The Blessing of Pan - Lord Dunsany

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Résumé :
The Blessing Pan is one of those ambiguously fantastic novels in which it's never quite clear whether the magic is taking place in reality or in the minds of the characters. Elderick Anwrel, a nineteenth-century Anglican priest, finds that his parishioners have started to worship Pan, Greek god of shepherds. His struggle to win them back to the fold forms an epic novel of spiritual warfare. Lord Dunsany's writing is dense and rich, and readers used to contemporary fantasy may find The Blessing of Pan very slow-paced. The 'action' is definitely more metaphysical and mental than physical- Anwrel's struggle with Pan takes place mainly in agonised conversations and soul-searching. But it's definitely a very rewarding book to the persevering reader. An ambivalent, thought-provoking story about the needs of community versus individual conscience, industrialisation versus the wilderness and faith versus cynicism. (Eleanor Toland) About the author: Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (24 July 1878 - 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime. He gained a name in the 1910s as a great writer in the English-speaking world. Best known today are the 1924 fantasy novel, The King of Elfland's Daughter, and his first book, The Gods of Peg?na, which depicts a fictional pantheon. Many critics feel his early work laid the grounds for the fantasy genre. Born in London as heir to an old Irish peerage, he was raised partly in Kent, but later lived mainly at Ireland's possibly longest-inhabited home, Dunsany Castle near Tara. He worked with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory supporting the Abbey Theatre and some fellow writers. He was a chess and pistol champion of Ireland, and travelled and hunted. He devised an asymmetrical game called Dunsany's chess. In later life, he gained an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin. He retired to Shoreham, Kent in 1947. In 1957 he took ill when visiting Ireland and died in Dublin of appendicitis. Dunsany was a prolific writer of short stories, novels, plays, poetry, essays and autobiography. He published over 90 books in his lifetime, not including individual plays. Books have continued to appear, with more than 120 having been issued by 2017. Dunsany's works have been published in many languages. The then Edward Plunkett began his literary career in the late 1890s with published verses such as Rhymes from a Suburb and The Spirit of the Bog, but he made a lasting impression in 1905. Writing as Lord Dunsany he produced the well-received collection The Gods of Peg?na. Dunsany's most notable fantasy short stories appeared in collections from 1905 to 1919, before fantasy had been recognised as a distinct genre. He paid for the publication of the first collection, The Gods of Peg?na, earning a commission on sales. This he never again had to do. The stories in his first two books, and perhaps the beginning of his third, were set in an invented world, Peg?na, with its own gods, history and geography. Starting with this, Dunsany's name is linked to that of Sidney Sime, his chosen artist, who illustrated much of his work, notably up to 1922. ...(wikipedia.org)

Biographie:
Anglo-Irish author and dramatist Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany also known as Lord Dunsany, lived from 18 July 1878 to 25 October 1957. His fantasy book The King of Elfland's Daughter, published in 1924, is his best-known work. Lord Dunsany was a well-known member of the Plunkett family and a distant relative of several prominent Irish figures. In 1916, he separated from Sir Reginald Drax, his only sibling, for unspecified reasons that appear to be connected to his mother's will. One person's infant brother passed away. He sustained injuries from a bullet that became lodged in his skull during the Easter Rising during World War One. He was prosecuted and found guilty of court-martial contempt during the Irish War of Independence. In Shoreham, Kent, he was particularly active during the Battle of Britain. In 1919, Dunsany traveled to America for the first time to promote his writing. He had a good relationship with people like Lady Gregory, Padraic Colum, Oliver St. John Gogarty, AE Russell, Percy French, and W. B. Yeats. In 1957, Lord Dunsany passed away from an appendicitis attack. He was laid to rest at the Shoreham, Kent, churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul. At a memorial service in Meath's Kilmessan, Crossing the Bar was read.

Sommaire:
LORD DUNSANY- Born July 24, 1878, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, was a prolific Anglo-Irish author whose writings profoundly influenced the shape and structure of the modern fantasy genre. Best known his first book, The Gods of Peg?na, and later The King of Elfland's Daughter, Lord Dunsany proved talented not only as a novelist, but also as a poet, playwright, short story writer, and essayist, producing over ninety works prior to his death from appendicitis on October 25, 1957. Nevertheless, previously unknown works by Lord Dunsany have continued to surface as recently as 2017.A proud Irishman, Lord Dunsany was heavily involved in the Irish Literary Revival or Celtic Twilight movement that also included William Butler Yeats, Douglas Hyde, George Bernard Shaw and Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory. For his efforts to preserve and expand the heritage and stature of Irish literature, Trinity College in Dublin awarded Lord Dunsany, a graduate of the Royal Military College, with an honorary doctorate degree.Outside of writing, Lord Dunsany was a veteran of the Second Boer War and Second World War, consummate outdoorsman, animal rights advocate, champion pistol shooter, and chess enthusiast-even developing his own asymmetrical variant called Dunsany's Chess. He is buried at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shoreham, Kent....