Time and the Gods

Dunsany, Lord, 1878-1957Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.2

Word count: 215K words
Chapters: 22

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Time and the Gods by Lord Dunsany. Author: Dunsany, Lord, 1878-1957. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: May 1, 2005

Editor's review

Time and the Gods is a collection of short mythic stories by Lord Dunsany, part of his early fantasy sequence. Its themes are mythic creation, the rise and fall of gods, and time and fate, and its prose-poem language builds an ancient world with no fixed geography. Unlike later fantasy novels devoted to detailed world-building, these short pieces are closer to fable and prose poem: plot is muted and imagery dense, filled with twilight, thrones, wanderers and an inescapable sense of doom. It has been an inspiration to later English-language fantasy, and will appeal to readers interested in the origins of fantasy literature. It is best read not as a continuous novel but as a set of mythic fragments to be savored a few at a time, for the rhythm and pictures of its language. Some pieces are loosely linked by recurring figures and place names, but each stands on its own.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy prose-poem fantasy and mythic fable
Scholars interested in the early origins of English-language fantasy
Learners who want to build English literary reading through short pieces

Not a good fit for

Genre readers who prefer tight plotting and complete character arcs
Readers who need clear world-building and detailed explanation

Reading tips

Read piece by piece, pausing after one or two to let them sink in; do not chase the momentum of a continuous narrative.
Read several passages aloud to feel how the author uses rhythm and repetition to create a mythic quality.
Keep a sheet for recurring images and motifs, such as time, the gods, twilight and wandering.
Read alongside other early English fantasy short fiction to observe the difference between mythic and novelistic writing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Do these stories have a continuous plot?

There is no strictly connected main line. Each piece appears as an independent mythic fragment, sharing a similar tone and themes, with occasional echoes of place names or names of gods. Readers can start with any piece and need not read in order.

Is it useful as a reference for fantasy writing?

Yes. Its technique of building a vast mythic atmosphere with spare prose is instructive for learning how to construct a fantasy world through imagery and rhythm. But it offers no detailed method of world-building; the inspiration is more at the level of style and atmosphere.

Is the English difficult?

The language is literary, the syntax careful, and the vocabulary somewhat archaic, but the short length and simple plots ease the burden of comprehension. Readers with upper-intermediate English can attempt it, and are advised to read slowly with a dictionary.

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About the author

Dunsany, Lord, 1878-1957 Author

Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) was an Irish writer, born Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, known for fantasy and imaginative fiction. Seventeen of his works are held in this collection, including A Dreamer's Tales, The Book of Wonder, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, Tales of Three Hemispheres, The Gods of Pegana, Five Plays, Fifty-One Tales, and Time and the Gods. His short fiction often builds self-contained mythologies and invented worlds, marked by rich imagination, a fable-like tone, and restrained, poetic prose; he frequently writes of gods, dreams, distant lands, and fate. He is regarded as one of the forerunners of modern fantasy literature and an influence on later fantasy writing. Public information is limited, so details of his life and honors are not discussed here.