Extraordinarily prolific in the fields of fiction, poetry, essay, translation, autobiography, and memoir, including fifteen short-fiction collections and at least one hundred uncollected short stories, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the eighteenth Baron Dunsany, fought the charge of literary dilettantism during his fifty-year career. His title sat uneasily on him: he was known more for his love of games; his humor; his idiosyncratic declaiming on such subjects as furniture polish, food additives, and the removal of dogs' tails; and his sartorial ineptitude than for his peerage. He spent much of his time shooting game, going on safari in Africa, and playing chess, a game he loved--he was once chess champion of Ireland and played the world champion to a draw in 1929. He wrote his stories quickly, without revision, with a goose-quill pen in a flowing, indecipherable hand. Readers in England and the United States especially appreciated his early fantasy stories for their ingenious settings, strange gods and heroes, and imaginative description.
