The Book of Wonder is an aptly-titled book. Its potpourri of tales are not moving dramas, nor are they dense with intellectual themes; rather, each of them seems primarily designed to invoke a sense of wonder in the reader--a goal that might seem trivial, but which in truth is as important as its achievement is elusive. These stories have the power to awaken the feeling CS Lewis called Joy: a supremely pleasant longing for something beyond our experience that would vanish if it were fulfilled. (This is demonstrated particularly clearly in "The Wonderful Window.") Yet Dunsany is not a wide-eyed idealist: he is a bit of a cynic, as evidenced by the ironic twists many of these stories end with. But these twists don't (generally) undercut the sense of wonder: rather, they add to it by revealing to us how narrow and limited our expectations often are. That Dunsany is so capable of blending cynicism with wonder marks him as a great writer.

My one major critique of this collection, though, is that it ultimately does feel a bit lightweight. It's meant to be so, so perhaps I'm being unfair, but I just don't find it quite as satisfying as his more cohesive works like The King of Elfland's Daughter and The Gods of Pegana. From what I know of Dunsnay's personal life, it's no coincidence that he didn't write anything quite like this after the first World War: these are stories from a more innocent time, before the horrors of the 20th century forced mankind to confront evil on a scale unprecedented in history. Still, this are few books better described as wonderful than this.

If these musings amused you, you might want to check out r/fairystories, where discussion of classic fantasy both old and new is to be found.

Greetings to all, I am looking for the works of Lord Dunsany (or related to him) that relate to the topic of ecocriticism. I would be very grateful!

Greetings everyone. I am writing a paper based on Lord Dunsany's "The Daughter of the King of Elfland" I would like to know if there are any articles on the topic of floral images from his text? I would be very grateful.

https://youtu.be/z_RR_wdtg0U?si=qowXlMnzOLTs9OVX

Hi, I'm trying to find the name of the journal where this article is located “Obscure poetry of moderns moves Dunsany to plain talk” written by Frank Sartwell Jr. after Dunsany gave a talk in the library of Congress when he was 76. I have a photo of it but there are no clues as to the source!

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https://preview.redd.it/894zvmf6r2rb1.jpg?width=1763&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce18a45f057849e795f8552353e5d5b4f64425df

Hey if anyone here is interested, this is an adaptation of "The Glittering Gate" I did back in 2012. Enjoy!

The Glittering Gate (2012) - YouTube

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I have heard of a Lord Dunsany story in which a mentally unstable lady travelling on a train keeps on counting "one, two,three". Fellow passengers make fun of her. Then her distraught husband explains that their three sons died in the war. And that she is being taken to an asylum.

Which is this story? Could anyone send me a copy of that story?

It was one of the very short ones.

Sleep and Death changed places.

Can't find it on gutenberg.org.

Starting to think I imagined it.

It struck me as I was typing this that going on a quest for a story you heard in a dream is a quite Dunsanian thing to do.

Despite Dunsany's clear preoccupation with nature, it's rather astonishing to find, after weeks of research, that not a single direct study on Lord Dunsany's fiction from an ecocritical lens exists online. In fact, I'm struggling to find any sources that combine "Dunsany" and "ecocriticism". There's no paucity of texts suggestive of Dunsany's love for nature but mentions in conjunction with this literary approach are virtually non-existent.

Any help?

Thanks.

Hello. I intend to write a thesis on Dunsany's use of liminal spaces (borders, edges, horizons, etc.). I want to examine these generally, picking out what makes these images so meaningful but also to show that the borderland can be an instructive concept (in relation to ecological issues today). Currently, I've not found a single book chapter or thesis that even remotely addresses what I believe was this preoccupation of Dunsany's. One can find it in everything from book titles to story locations. Would anyone be able to provide any relevant information on this? The texts I've read do cover Dunsany's relationship with nature, albeit diffusely.

Thanks.