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= Lord_Dunsany =
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Introduction
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Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878
- 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish
writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his
lifetime, and his output consisted of hundreds of short stories,
plays, novels, and essays; further works were published posthumously.
Having gained a name in the 1910s as a writer in the English-speaking
world, he is best known today for the 1924 fantasy novel 'The King of
Elfland's Daughter', and his first book, 'The Gods of Pegāna', which
depicts a fictional pantheon. Many critics feel his early work laid
grounds for the fantasy genre.
Born in London as heir to one of the oldest Irish peerages, he was
raised partly in Kent, but later lived mainly at Ireland's possibly
longest-inhabited home, Dunsany Castle near Tara. He worked with W. B.
Yeats and Lady Gregory, and supported the Abbey Theatre and some
fellow writers. He was a chess and pistol champion of Ireland, and
travelled and hunted. He devised an asymmetrical game called Dunsany's
chess. In later life, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from
Trinity College Dublin. He settled in Shoreham, Kent, in 1947. In 1957
he took ill when visiting Ireland and died in Dublin of appendicitis.
Early life
============
Edward Plunkett ('Dunsany'), known to his family as "Eddie", was the
first son of John William Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany (1853-1899),
and his wife, Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Ernle-Erle-Drax
(née Burton) (1855-1916).
From a historically wealthy and famous family, Lord Dunsany was
related to many well-known Irish figures. He was a kinsman of the
Catholic Saint Oliver Plunkett, the martyred Archbishop of Armagh
whose ring and crozier head are still held by the Dunsany family. He
was also related to the prominent Anglo-Irish unionist and later
nationalist / Home Rule politician Sir Horace Plunkett and George
Count Plunkett, Papal Count and Republican politician, father of
Joseph Plunkett, executed for his part in the 1916 Rising.
His mother was a cousin of Sir Richard Burton, and he inherited from
her considerable height, being 1.93 metres tall (6'4"). The Countess
of Fingall, wife of Dunsany's cousin, the Earl of Fingall, wrote a
best-selling account of the life of the aristocracy in Ireland in the
late 19th century and early 20th century called 'Seventy Years Young'.
Plunkett's only adult sibling, a younger brother, from whom he was
estranged from about 1916, for reasons not fully clear but connected
to his mother's will, was the noted British naval officer Sir Reginald
Drax. Another younger brother died in infancy.
Edward Plunkett grew up at the family properties, notably Dunstall
Priory in Shoreham, Kent, and Dunsany Castle in County Meath, but also
in family homes such as in London. His schooling was at Cheam, Eton
College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which he entered in
1896.
Title and marriage
====================
The title passed to him at his father's death in 1899 at a fairly
young age. The young Lord Dunsany returned to Dunsany Castle after war
duty, in 1901. In that year he was also confirmed as an elector for
the Irish representative peers in the House of Lords.
In 1903, he met Lady Beatrice Child Villiers (1880-1970), youngest
daughter of The 7th Earl of Jersey (head of the Jersey banking
family), who was then living at Osterley Park. They married in 1904.
Their one child, Randal, was born in 1906. Lady Beatrice was
supportive of Dunsany's interests and helped him by typing his
manuscripts, selecting work for his collections, including the 1954
retrospective short story collection, and overseeing his literary
heritage after his death.
The Dunsanys were socially active in Dublin and London and travelled
between homes in Meath, London and Kent, other than during the First
and Second world wars and the Irish War of Independence. Dunsany
circulated with many literary figures of the time. To many of these in
Ireland he was first introduced by his uncle, the co-operative pioneer
Sir Horace Plunkett, who also helped to manage his estate and
investments for a time. He was friendly, for example, with George
William Russell, Oliver St. John Gogarty, and for a time, W. B. Yeats.
He also socialised at times with George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells,
and was a friend of Rudyard Kipling.
In 1910 Dunsany commissioned a two-storey extension to Dunsany Castle,
with a billiard room, bedrooms and other facilities. The billiard room
includes the crests of all the Lords Dunsany up to the 18th.
Military experience
=====================
Dunsany served as a second lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards in the
Second Boer War. Volunteering in the First World War and appointed
Captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, he was stationed for a
time at Ebrington Barracks in Derry. Hearing while on leave of
disturbances in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916, he drove in
to offer help and was wounded by a bullet lodged in his skull. After
recovery at Jervis Street Hospital and what was then the King George V
Hospital (now St. Bricin's Military Hospital), he returned to duty.
His military belt was lost in the episode and later used at the burial
of Michael Collins. Having been refused forward positioning in 1916
and listed as valuable as a trainer, he served in the later war stages
in the trenches and in the final period writing propaganda material
for the War Office with MI7b(1). There is a book at Dunsany Castle
with wartime photographs, on which lost members of his command are
marked.
During the Irish War of Independence, Dunsany was charged with
violating the Restoration of Order in Ireland Regulations, tried by
court-martial on 4 February 1921, convicted, and sentenced to pay a
fine of 25 pounds or serve three months in prison without labour. The
Crown Forces had searched Dunsany Castle and had found two
double-barrelled shotguns, two rook rifles, four Very pistols, an
automatic pistol and a large quantity of pistol ammunition, along with
shotgun and rifle ammunition.
During the Second World War, Dunsany signed up for the Irish Army
Reserve and the British Home Guard, the two countries' local defence
forces, and was especially active in Shoreham, Kent, the English
village bombed most during the Battle of Britain.
Literary life
===============
Dunsany's fame arose chiefly from his prolific writings. He was
involved in the Irish Literary Revival. Supporting the Revival,
Dunsany was a major donor to the Abbey Theatre and he moved in Irish
literary circles. He was well acquainted with W. B. Yeats (who rarely
acted as editor but gathered and published a Dunsany selection), Lady
Gregory, Percy French, George "AE" Russell, Oliver St John Gogarty,
Padraic Colum (with whom he jointly wrote a play) and others. He
befriended and supported Francis Ledwidge, to whom he gave the use of
his library, and Mary Lavin.
Dunsany made his first literary tour to the United States in 1919 and
further such visits up to the 1950s, in the early years mostly to the
eastern seaboard and later, notably, to California.
Dunsany's own work and contribution to the Irish literary heritage
were recognised with an honorary degree from Trinity College Dublin.
Early 1940s
=============
In 1940, Dunsany was appointed Byron Professor of English in Athens
University, Greece. Having reached Athens by a circuitous route, he
was so successful that he was offered a post as Professor of English
in Istanbul. However, he had to be evacuated due to the German
invasion of Greece in April 1941, returning home by an even more
complex route, his travels forming a basis for a long poem published
in book form ('A Journey, in 5 cantos: The Battle of Britain, The
Battle of Greece, The Battle of the Mediterranean, Battles Long Ago,
The Battle of the Atlantic', special edition January 1944). Olivia
Manning's character Lord Pinkrose in her novel sequence the 'Fortunes
of War' was a mocking portrait of Dunsany in that period.
Later life
============
In 1947, Dunsany transferred his Meath estate in trust to his son and
heir Randal and settled in Kent at his Shoreham house, Dunstall
Priory. He visited Ireland only occasionally thereafter, and engaged
actively in life in Shoreham and London. He also began a new series of
visits to the United States, notably California, as recounted in Hazel
Littlefield-Smith's biographical 'Dunsany, King of Dreams'.
Death
=======
In 1957, Lord Dunsany became ill while dining with the Earl and
Countess of Fingall at Dunsany, in what proved to be an attack of
appendicitis. He died in hospital in Dublin, at the age of 79. He was
buried in the churchyard of the ancient church of St Peter and St
Paul, Shoreham, Kent. His funeral was attended by many family members
(including Pakenhams, Jerseys and Fingalls), representatives of his
old regiment and various bodies in which he had taken an interest, and
figures from Shoreham. A memorial service was held at Kilmessan in
Meath, with a reading of "Crossing the Bar", which coincided with the
passing of a flock of geese.
Beatrice survived Dunsany, living mainly at Shoreham and overseeing
his literary legacy until her death in 1970. Their son Randal
succeeded to the barony and was in turn succeeded by his grandson, the
artist Edward Plunkett. Dunsany's literary rights passed from Beatrice
to Edward.
Interests
===========
Aside from his literary work, Dunsany was a keen chess player, setting
chess puzzles for journals such as 'The Times' of London, playing José
Raúl Capablanca to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition, and inventing
Dunsany's Chess, an asymmetrical chess variant notable for not
involving any fairy pieces, unlike the many variants that require the
player to learn unconventional piece movements. He was president of
both the Irish Chess Union and the Kent County Chess Association for
some years and of Sevenoaks Chess Club for 54 years. His short story
'The Three Sailors' Gambit' is a classic work of suspense that
incorporates a strong and unique chess element into its plot.
Dunsany was an avid horseman and hunter, for many years hosting the
hounds of a local hunt and hunting in parts of Africa. He was at one
time the pistol-shooting champion of Ireland. Dunsany also campaigned
for animal rights, being known especially for his opposition to the
"docking" of dogs' tails, and presided over the West Kent branch of
the RSPCA in his later years. He enjoyed cricket, provided the local
cricket ground situated near Dunsany Crossroads, and later played for
and presided at Shoreham Cricket Club in Kent. He was a supporter of
Scouting for many years, serving as President of the Sevenoaks
district Boy Scouts Association. He also supported an amateur drama
group, the Shoreham Players.
Dunsany provided support for the British Legion in both Ireland and
Kent, including grounds in Trim and poetry for the Irish branch's
annual memorial service on a number of occasions.
Writings
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Dunsany was a prolific writer of short stories, novels, plays, poetry,
essays and autobiography. He published over 90 books in his lifetime,
not including individual plays. Books have continued to appear, with
more than 120 having been issued by 2017. Dunsany's works have been
published in many languages.
Early career
==============
Dunsany began his literary career in the late 1890s writing under his
given name, with published verses such as "Rhymes from a Suburb" and
"The Spirit of the Bog". In 1905, writing as Lord Dunsany, he produced
the well-received collection 'The Gods of Pegāna.'
Early fantasy
===============
Dunsany's most notable fantasy short stories appeared in collections
from 1905 to 1919, before fantasy had been recognised as a distinct
genre. He paid for the publication of the first collection, 'The Gods
of Pegāna,' earning a commission on sales.
The stories in his first two books, and perhaps the beginning of his
third, were set in an invented world, Pegāna, with its own gods,
history and geography. Starting with this, Dunsany's name is linked to
that of Sidney Sime, his chosen artist, who illustrated much of his
work, notably up to 1922.
Drama
=======
After 'The Book of Wonder' (1912), Dunsany began to write plays - many
of which were even more successful at the time than his early story
collections - while continuing to write short stories. He carried on
writing plays for the theatre into the 1930s, including the famous
'If' (1921), and also some radio productions.
Although many of Dunsany's plays were successfully staged in his
lifetime, he also wrote "chamber plays" or closet dramas. Some of
these chamber or radio plays involve supernatural events - a character
appearing out of thin air or vanishing in full view of the audience,
without an explanation of how the effect is to be staged, a matter of
no importance, as Dunsany did not intend them to be performed live.
Middle period
===============
After a successful US lecture tour in 1919-1920, Dunsany's reputation
was now related principally to his plays. He temporarily reduced his
output of short stories, concentrating on plays, novels and poetry for
a time. His poetry, now little seen, was for a time so popular that it
is recited by the lead character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'This Side
of Paradise'. His sonnet "A Dirge of Victory" was the only poem
included in the Armistice Day edition of the 'Times' of London.
Launching another phase of his work, Dunsany's first novel, 'Don
Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley' appeared in 1922. It is set in
"a Romantic Spain that never was" and follows the adventures of a
young nobleman, Don Rodriguez, and his servant in their search for a
castle for Rodriguez. In 1924, Dunsany published his second novel,
'The King of Elfland's Daughter,' a return to his early style of
writing. In his next novel, 'The Charwoman's Shadow,' Dunsany returned
to the Spanish milieu and the light style of 'Don Rodriguez'.
Among his best-known characters was Joseph Jorkens, an obese,
middle-aged raconteur who frequented the fictional Billiards Club in
London and would tell fantastic stories if anyone bought him a large
whiskey and soda. From his tales, it was clear that Jorkens had
travelled to all seven continents, was extremely resourceful and
well-versed in world cultures, but always came up short on becoming
rich and famous. The 'Jorkens' books, which sold well, were among the
first of a type that would become popular in fantasy and science
fiction writing: highly improbable "club tales" told at a gentleman's
club or bar.
Some saw Dunsany's writing habits as peculiar. Lady Beatrice said, "He
always sat on a crumpled old hat while composing his tales". (The hat
was eventually stolen by a visitor to Dunsany Castle.) Dunsany almost
never rewrote anything; everything he published was a first draft.
Much of his work was written with a quill pen he made himself; Lady
Beatrice was usually the first to see the writings and would help to
type them. It has been said that Lord Dunsany sometimes conceived
stories while hunting and would return to the Castle and draw in his
family and servants to re-enact his visions before he set them on
paper.
Translations
==============
Dunsany's work was translated from early on into languages that
include Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian,
Czech and Turkish - his uncle, Horace Plunkett, suggested 14 languages
by the 1920s.
Style and themes
==================
Dunsany's style varied significantly throughout his writing career.
Prominent Dunsany scholar S. T. Joshi has described these shifts as
Dunsany moving on after he felt he had exhausted the potential of a
style or medium. From the naïve fantasy of his earliest writings,
through his early short-story work in 1904-1908, he turned to the
self-conscious fantasy of 'The Book of Wonder' in 1912, in which he
almost seems to be parodying his lofty early style.
Each of his collections varies in mood; 'A Dreamer's Tales' varies
from the wistfulness of "Blagdaross" to the horrors of "Poor Old Bill"
and "Where the Tides Ebb and Flow" to the social satire of "The Day of
the Poll." The opening paragraph of "The Hoard of the Gibbelins" from
'The Book of Wonder,' (1912) gives a good indication of both the tone
and tenor of Dunsany's style at the time:
The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man.
Their evil tower is joined to Terra Cognita, to the lands we know, by
a bridge. Their hoard is beyond reason; avarice has no use for it;
they have a separate cellar for emeralds and a separate cellar for
sapphires; they have filled a hole with gold and dig it up when they
need it. And the only use that is known for their ridiculous wealth is
to attract to their larder a continual supply of food. In times of
famine, they have even been known to scatter rubies abroad, a little
trail of them to some city of Man, and sure enough, their larders
would soon be full again.
Despite his frequent shifts of style and medium, Dunsany's thematic
concerns remained essentially the same. Many of his later novels had
an explicitly Irish theme, from the semi-autobiographical 'The Curse
of the Wise Woman' to 'His Fellow Men.'
Theatre
=========
*Most of Dunsany's plays were performed in his lifetime, some many
times in many venues, including the West End, Broadway and
Off-Broadway. At one time, five ran simultaneously in New York,
possibly all on Broadway, On another occasion he was being performed
in four European capitals as well as New York.
Radio
=======
*Dunsany wrote several plays for radio, most being broadcast on the
BBC and some collected in 'Plays for Earth and Air'. The BBC had
recordings of the broadcasts, but according to articles on the author,
these are not extant.
*Dunsany is known to have read short stories and poetry on air and for
private recording by Hazel Littlefield-Smith and friends in
California. It is thought that one or two of these recordings survive.
*The successful film 'It Happened Tomorrow' was later adapted for
radio.
*The radio drama 'Fortress of Doom' (2005) in the 'Radio Tales' series
is an adaptation of Dunsany's short story "The Fortress
Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth".
Television
============
*Dunsany appeared on early television several times, notably on 'The
Brains Trust' (reaching over a quarter of the UK population), but no
recordings are known to exist.
*A 1946 BBC production of 'A Night at an Inn' starred Oliver Burt.
*A half-hour dramatisation of 'A Night at an Inn', starring Boris
Karloff, adapted from Dunsany's play by Halsted Welles and directed by
Robert Stevens, was produced for 'Suspense' and aired in April 1949.
*In 1952, 'Four Star Playhouse' presented 'The Lost Silk Hat',
directed by Robert Florey and starring Ronald Colman, who also
collaborated with Milton Merli on the script.
*An adaptation of 'The Pirates of the Round Pond' was aired as 'The
Pirates of Central Park' in 2001.
*A dramatised reading of 'Charon' appeared in the USA TV series
'Fantasmagori', 2017.
Cinema
========
*The critically and commercially successful 1944 film 'It Happened
Tomorrow', nominated for two Oscars, credited "The Jest of Hahalaba"
as one of its sources.
*The short 'In the Twilight', a 15-minute colour production from a
short story of that name, directed by Digby Rumsey, was showcased in
the mid-1970s at the London Film Festival.
*The short 'Nature and Time', a 1976 colour production from a short
story of that name, directed by Digby Rumsey, starred Helen York and
Paul Goodchild.
*The 22-minute colour film 'The Pledge', from the short story "The
Highwayman", directed by Digby Rumsey, was released by Fantasy Films
in 1981 and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, with music by
Michael Nyman.
*The 2008 film 'Dean Spanley', adapted by Alan Sharp from the novella
'My Talks With Dean Spanley', directed by Toa Fraser and produced by
Matthew Metcalfe and Alan Harris, starred Peter O'Toole, Sam Neill,
Jeremy Northam and Bryan Brown.
*George Pal optioned the science fiction novel 'The Last Revolution'
in the 1960s. The short story "Charon" and the novel 'The King of
Elfland's Daughter' were among others optioned at various times, but
none are believed to have reached production. Granada TV also bought
options or rights for certain stories.
*According to David Scott Diffrient, the 1998 British-US romantic
comedy drama film 'Sliding Doors', with some similar plot points,
directed by Peter Howitt, also had a Dunsanian link with that material
and with 'If'.
Text readings
===============
*Dunsany performed a number of live readings, notably of poetry and
extracts from plays, in New York and California.
*An extract from 'Time and the Gods' was used to accompany a video
published for a relaunch of the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) in
Dublin.
Music
=======
*Eduardo Bort was inspired by "Idle Days on the Yann" for his debut
album 'Eduardo Bort' (1975), especially for the lyrics of the tracks
"Yann", "En las riberas del Yann" and the bonus track "En las fuentes
del Yann".
*In 1977, Peter Knight and Bob Johnson, two members of Steeleye Span,
recorded a concept album based on Dunsany's 'The King of Elfland's
Daughter', released by Chrysalis Records on LP and later on CD. The
album starred Christopher Lee.
*An adaptation of "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth" was
made by Destiny's End in 1998.
*An interpretation of 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' was released by
the metal band Falcon in 2008
Audiobooks
============
*An LP of Vincent Price reading a number of Dunsany short stories
appeared in the 1980s.
*Several Dunsany short stories have been published as audiobooks in
Germany and played on the German national railway, Deutsche Bahn (DB).
*
*'The Little Tales of Smethers and Other Stories' were published in
the UK and US in 2017.
*A set of short stories set to music, 'The Vengeance of Thor', was
released by Pegana Press, Olympia, Washington, in 2017.
Video game
============
*Dunsany appears as a playable character in the 1999 PlayStation game
'Koudelka'.
Memberships, awards and honours
======================================================================
Lord Dunsany was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a member
and at one point President of the Authors' Society, and likewise
President of the Shakespeare Reading Society from 1938 until his death
in 1957, when he was succeeded by Sir John Gielgud.
Dunsany was also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was an
honorary member of the Institut Historique et Heraldique de France. He
was initially an Associate Member of the Irish Academy of Letters,
founded by Yeats and others, and later a full member. At one of their
meetings, after 1922, he asked Seán Ó Faoláin, who was presiding, "Do
we not toast the King?" Ó Faoláin replied that there was only one
toast: to the Nation; but after it was given and O'Faolain had called
for coffee, he saw Dunsany, standing quietly among the bustle, raise
his glass discreetly, and whisper "God bless him".
'The Curse of the Wise Woman' received the Harmsworth Literary Award
in Ireland.
Dunsany received an honorary doctorate, D.Litt., from Trinity College
Dublin, in 1940.
In 1950, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Irish
PEN, citing his fiction, poetry, and support for younger writers.
However, after a negative appraisal by Per Hallström, the Nobel
Committee did not consider him for the prize, which was won that year
by Bertrand Russell.
Influences
======================================================================
*Dunsany studied Greek and Latin, particularly Greek drama and
Herodotus, the "Father of History". Dunsany wrote in a letter: "When I
learned Greek at Cheam and heard of other gods a great pity came on me
for those beautiful marble people that had become forsaken and this
mood has never quite left
me."[
http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/dliterature/authors/dunsany/bio/dunsany.htm
1]
*The King James Bible: In a letter to Frank Harris, Dunsany wrote:
"When I went to Cheam School I was given a lot of the Bible to read.
This turned my thoughts eastward. For years no style seemed to me
natural but that of the Bible and I feared that I never would become a
writer when I saw that other people did not use it."
*The Library of Dunsany Castle had a wide-ranging collection dating
back centuries and comprising many classic works, from early
encyclopaedias through parliamentary records, Greek and Latin works to
Victorian illustrated books.
*His father's tale about ancient Egypt also influenced him.
*He was affected by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans
Christian Andersen, and by the work of Edgar Allan Poe.
*Rudyard Kipling and his works set in India were also read by him.
*Irish speech patterns were an influence.
*'The Darling of the Gods', a stage play written by David Belasco and
John Luther Long, was first performed in 1902-1903. It presents a
fantastical, imaginary version of Japan that powerfully affected
Dunsany and may be a template for his own imaginary kingdoms.
*Algernon Charles Swinburne, who wrote the line "Time and the Gods are
at strife" in his 1866 poem "Hymn to Proserpine": Dunsany later
realised this was his unconscious influence for the title 'Time and
the Gods'.
*The heroic romances of William Morris, set in imaginary lands of the
author's creation affected him, such as 'The Well at the World's End'.
*Dunsany's 1922 novel 'Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley'
seems to draw openly on Cervantes's 'Don Quixote de la Mancha' (1605
and 1615).
*Dunsany named his play 'The Seventh Symphony', collected in 'Plays
for Earth and Air' [1937], after Beethoven's 7th Symphony, which was
one of Dunsany's favourite works of music. One of the last 'Jorkens'
stories returns to this theme, referring to Beethoven's 'Tenth
Symphony'.
Writers associated with Dunsany
======================================================================
*Francis Ledwidge wrote to Dunsany in 1912 asking for help in getting
his poetry published. After a delay due to a hunting trip in Africa,
Dunsany invited him to his home and they met and corresponded
regularly thereafter. Dunsany was so impressed that he helped with
publication and with introductions to literary society. Dunsany,
trying to discourage Ledwidge from joining the army when the First
World War broke out, offered him financial support. Ledwidge, however,
joined up and found himself for a time in the same unit as Dunsany,
who helped with the publication of his first collection, 'Songs of the
Fields' - a critical success on its release in 1915. Ledwidge kept in
contact with Dunsany through the war, sending him poems. He was killed
at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, even as his second collection
of poetry, also selected by Dunsany, circulated. Dunsany later
arranged for a third collection to appear, and later still a first
'Collected Edition'. Some unpublished Ledwidge poetry and drama, given
or sent to Dunsany, are still held at the Castle.
*Mary Lavin who received support and encouragement from Dunsany over
many years.
*William Butler Yeats, although he rarely acted as such, selected and
edited a collection of Dunsany's work in 1912.
*Lady Wentworth, a poet writing in a classical style, received support
from Dunsany.
Writers influenced by Dunsany
======================================================================
*H. P. Lovecraft was much impressed by Dunsany after seeing him on a
speaking tour of the United States. His "Dream Cycle" stories, his
dark pseudo-history of how the universe came to be, and his god
Azathoth all clearly show Dunsany's influence. He once wrote: "There
are my 'Poe' pieces and my 'Dunsany' pieces - but alas - where are my
Lovecraft pieces?"
*Robert E. Howard placed Dunsany in a list of his favourite poets in a
1932 letter to Lovecraft.
*Clark Ashton Smith was a fan of Dunsany's work, which had some
influence on his fantasy stories.
*J. R. R. Tolkien, according to John D. Rateliff's report, presented
Clyde S. Kilby with a copy of 'The Book of Wonder' as a preparation
for his auxiliary role in compiling and developing 'The Silmarillion'
in the 1960s. Tolkien's letters and divulged notes made allusions to
two stories found in the volume, "Chu-Bu and Sheemish" and "The
Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller." Dale J. Nelson has
argued in 'Tolkien Studies 01' that Tolkien may have been inspired by
another of 'The Book of Wonder' tales, "The Hoard of the Gibbelins,"
while writing a poem, "The Mewlips", included in 'The Adventures of
Tom Bombadil'.
*Guillermo del Toro, Mexican film-maker, cited Dunsany as an
influence; He dedicated his book 'The Hollow Ones' to him among other
"old-school horror/fantasy writers".
*Neil Gaiman expressed admiration for Dunsany and wrote an
introduction to a collection of his stories. Some commentators have
seen links between 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' and Gaiman's
'Stardust' (book and film). This is seemingly supported by a comment
of Gaiman's quoted in 'The Neil Gaiman Reader'.
*Jorge Luis Borges included Dunsany's short story "The Idle City" in
'Antología de la Literatura Fantástica' (1940, revised 1976). He also,
in his essay "Kafka and His Precursors," included Dunsany's story
"Carcassonne" as one text that presaged or paralleled Franz Kafka's
themes.
*Donald Wandrei, in a 7 February 1927 letter to H. P. Lovecraft,
listed Dunsany's 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' among his collection
of "weird books" that Wandrei had read.
*Talbot Mundy much admired Dunsany's "plays and fantasy", according to
his biographer, Brian Taves.
*Cyril M. Kornbluth, an avid Dunsany reader as a young man, mentions
him in a short fantasy story, "Mr. Packer Goes to Hell" (1941).
*Arthur C. Clarke enjoyed Dunsany's work and corresponded with him
between 1944 and 1956. The letters are collected in 'Arthur C. Clarke
& Lord Dunsany: A Correspondence'. Clarke also edited and allowed
the use of an early essay as an introduction to a volume of 'The
Collected Jorkens'. The essay acknowledges the link between Jorkens
and 'Tales from the White Hart'.
*Manly Wade Wellman esteemed Dunsany's fiction.
*Margaret St. Clair was an admirer of Dunsany's work. Her story "The
Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" (1951) is a sequel to Dunsany's "How
Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles".
*Evangeline Walton stated in an interview that Dunsany inspired her to
write fantasy.
*Jack Vance was a keen reader of Dunsany's work as a child.
*Michael Moorcock was influenced by Dunsany.
*Peter S. Beagle cites Dunsany as an influence and wrote an
introduction to one of the recent reprint editions.
*David Eddings once named Lord Dunsany as his personal favourite
fantasy writer and recommended him to aspiring authors.
*Gene Wolfe used a Dunsany poem to open his 2004 work 'The Knight'.
*Fletcher Pratt's 1948 novel 'The Well of the Unicorn' was written as
a sequel to Dunsany's play 'King Argimenes and the Unknown Warrior'.
*Ursula K. Le Guin, in an essay on style in fantasy, "From Elfland to
Poughkeepsie", called Dunsany the "First Terrible Fate that Awaiteth
Unwary Beginners in Fantasy", alluding to a common practice among
young writers at the time to attempt to write in Lord Dunsany's style.
*M. J. Engh has acknowledged Dunsany as an influence.
*Welleran Poltarnees, author of numerous non-fantasy "blessing books"
employing turn-of-the-century artwork, uses a pen name based on two of
Lord Dunsany's famous stories.
*Gary Myers's 1975 short story collection 'The House of the Worm' is a
double pastiche of Dunsany and Lovecraft.
*Álvaro Cunqueiro acknowledged the influence of Lord Dunsany on his
work and wrote him an epitaph included in "Herba de aquí e de acolá".
Curator and studies
======================================================================
In the late 1990s, a curator, J. W. (Joe) Doyle, was appointed by the
estate to work at Dunsany Castle, in part to locate and organise the
author's manuscripts, typescripts and other materials. Doyle found
several works known to exist but thought to be "lost": the plays 'The
Ginger Cat' and "The Murderers," some Jorkens stories, and the novel
'The Pleasures of a Futuroscope' (later published by Hippocampus
Press). He also found hitherto unknown works, including 'The Last Book
of Jorkens', to the first edition of which he wrote an introduction,
and an unnamed 1956 short story collection, eventually published as
part of 'The Ghost in the Corner and other stories' in 2017. Doyle was
still working as curator in 2020. Some uncollected works, previously
published in magazines, and some unpublished works, have been selected
in consultation with them, and published in chapbooks by a US small
press.
Fans and scholars S. T. Joshi and Darrell Schweitzer worked on the
Dunsany œuvre for over twenty years, gathering stories, essays and
reference material, for a joint initial bibliography and separate
scholarly studies of Dunsany's work. An updated edition of their
bibliography appeared in 2013. Joshi edited 'The Collected Jorkens'
and 'The Ginger Cat and other lost plays' and co-edited 'The Ghost in
the Corner and other stories' using materials unearthed by the Dunsany
curator.
In the late 2000s a PhD researcher, Tania Scott from the University of
Glasgow, worked on Dunsany for some time and spoke at literary and
other conventions; her thesis was published in 2011, entitled
'Locating Ireland in the fantastic fiction of Lord Dunsany'. A Swedish
fan, Martin Andersson, was also active in research and publication in
the mid-2010s.
Documentary
=============
An hour-long documentary, 'Shooting for the Butler', was released by
Auteur TV and Justified Films in 2014, directed by Digby Rumsey. With
footage from Dunsany and Shoreham, it included interviews with the
author's great-grandson, the estate's curator, author Liz Williams,
scholar S. T. Joshi, a local who knew the writer personally, and the
head of the Irish Chess Union, among others.
Legacy
======================================================================
Dunsany's literary rights passed to a will trust first managed by
Beatrice, Lady Dunsany, and are currently handled by Curtis Brown of
London and partner firms worldwide. (Some past US deals, for example,
have been listed by Locus Magazine as by SCG.) A few Dunsany works are
protected for longer than normal copyright periods in some
territories, notably most of the contents of the 'Last Book of
Jorkens', and some short stories published on the Dunsany website or
elsewhere by the family in the early 2000s.
Dunsany's primary home, over 820 years old, can be visited at certain
times. Tours usually include the Library, but not the tower room where
he often liked to work. His other home, Dunstall Priory, was sold to
an admirer, Grey Gowrie, later head of the Arts Council of the UK, and
then passed to other owners. The family still owns a farm and downland
in the area and a Tudor cottage in Shoreham village. The grave of
Dunsany and his wife can be seen in the church graveyard there. (Most
previous barons are buried in the grounds of Dunsany Castle.)
Dunsany's manuscripts are collected in the family archive, including
some specially bound volumes of some of his works. Scholarly access is
possible through the curator. Seven boxes of Dunsany's papers are held
at the Harry Ransom Center.
See also
======================================================================
*List of fantasy authors
*List of horror fiction authors
Sources
=========
*
*
*
*
*
**
*
*Joshi, S. T. "Lord Dunsany: The Career of a Fantaisiste" in
Schweitzer, Darrell (ed.). 'Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction',
Gillette, NJ: Wildside Press, 1996, pp. 7-48.
*Schweitzer, Darrell. "Lord Dunsany: Visions of Wonder". 'Studies in
Weird Fiction' 5 (Spring 1989), pp. 20-26
*
*
External links
======================================================================
*
*
*
*
*
*[
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=Dunsany
Works by Lord Dunsany] at Online Books
*[
https://web.archive.org/web/20141217211247/http://www.dunsany.net/18th.htm
Lord Dunsany]: the author's page in the official family site
*[
https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00773
Lord Dunsany Collection] at the Harry Ransom Center
*[
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/lord-dunsany Dunsany
Bibliography], including cover images and summaries
*[
https://greatsfandf.com/Authors/Individual/DUNSANY/DunsanyBibliography.php
A Lord Dunsany Bibliography], extensively cross-referenced
*[
https://www.tor.com/2009/06/10/licensed-for-the-sale-of-weasels-and-jade-earrings-the-short-stories-of-lord-dunsany/
Review of Lord Dunsany's short stories] by Jo Walton
*Edward Winter, [
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/dunsany.html
Lord Dunsany and Chess] (2006)
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Dunsany
