The Anglo-Irish fantaisiste Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) was immensely prolific. Author of more than a dozen novels, hundreds of stories, essays, and poems, and more than fifty plays, he infused every single work with his unique blend of fantasy, weirdness, and subtle humor.
S. T. Joshi and Martin Andersson, two of the leading authorities on Dunsany’s work, have spent years in unearthing uncollected works by Dunsany, and the present volume is the result of their labors. Here we find stories set in Dunsany’s native Ireland, evoking the real or imagined ghosts, leprechauns, and spirits that haunt that ancient land. Other tales are set in locales around the world, reflecting Dunsany’s far-flung travels through the Middle East and Asia.
The core of the book is a presentation of an untitled short story collection that Dunsany assembled in 1956 but that was never published. Here we find some of the lost jewels of Dunsany’s output: “The Dwarf Holóbolos and the Sword Hogbiter,” a splendid sword-and-sorcery tale that evokes such early masterpieces as “The Sword of Welleran”; “The Dance at Weirdmoor Castle,” a delicate tale of ghosts; “The Stolen Power,” in which the horrors of the atomic age are pungently expressed; and “A Goat in Trousers,” a story of metempsychosis treading the borderline of humor and horror.
Also included in this volume are several previously unpublished tales, found among the manuscripts at Dunsany Castle in County Meath, Ireland.
No reader can fully appreciate the prodigal fertility of Lord Dunsany’s imagination without appreciating the diverse and unfailingly entertaining stories in this volume.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction Tales and Sketches, 1931–1957 The Use of Man The Ghost in the Corner Very Secret Tales for the Dark Continent Advance Regulations A Modern Portrait The Rations of Murdoch Finucan A Day on the Bog Little Tim Brannehan The Burrahoola Kind Pagan Lights A Witch in the Balkans A Talk in the Dark Mid Snow and Ice A Treasure of India Two Young Officers The Unforgivable Choice The Old Detective’s Story Tales from the 1956 Collection Helping the Fairies The Story of Tse Gah The Dwarf Holóbolos and the Sword Hogbiter Progress One Night in Eldorado The Traveller to Thundercliff The Lucky Escape How Mickey Paid His Debt Lost Lyrics The Dance at Weirdmoor Castle As It Seems to the Blackbird The Haunting of Whitebeams The Romance of His Life A Theory of Evolution The Stolen Power The Cook of Santamaria The Awakening A Goat in Trousers A Breeze at Rest A Channel Rescue In the Governor’s Palace Hard Horses The Blundering Curate A Tale of the Irish Countryside The Price of the World When Mrs. Fynn Was Young At the Scene of the Crime A Tale of Bad Luck In a Hotel Lounge The Chambermaid of the Splendide The Motive The Quiet Laugh Bibliography
This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 25 February, 2017.
