{"id":4232,"date":"2017-03-21T10:10:34","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=4232"},"modified":"2017-03-21T10:10:34","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:10:34","slug":"the-gods-of-pegana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2017\/03\/21\/the-gods-of-pegana\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gods of Pegana"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Edward Plunkett, the 18th Baron of Dunsany, was known for his\u00a0fantasy tales published under the name ‘Lord Dunsany.’ His imaginary worlds were filled with gods, witches, and magic. He invented a fictional land with its own culture, history, and mythology, which had\u00a0a huge influence on the\u00a0epic works of J.R.R. Tolkien. His first fantasy work,\u00a0The Gods of Pegana, <\/em>was published in 1905. The accompanying illustrations by Sidney Herbert\u00a0Sime are equally celebrated and considered integral to the work. The Gods of Pegana<\/em> was the start of a 15-year collaboration with Sime and sometimes led to Dunsany crafting\u00a0stories around Sime’s inspirational illustrations rather than just complimenting his prose. Other than two frontispieces for a pair of Arthur Machen books, Dunsany’s were the only books Sime\u00a0illustrated. Most of Sime’s work was produced for magazines and newspapers. While Dunsany was born into wealth, Sime was born into poverty in Manchester, working as a coal miner\u00a0until he could finally afford to attend art school. However, the class differences did not impede their relationship. Upon its release, The Gods of Pegana<\/em> was\u00a0well received with positive reviews by the media.<\/p>\n

“There has been no such big and delicate fancy as this book for many years.”\u2014Daily Chronicle.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

“The splendour and imagery of <\/span>Mr. Sime’s pictures.”<\/span>\u2014Pall Mall Gazette.<\/em><\/p>\n

“There are certain things which give this book of <\/span>myths a mysterious appeal. It is written in language which has sometimes delicate music in it fitted to subtle fancies. And the mere fact of <\/span>its appearance in the modern world is interesting. It re-peoples the physical world.”\u2014Manchester Guardian<\/em><\/p>\n

Lord Dunsany\u00a0followed his success with Time and the Gods<\/em> (1906), The Book of Wonder<\/em> (1912), and The King of Elfland\u2019s Daughter<\/em> (1924). Not limited to the fantasy genre, Dunsany also wrote plays, essays, poems, and reviews until his death in 1957. He became largely forgotten in the ensuing decades, with most of\u00a0his work falling out of print.\u00a0To some degree, his work is experiencing a renaissance as his contributions to the genres of fantasy and science fiction are finally being realized and celebrated.<\/p>\n

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The chief of the gods of Peg\u0101na is Mana-Yood-Sushai, who created the other gods and then fell asleep<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Slid, the god of waters<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Mung, the god of death<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Description:<\/dt>\n
Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett. The gods of Peg\u0101na. [London] : Pegana Press, 1911.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:5362428<\/a><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edward Plunkett, the 18th Baron of Dunsany, was known for his\u00a0fantasy tales published under the name ‘Lord Dunsany.’ His imaginary worlds were filled with gods, witches, and magic. He invented a fictional land with its own culture, history, and mythology, which had\u00a0a huge influence on the\u00a0epic works of J.R.R. Tolkien. His first fantasy work,\u00a0The Gods […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4232"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4330,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232\/revisions\/4330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}