Customer Reviews

THE BLESSING OF PAN.

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4 star:		(1)
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Lord Dunsany was one of a handful of early (pre-Tolkien) fantasy authors (George MacDonald and William Morris are two other important ones), whose poetic, evocative writing sets him apart. In "The Blessing of Pan" Dunsany tells of a village clergyman's struggle with an insidious encroachment of Paganism. It reads more like a Victorian novel (Dickens or Charlotte Bronte) than a horror novel - it's very homey, but with a sense if foreboding. It kind of reminded me of the movie The Wicker Man, in the way the Christian protagonist was faced with the (to him) unthinkable appearance of paganism in his comfortable Christian world. An excellent and well-executed book, but don't expect wild action.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. An English village returns to the more natural world of Pan worship, including the Vicar, whose point of view the story follows. He worries about the 'piping' music that had begun to play over the valley, but no one else seems to care, or properly notice what the problem is. He goes to visit his Bishop but they think he just needs a holiday. He ends up meeting a nomadic hermit who appears to understand what he is on about - and the vicar finds himself relying on someone he never thought he would. Nothing works as he plans, but the village enters a world of their own, something deep and enticing - not unlike the chapter in Wind in the Willows - 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' - Dunsany describes the twilight, landscape and traditions of the quiet village in beautiful alluring narration. As a pagan, I highly approve of this behaviour the village encounters...

I love Dunsany's work and I was looking for this book for a long time. I was delighted to get it & taste another good novel with that poetic, wistfull Dunsany flavour. it is a real shame that it isn't more popular. Unlike his more well known works; The King of Elfland's Daughter, The Book of Wonder etc, the action takes place pretty much within the world we know with just a seasoning of the fabulous. It's a gentle and enjoyable book, a rural pastoral fantasy. You may guess the outcome but you're likely to crack a smile on the way there. Maybe you should read those other books first but once you get the Dunsany taste you'll be happy to find this lesser known but characteristic work.