Review: In The Land Of Time and other fantasy tales

Lord Dunsany may be best-known to readers of fantasy novels today through his influence on such authors as J.R.R. Tolkein and H.P. Lovecraft. I am in this category - I had read both Tolkein and Lovecraft, as well as an assortment of more recent fantasy authors, but was familiar with Lord Dunsany and his work only by reputation. S.T. Joshi's introduction outlines the truly amazing scope of Lord Dunsany's literary career, which covered fifty years and produced numerous widely praised novels, plays, short stories and poems. The book is organized into several sections, and each of these will be discussed separately.

The first part of the book 'Pegana and Environs" begins with 'The Gods of Pegana', a mythology. In other words, it is a description of the gods in a universe in which only time is all-powerful. The rest of the stories in this section have related themes and plots; they describe the 'Environs' of Pegana, as the section title indicates. Initially, I did not find "The Gods of Pegana' very accessible. When I read it, not as a story, but as an invented religious text, I saw it as an interesting example of the creation of a religion for an imaginary world. 'A Legend of the Dawn', also in this section, is a charming mythological tale in a more traditional style. I also liked 'In the Land of Time', although I would not describe it as 'charming'.

Section 2, 'Tales of Wonder', contains fantasy stories. These tales of mighty warriors, wild and soul-less elf-folk, centaurs, monsters and magic contain elements familiar to any reader of modern fantasy. There are, as well, elements of the supernatural and horror. The characters range from the hero Leothric with his magic sword through the dancing and soul- less Wild Things to soul-destroying ghosts.

Section 3, the prose poems, are descriptions of strange, fantastical places and people. They paint pictures of futility; anticipating, often, the end of human society.

The remainder of the book contains short stories which are more traditional in style and plot than the prose poems or 'The Gods of Pegana'. They appear to be arranged chronologically, and are grouped by common themes and approaches. In Section 4, 'Fantasy and Reality', the stories are realistic with a fantastic spin. Anyone who has read and enjoyed the twentieth century stories of, for example, Bradbury should enjoy these.

Section 5, 'Jorkens', contains examples of Dunsany's stories centred on Jorkens, a Munchausen figure who will - if provided with a drink - tell tales of his adventures. 'Our Distant Cousins' describes a trip to Mars which seems quaint in these days of Mars landings, but which is fast- paced and therefore entertaining in spite of that. I particularly liked 'The Development of Rillwood Estate' which combines a wry look at suburban mores, a satyr, and an amusing plot twist at the end.

The final section, "Some Late Tales', contains a selection of stories with some hints of the themes from the earlier parts of the book. Some of the stories refer to the transitory nature of man and the inexorable progress of time; others contain descriptions of dying myths or have plots with fantastic twists. The two I enjoyed most, 'The Two Bottles of Relish' and 'Helping the Fairies' have nothing fantastical about them at all, but are so well written and cleverly plotted as to be thoroughly enjoyable.

Some of Lord Dunsany's work in this collection is not easily accessible to readers of modern fantasy. This lack of accessibility is due to his use of elaborate sentence structure, carefully-crafted descriptive prose, and references that may be unfamiliar to readers not steeped in the Bible and classical mythology. I did not find his language and references extremely obscure, but for readers who do, the editor, S.T. Joshi, has provided copious and thorough notes.

These possible difficulties do not mean that the book is not worth the effort to read; quite the contrary. Lord Dunsany's use of language is well worth study, and in addition, his later stories have interesting and entertaining plots. Once a reader has become accustomed to Lord Dunsany's somewhat elaborate writing style the stories are often very evocative. Many of the stories stand up extremely well to the passage of time, and can be enjoyed on their own merits, not merely as interesting artifacts from the history of the modern fantasy genre.

I would suggest that it is not necessary, or possibly even desirable, to read this book from beginning to end. While this procedure (which I followed) does enable to the reader to follow a chronological sequence. However, this process means starting with 'The Gods of Pegana', and, as interesting as this is as an example of a creation of a mythology, it is not the most easily accessible and enjoyable of the selections.

Overall, this is an interesting book, both for the role many of its selections played in the development of the fantasy genre and in its own right as an entertaining anthology.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Cheryl - RAM

Book Review: In The Land Of Time and other fantasy tales