The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories

by Lord Dunsany and Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett

Book Overview

An influential fantasy writer and a key figure in the Irish literary renaissance, Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, the eighteenth Baron Dunsany (1878-1957) produced a trove of gems of the imagination. The 12... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1542630266
• ISBN13: 9781542630269
• Release Date: January 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Take out a sword

It's been almost a century since the "Sword of Welleran" collection was first published, compiling the title novella with other stories by early fantasy writer Lord Dunsany. Now finally this collection is back in print, and new readers can get acquainted with Dunsany's elaborate prose and otherworldly plotlines. The title novella is a robust story written in a delicate style -- it takes place in the city of Merimna, "a marvel of spires and figures of bronze, and marble fountains, and trophies of fabulous wars, and broad streets given over wholly to the Beautiful." It's a city that proudly remembers its mysterious heroes and past victories. When the hero Welleran is killed, nobody can quite believe it. But he is dead, and when the dead hero finds that he is "but dreams," he decides to haunt a young sleeping leader named Rold, in the hopes that young Rold will take his (Welleran's) sword and attack their enemies. In the other stories, Dunsany spins stories about the exotic city of Babbulkund, and how it was destroyed, about the exquisite dancing "Kith of the Elf Folk," about the death of Tom the highwayman and the three men who are having some fun with graves, the Book of Magicians, natural disasters having a chitchat, a hero pursuing a monster, and some of the most frightening ghosts imaginable. Dunsany was one of the few fantasy authors who wrote before Tolkien, and his stories are still striking in their originality and beauty. Most fantasy writers just churn out bad quest novels of at least six hundred pages. Not so with Dunsany, whose stories are as exquisite as they are short, and whose stories about elves and brave heroes never seem cliched. Except for the odd mention of pharoahs and archbishops, these stories could almost take place in another universe. Dunsany spins up elaborate pictures of cities that never existed and fairy creatures, without seeming trite. Instead, it feels like a book of lost legends, deities, history and myths that has just been dug up again. His writing is almost as lovely as his world-building. At times it can be a bit formal, but not to the point where it seems rigid or bloodless ("Evening stole up out of mysterious lands and came down on the streets of Paris..."). He lavishes loving detail and quiet grace, even on the grotesque "sins" sitting in the laps of ghosts. Even the cutesy "Hurricane" is beautifully written, and has a poignant depth. Lord Dunsany's "Sword of Welleran and Other Tales" is one of his most entrancing books, without a single dud story in the entire collection. An exquisite read.

Wielding the "Sword"

It's been almost a century since the "Sword of Welleran" collection was first published, compiling the title novella with other stories by early fantasy writer Lord Dunsany. Now finally this collection is back in print, and new readers can get acquainted with Dunsany's elaborate prose and otherworldly plotlines. The title novella is a robust story written in a delicate style -- it takes place in the city of Merimna, "a marvel of spires and figures of bronze, and marble fountains, and trophies of fabulous wars, and broad streets given over wholly to the Beautiful." It's a city that proudly remembers its mysterious heroes and past victories. When the hero Welleran is killed, nobody can quite believe it. But he is dead, and when the dead hero finds that he is "but dreams," he decides to haunt a young sleeping leader named Rold, in the hopes that young Rold will take his (Welleran's) sword and attack their enemies. In the other stories, Dunsany spins stories about the exotic city of Babbulkund, and how it was destroyed, about the exquisite dancing "Kith of the Elf Folk," about the death of Tom the highwayman and the three men who are having some fun with graves, the Book of Magicians, natural disasters having a chitchat, a hero pursuing a monster, and some of the most frightening ghosts imaginable. Dunsany was one of the few fantasy authors who wrote before Tolkien, and his stories are still striking in their originality and beauty. Most fantasy writers just churn out bad quest novels of at least six hundred pages. Not so with Dunsany, whose stories are as exquisite as they are short, and whose stories about elves and brave heroes never seem cliched. Except for the odd mention of pharoahs and archbishops, these stories could almost take place in another universe. Dunsany spins up elaborate pictures of cities that never existed and fairy creatures, without seeming trite. Instead, it feels like a book of lost legends, deities, history and myths that has just been dug up again. His writing is almost as lovely as his world-building. At times it can be a bit formal, but not to the point where it seems rigid or bloodless ("Evening stole up out of mysterious lands and came down on the streets of Paris..."). He lavishes loving detail and quiet grace, even on the grotesque "sins" sitting in the laps of ghosts. Even the cutesy "Hurricane" is beautifully written, and has a poignant depth. Lord Dunsany's "Sword of Welleran and Other Tales" is one of his most entrancing books, without a single dud story in the entire collection. An exquisite read.