Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy) [Hardcover]

S. T. Joshi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313294038 | ISBN-13: 978-0313294037 | Publication Date: March 30, 1995

The Irish writer Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) has suffered a regrettable decline in critical esteem. Although one of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers of the early 20th century, he seems to have fallen out of fashion with both the Irish critical community and with enthusiasts of fantasy literature. But Dunsany was one of the critical figures in modern fantasy, a significant influence on Tolkien, Le Guin, and other writers. His own work, written over a 50-year span and covering nearly every literary mode (short story, novel, play, essay, poem), is itself rich with meaning. In this, the first academic study of Dunsany's work, Joshi establishes that Dunsany has a remarkable grasp of the symbolic function of fantasy, and that he used fantasy, horror, and the supernatural as metaphors for his most deeply held convictions on life and society. His entire work is unified by a single overriding theme--the need for human reunification with the natural world--even though this theme takes on many different forms (e.g., scorn of industrialization, demonstration of the moral superiority of animals over human beings, rumination on the extinction of the human race). The course of Dunsany's long career--proceeding from early short stories and plays about the "edge of the world" to full-length novels to tales of comic fantasy (such as the popular Jorkens stories) to sensitive works about Ireland--reveals a writer constantly searching for new ways to express his central philosophic and aesthetic conceptions. Joshi's volume may best be described as an exercise in literary excavation--an attempt to unearth an unjustly forgotten writer and to show that his work is in need of further study and analysis.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Recommended for undergraduate academic collections of 20th-century fantasy and Irish writers, and extensive drama collections.”–Choice

“This is, and is likely to remain for some time, the definitive modern overview of Dunsany's life and literary works. Joshi's examination of the writings of Baron Dunsany is in both breadth and depth far superior to anything previously attempted.”–SFRA Review

About the Author

S. T. JOSHI has done graduate work at Brown and Princeton and is currently senior editor of the Literary Criticism division of Chelsea House Publishers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (March 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313294038
• ISBN-13: 978-0313294037
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,238,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

S. T. Joshi (Seattle, WA) is a freelance writer, scholar, and editor whose previous books include Documents of American Prejudice; In Her Place: A Documentary History of Prejudice against Women; God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong; Atheism: A Reader; H. L. Mencken on Religion; The Agnostic Reader; and What Is Man? And Other Irreverent Essays by Mark Twain.