Sunday, May 29, 2011

Lord Dunsany dies

So, I just found out from a posting on the MythSoc list* that Edward Carlos Plunkett, twentieth baron Dunsany, died on Tuesday (May 24th), aged 71.


I never met this Lord Dunsany (Edward Carlos), the half-English/half-Brazilian grandson of the author, though I did meet his father the 19th baron (Captain Randal), during the time I was researching Lord Dunsany the writer (Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, 18th baron). But I'm grateful to Edward Carlos, who opened up the vault and let a number of unpublished works by his grandfather finally see the light of day -- an unpublished novel (PLEASURES OF A FUTUROSCOPE), a volume of plays (THE GINGER CAT AND OTHER LOST PLAYS), a collection of short stories (THE LAST BOOK OF JORKENS), and a few misc. pieces ("The Emperor's Crystal" -- obscurely published and long unavailable). This doesn't exhaust the unpublished material (e.g., the sequel to his verse-dairy THE YEAR, simply called ANOTHER YEAR) but it was welcome for those of us who'd read everything available to go back to that well for a few more times. And so, a belated thanks to someone I didn't know, who cut through to tangle that'd kept Dunsany publications in limbo for decades.

--John R






*thanks to Dale Nelson for this -- after all, how many of us wd have otherwise missed it because, like me, we don't read THE MEATH CHRONICLE?

2 comments:

Magister said...

I was very sorry to hear this. :( I was actually planning to visit Ireland to see the Castle this summer.

I hope that a Complete Short Fiction of Lord Dunsany will see the light of day eventually.

Magister said...

Two more links:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0604/1224298388276.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2011/0604/1224298375655.html?via=rel