The Complete Pegana (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) [Paperback]

Lord Dunsany (Author), S.T. Joshi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Call of Cthulhu Fiction | Publication Date: December 1997

Lord Dunsany's Tales of the Fabulous Realm of Pegana.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lord Dunsany is best known as a favorite of other writers--such as H.P. Lovecraft, who counted him second only to Edgar Allan Poe as an influence on his work. Lovecraft readers will be interested to know that two ideas Lovecraft got from Dunsany were (1) an artificial pantheon of gods and other entities (Dunsany's Pegana Mythos predates Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos) and (2) a cosmic vision of man as living on a tiny island of order amid a vast and chaotic universe. Perhaps, as S.T. Joshi writes in the introduction to this collection, "It is now time to appreciate Dunsany in his own right as a master fantasist whose prodigal imagination was equaled by few, whose prose style was a model of affecting simplicity, and whose bold philosophical vision remains challenging to the present day." This edition includes the complete stories from The Gods of Pegana (1905) and Time and the Gods (1906), plus three other stories belonging to the Pegana cycle. --Fiona Webster

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Chaosium (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568821166
• ISBN-13: 978-1568821160
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,809,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book of Wonders, July 21, 2000

By 

Alex D. Groce (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Pegana (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) (Paperback)

Many of Dunsany's most eerie and effective stories are collected in this excellent collection. TIME AND THE GODS is probably his single best work, and all of the stories from that long out-of-print masterpiece are to be found here. This should be enough to persuade Dunsany enthusiasts in favor of this volume.

For those who haven't read Dunsany, he is one of fantasy's true masters; many have imitated his archaic, elaborate style, but none have succeeded in capturing the peculiar Dunsany magic without being artificial. Dunsany's strange meditations on time, destiny, prophecy, and fate are reminiscent of Borges, and his prose is rich and (as noted) perilous to imitate.

S. T. Joshi's introduction somehow makes it seem as if Dunsany's chief merit were his influence on Lovecraft, but it is more correct to say that Lovecraft's chief merit is his influence on others, while Dunsany remains a neglected literary master, one of the few writers ever to capture wonder and mystery at their most elemental in wrappings of elaborate, aristocratic prose.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visit Lovely Pegana, November 23, 1999

By 

James Glass (Chatsworth, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Pegana (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) (Paperback)

Dunsany is a master of language and of myth. Reading his prose reminds me of listening to Bach; seeing light through stained-glass windows.

Anything by Dunsany (John Edward Moreton Drax Plunkett, Lord Dunsany) is worth reading; the Complete Pegana is exceptional. There is something in Dunsany's construction of an alternate world of gods and men, of the Great god, who made the world and then slept; and the lesser gods, who fear the Creator will someday awake...which resonates with other great human myths. Lord Dunsany never fails to delight.

This is fantasy for grown-ups; not too sweet. Thought provoking and original, with timeless themes and characters that evoke something fundamental.

This is one book I'd take with me to the proverbial desert island.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A credible mythology - great early modern fantasy, September 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Pegana (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) (Paperback)

Lord Dunsany was one of the key figures in the development of modern fantasy and this book gives a rare chance to see where it all began. It presents the entire contents of two books - "The Gods of Pegana" (1905) and "Time and the Gods", along with three excellent related stories. Pegana offers a genuine artifical mythology, in wonderful, sonorous language - if you enjoy reading myths and legends, you'll probably enjoy this. The first volume consists of short, spare tales from the beginning of the world on, looking even to the end. Many of the stories in the second volume are more elaborate, as are the three linked "Beyond the Fields We Know" pieces, which are among Dunsany's finest work. Reading "Idle Days on the Yann", for example, it is not hard to feel yourself drifting along as the narrator voyages through strange and wonder-full lands. This is a very welcome publication - the author can be very hard to find in print - and a great read. Hopefully readers will feel inspired to try some of Lord Dunsany's later collections and books - "The King of Elfland's Daughter", for example, is just back in print.