks for the welcomes...

In regards to Dunsany being a sort of anti-Tolkein...I can definitely accept that. In fact, that discussion reminds me of (one of) M. John Harrison's intentions when he wrote the Viriconium cycle.

Harrison set out to write the "anti-fantasy". In other words, dont tell, just show and toss all manner of "world building" exposition in the garbage...after all, how do we, the reader know what it would be like living in a world like that if we didnt experience it first hand? Most importantly, show things, show reactions, show emotions through these actions...just dont tell us that so and so character was distraught, or sad, or happy etc. To Harrison, that would be the ultimate insult.

Ironically, the sense I got from Viriconium was one of complete detail...and I got this sense playing by his rules. He consciously did away, at least in the later stories and novels, with the fantasy tropes and created an environment very very rich, at least in my minds eye. This tells me that Harrison is one pretty amazing writer.

After reading Dunsany, I got the same impressions. The "bare bone" style of his writing left me with a very vivid, and most importantly...memorable visual of, not only his pastoral wonderland of dreams, the "fields beyond the fields we know" (love that!!!!) but also, when he chose to write about the onslaught of industrialism and it's effect on the earth and civilization, the grittiness and suffocatingly dense atmosphere that came with all that.

This was all done by very careful, and precise writing...a style that was a pleasure to read, and I'm sure re-read at a later date. I dare say that his writing is the literary equivalent of (to bring a music analogy into this) a Miles Davis solo (for instance during "Kind of Blue)...one of utter mastery of his craft!