Wednesday, January 19, 2022

A LOOK AT LORD DUNSANY


"There are many highly effective points in Dunsany's style, and any writer of imaginative prose will be better for having read him."
- H.P. Lovecraft

To my recollection, I first became aware of the writings of Lord Dunsany through H.P. Lovecraft. HPL's glowing praise for his fantasy stories cannot be underestimated, for it was after attending a lecture by Dunsay, he was inspired to go all in and write professionally from that point on.

Influenced by Dunsany's exotic locales and luxurious prose, Lovecraft created his own "Dunsanian" tales, including "Polaris" (1918), "The White Ship" (1919), "The Quest of Iranon" (1921), "The Tree" (1920), "Celephais" (1920), and the novella, "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" (1927), which was published posthumously by Arkham House in 1943.

Horseman, hunter and avid chess player, the Irish-born Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), was a prolific writer who rose to fame during his lifetime. This informative article, from BOOK AND MAGAZINE COLLECTOR #122 (May, 1994) offers a survey of his life and work and includes a bibliography of his writing published in the UK.














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