Read the stories in
Part IV. Fantasy and Reality: “The Wonderful Window,” “The Coronation of Mr.
Thomas Shap,” “The City on Mallington Moor,” “The Bureau d’Echnage de Maux,”
“The Exile’s Club,” “Thirteen at Table,” and “The Last Dream of Bwona Khubla”
(pp.219-259)
Answer 2 of the 4
questions...
1. Many of these
stories seem to cross numerous genre boundaries, from ghost stories to
mysteries and folk legends. Given this
diversity, why might we consider each one part of the larger genre of “fantasy”
literature? What definition of the genre
(or of Lord Dunsany’s art) helps characterize these stories as part of the
fantasy tradition that we’ve seen with White and Coleridge?
2. The horror/fantasy
writer, H.P. Lovecraft, who was a great admirer of Dunsany, wrote of these
stories, “Instead of remaining what the true fantaisiste must be—a child in a
child’s world of dream—he became anxious to show that he was really an adult
good-naturedly pretending to be a child in a child’s world” (Joshi, xiv). Based on this, do you see these stories as a
revision of his former philosophy in The Gods of Pegāna? Is he being a more "adult" writer here? Or are they cut from the same cloth, despite
their more modern setting? Discuss a
specific story or moment that illustrates your view.
3. In the story, “The
Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap,” the title character began to “care less and
less for the things we care about, for the affairs of Shap, a business-man in London London
4. Most of these
stories are about invisible worlds that most people cannot see, and whose
existence rests on the veracity of a single narrator. Are we meant to view these narrators as
“unreliable” and question the very nature of their eyewitness accounts? In other words, are they making fun of the
people telling the stories...or does Dunsany fully expect us to believe their
tales of wonder? How can we tell?
Rocky Moore
ReplyDelete3. I believe that this short story of Shap and the many other short stories alike all have this sort of poking fun satirically on the idea of 'modern life', which can be of the life of business, accounts and respectability. I mean in Shap's case it seems that Dunsany is almost out to make a calling for people to think outside of the box and to get out of this mundane world that we seem to be caught up in. Yes, I believe we need steady jobs and money to live a decent life but at the same time you can allow your mind to freely wander into the depths of the something not real, to be a visionary. The same thing can be said when Dunsany seems to be mocking the pretensions of London society when we read the imagination of Shap's mind and honestly it sounds a million times better than that of 'a business-man in London'.
4. I don't know if these stories are making fun of these narrators or even Dunsany expecting us to believe in them, but I do think we shouldn't dismiss how fun and entertaining these invisible worlds may seem. I mean I loved the imaginary worlds that were in full description in the story about the amazing window and even the one about the man named Shap. I think these just serve as metaphors to go beyond the world of reason and logic and they are each unique in that they bring out the child in us, I mean what is wrong with broadening our horizons a little bit, our everyday lives can get boring and even hard sometimes, these mystical journey's take us away for a bit and I believe that can be a wonderful thing.
3. Throughout this story, we see Shap caring for his body and the real world only enough to keep him alive—to keep him dreaming. In a way, I see this as a metaphor for the inner-child in all of us—the wonder that we often stifle when we abide by a fast and sure schedule and submit to authority in every way. I also read the first story in a similar way, as both men were much more concerned with these “fantasy” worlds and began to lose interest in their already dull and boring lives. When they realized that there really was something more to life than arriving at a destination and becoming stagnant, both characters began to live in a new way in the fantasy world, yet they both still submitted to the ways of the modern world in various degrees. We do see some “rebellious” behavior in Mr. Shap as he puts aside the papers and doesn’t fulfill his duties to the “best” of his abilities.
ReplyDelete4. Lord Dunsany has a very specific writing style in which he creates scenes only imaginable with the help of his words. I think his adding these seemingly unreliable narrators is another hint at the fact that readers are not asked to take these stories literally but figuratively. Dunsany does not want his readers to seek out “faraway” lands where they can “escape” from their everyday lives; rather, he is making statements about the way of the world and the duty of every man in modern society. The most telling example of an unreliable narrator comes in the form of the old shepherd in “The City on Mallington Moor.” From the beginning line of the story, the narrator tells readers that the shepherd is unreliable. As the story progresses, readers see for themselves what it is that makes this man’s stories so unbelievable to the townspeople. Aside from the fact that he is an old man who continuously wanders about the countryside chasing stray sheep, the man is not sober unless he is drunk—that is his mind is clouded unless he engages in an activity which otherwise clouds the judgement of normal men. Dunsany has created a character so opposing the norms of society that he makes us uncomfortable, even making the narrator not trust him or put much stock in the stories he is told. Even when the narrator reaches Mallington Moor, he remarks over and over that the old man was trustworthy and his words proved true.
1. I think of fantasy as having elements that don’t occur in the normal world here on Earth. Wart lived in a medieval society where he found a wizard as a tutor and was magically turned into creatures while Cristabel met a strange creature in the middle of the night who begins to take on her appearance and take her place. In Lord Dunsany’s stories too men look through random windows and see whole other worlds or go to a little shop owned by an apparently evil creature to trade one evil for another at a great price. Then the little shop disappears after the bargain is made.
ReplyDelete4. I think we are supposed to think of these narrators as unreliable and question their experiences, buy there is just enough tenacity of their emotions and assurances that it occurred to make the reader doubt their doubts. These guys all become obsessed with this fantasy world and have their adventures with no proof of them. Mr. Sladden breaks his window in a desperate attempt to help the people of the golden dragon thus breaking whatever spell was on the window. Mr. Shap seems to become senile or something and retreats into his mind where this world is that he has created. The guy from “The City on Mallington Moor” was drinking and passed out whenever he was able to see the mysterious city, but in his case he was drinking from the iron flask (a weapon against fey folk) that had been given to him by the only other person to have seen the city with its strange rum. Mr. Shap too, maybe he wasn’t disillusioned with life but had found some secret door to Narnia that the narrator didn’t want to reveal to the reader for fear they’d invade this new land. These guys don’t seem like the most mentally stable, but we always like to as ‘what if?’
1. I think that fantasy is anything that is imagined. If it contains elements that are not realistic or believable or even proven to be true, than it must be some sort of sub genre of fantasy. This would include ghost stories, folk legends, and sci-fi. Lord Dunsany's stories contain elements like this. We cannot really believe that a man can look through a window and see a whole different world just like we cannot really believe that an old man can turn a young boy into a fish.
ReplyDelete4. These characters are definitely supposed to be unreliable. For example, in "The Wonderful Window" Mr. Sladden becomes obsessed with viewing a different world through a magical window. Although this is entertaining, it is not realistic. I do not think that the author intended for the readers to trust characters such as this. I feel that if he had, in the stories he would have provided some information that made the reader, just like the main character, question whether or not the events had actually happened. In this story,however, Mr. Sladden is the only character, other than the old man who was never seen again.
Cora-lee Snow
Ashley Bean
ReplyDelete3. I see this in "The Bureau d'Echange de Maux." The owner of the shop is kind of slimy, yet honest in a sense. Most businessmen appear to be hiding something, and this guy is no different. He gives the surface truth, but hides everything underneath, because that's good business. The narrator is too curious to pass it up, as most businessmen play on curiosity at times. The whole, you won't know until you try trick. And the narrator falls for it.
4. I think that they are unreliable, because each time, without fail, the magic or fantasy disappears. Like the "Moor" story, as soon as he sleeps, he wakes up to find the city gone without a trace. I think Dunsany is just having fun with his narrators, saying that it's okay to dream a little and fantasize about ridiculous things, because everyone needs an escape. Eventually, we will all come back to the real world though, and the consequences are that the real world never feels real again.
1.I think we all have different definitions of fantasy, that’s why these stories fall under this category. I think Dunsany’s work is classified as a larger genre of fantasy because it includes a lot of things that aren’t found in our day to day lives. We don’t get to look through a window and see a world better than our own.
ReplyDelete2.I don’t think Dunsany’s intent was for us to trust these characters. I think he was more so aiming for his readers to question the character’s experiences. We know that we can’t look through a window to a better world, and we can’t trade our evils for different ones, but we want to believe that our life has a purpose beyond our mundane lives. All of his stories had some sort of underlying theme or moral. I think the focus was not on the narrators, but on the imagination of the narrators. We can relate to them in that way, not necessarily rely on them
-Jessica Russell
Sarah Bolitho
ReplyDelete3. Mr. Shap disdains the “very beastliness of his occupation”, and the real world in general. He is perceived as “matter-of-fact” and “logical”, though he does not really seem to be either of these things. He presents a false face to the world—one that will be readily accepted—and indulges in secret, grandiose fantasies. He begins to “despise” himself because he feels removed from his life, alienated from the world by dissatisfaction. He feels trapped and unable to attain the goals he cannot achieve as an ordinary business-man in London.
4. The narrators are certainly unreliable, though not intentionally misleading. They are making a point. The old shepherd from “The City on Mallington Moor” is a man who uses alcohol to enable his escapism. He indulges so much, that he seems to be dependent on it, considering his mind is foggy and his hands shake until he is able to drink. The narrator himself indulges in this escapism, getting drunk on the rum the shepherd gives him. The city is open to anyone who decides to escape from reality for a while, as evidenced by the archway in the city that says “Here strangers rest” in all the languages of the world. In “Thirteen at Table, Sir Richard is unable to move on with his life until he can forgive himself of his past regrets. The ghosts are most likely not literal, merely ghosts of his past.