An Irish estate and a London stage
Born in London in 1878, Plunkett inherited the Dunsany title in 1899 and spent much of his life at the family castle in County Meath. He served in the British Army in the South African War. An early literary experiment, The Gods of Pegāna, appeared in 1905 with pictures by Sime. Its short, solemn passages present a pantheon as though fragments of its sacred literature had survived.
Dunsany also wrote for the theatre. His play The Glittering Gate, written for the Abbey Theatre, follows two burglars who find themselves waiting at the entrance to heaven. He continued to write about Ireland and its countryside alongside books of imaginary travel.
When the picture comes first
In The Book of Wonder, Sime’s strange figures and settings gave Dunsany material from which to devise tales. The Hoard of the Gibbelins offers treasure and a possible route towards it. The reader follows an adventurer’s reasoning long enough to appreciate how differently the owners of the treasure understand the arrangement. Dunsany’s brief endings could overturn the expectations set up by an elaborate picture.
