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Creator of Gods and Men: Lord Dunsany and Fantasy Fiction
The Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) was a pioneering author of fantasy fiction. In his first book, The Gods of Pegāna (1905), he introduced an entire cosmogony of gods, demigods, and worshippers in an imaginary land. Subsequent volumes, such as A Dreamer’s Tales (1910) and The Book of Wonder (1912), made Dunsany one of the most acclaimed writers of his time. He also attained celebrity for his plays, staged both at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and in London and New York. In the 1920s he began writing novels, including The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924). In the 1930s he wrote several poignant novels about Ireland, including The Curse of the Wise Woman (1933) and The Story of Mona Sheehy (1939). Dunsany continued to write prolifically for decades, and his output includes short stories, novels, plays, essays, and poetry. S. T. Joshi, one of the leading authorities on weird fiction, has written a comprehensive study of Dunsany’s entire work, identifying reunification with the natural world as the central theme that shapes nearly the totality of his writing. Joshi’s analysis reveals the depth and richness of an author whose work has influenced J. R. R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, and many other writers of fantasy fiction.
275 pages, Paperback
Published October 22, 2019
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About the author
S.T. Joshi
796 books457 followersSunand Tryambak Joshi is an Indian American literary scholar, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors. Besides what some critics consider to be the definitive biography of Lovecraft (H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, 1996), Joshi has written about Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, Lord Dunsany, and M.R. James, and has edited collections of their works.
His literary criticism is notable for its emphases upon readability and the dominant worldviews of the authors in question; his The Weird Tale looks at six acknowledged masters of horror and fantasy (namely Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dunsany, M. R. James, Bierce and Lovecraft), and discusses their respective worldviews in depth and with authority. A follow-up volume, The Modern Weird Tale, examines the work of modern writers, including Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein and others, from a similar philosophically oriented viewpoint. The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) includes essays on Dennis Etchison, L. P. Hartley, Les Daniels, E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, David J. Schow, Robert Bloch, L. P. Davies, Edward Lucas White, Rod Serling, Poppy Z. Brite and others.
Joshi is the editor of the small-press literary journals Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction, published by Necronomicon Press. He is also the editor of Lovecraft Annual and co-editor of Dead Reckonings, both small-press journals published by Hippocampus Press.
In addition to literary criticism, Joshi has also edited books on atheism and social relations, including Documents of American Prejudice (1999), an annotated collection of American racist writings; In Her Place (2006), which collects written examples of prejudice against women; and Atheism: A Reader (2000), which collects atheistic writings by such people as Antony Flew, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, Gore Vidal and Carl Sagan, among others. An Agnostic Reader, collecting pieces by such writers as Isaac Asimov, John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Corliss Lamont, Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Westermarck, was published in 2007.
Joshi is also the author of God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley, Jr., William James, Stephen L. Carter, Annie Dillard, Reynolds Price, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Guenter Lewy, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry Falwell, which is dedicated to theologian and fellow Lovecraft critic Robert M. Price.
In 2006 he published The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong, which criticised the political writings of such commentators as William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, David and Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving and William Kristol, arguing that, despite the efforts of right-wing polemicists, the values of the American people have become steadily more liberal over time.
Joshi, who lives with his wife in Moravia, New York, has stated on his website that his most noteworthy achievements thus far have been his biography of Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life and The Weird Tale.
His literary criticism is notable for its emphases upon readability and the dominant worldviews of the authors in question; his The Weird Tale looks at six acknowledged masters of horror and fantasy (namely Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dunsany, M. R. James, Bierce and Lovecraft), and discusses their respective worldviews in depth and with authority. A follow-up volume, The Modern Weird Tale, examines the work of modern writers, including Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein and others, from a similar philosophically oriented viewpoint. The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) includes essays on Dennis Etchison, L. P. Hartley, Les Daniels, E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, David J. Schow, Robert Bloch, L. P. Davies, Edward Lucas White, Rod Serling, Poppy Z. Brite and others.
Joshi is the editor of the small-press literary journals Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction, published by Necronomicon Press. He is also the editor of Lovecraft Annual and co-editor of Dead Reckonings, both small-press journals published by Hippocampus Press.
In addition to literary criticism, Joshi has also edited books on atheism and social relations, including Documents of American Prejudice (1999), an annotated collection of American racist writings; In Her Place (2006), which collects written examples of prejudice against women; and Atheism: A Reader (2000), which collects atheistic writings by such people as Antony Flew, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, Gore Vidal and Carl Sagan, among others. An Agnostic Reader, collecting pieces by such writers as Isaac Asimov, John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Corliss Lamont, Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Westermarck, was published in 2007.
Joshi is also the author of God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley, Jr., William James, Stephen L. Carter, Annie Dillard, Reynolds Price, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Guenter Lewy, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry Falwell, which is dedicated to theologian and fellow Lovecraft critic Robert M. Price.
In 2006 he published The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong, which criticised the political writings of such commentators as William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, David and Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving and William Kristol, arguing that, despite the efforts of right-wing polemicists, the values of the American people have become steadily more liberal over time.
Joshi, who lives with his wife in Moravia, New York, has stated on his website that his most noteworthy achievements thus far have been his biography of Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life and The Weird Tale.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 27, 2020
Fascinating!
A comprehensive look at the work of a forgotten fantasy master. More prolific than I could have imagined! I was riveted.
A comprehensive look at the work of a forgotten fantasy master. More prolific than I could have imagined! I was riveted.
June 15, 2025
I've read a few of Dunsany's fantasy short stories, which are in the public domain, references to them scattered through Martin Gardner's books on science and philosophy, and about half of his Jorkens stories.
Everything Dunsany wrote during the last 30 years of his life is out of print, obtainable only used or through Interlibrary Loan. That's actually a great improvement—when Joshu wrote this book about 20 years ago, almost everything Dunsany wrote was out of print. Even his public domain works have only become available thanks to digital editions.
Based on Joshu's descriptions, I probably won't be reading the novels, but I may read more of his fantasy fiction and definitely plan to read the rest of his later, non-fantasy short stories.
Everything Dunsany wrote during the last 30 years of his life is out of print, obtainable only used or through Interlibrary Loan. That's actually a great improvement—when Joshu wrote this book about 20 years ago, almost everything Dunsany wrote was out of print. Even his public domain works have only become available thanks to digital editions.
Based on Joshu's descriptions, I probably won't be reading the novels, but I may read more of his fantasy fiction and definitely plan to read the rest of his later, non-fantasy short stories.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews