Lord Dunsany

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (/dʌnˈseɪni/; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), was an Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes many hundreds of published short stories, as well as successful plays, novels, and essays.
Born to the second-oldest title in the Irish peerage (created in 1439), Dunsany lived much of his life at what may be Ireland's longest-inhabited house, Dunsany Castle near Tara. He worked with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin, was chess and pistol-shooting champion of Ireland, and travelled and hunted extensively. He died in Dublin after an attack of appendicitis.
The mystical city of Bethmoora, first mentioned in Dunsany's A Dreamer's Tales, was incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft in The Whisperer in Darkness, and is also mentioned in the Mythos fiction of Hugh B. Cave.
==Behind the Mythos==
Dunsany is almost always referenced when people discuss Lovecraft's Dreamlands stories. “There are my 'Poe' pieces and my 'Dunsany pieces' —but alas— where are any Lovecraft pieces?” Lovecraft once lamented.Selected Letters, H. P. Lovecraft, Vol. 2, p. 315. Not only Dunsany's style, but also his naming conventions made an impact on Lovecraft's work, particularly in "Polaris" (1918), "The White Ship" (1919), "The Quest of Iranon" (1921), "The Tree" (1920), "Celephais" (1920), and The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927). There is also a somewhat aimless, dream-like quality to Dunsany's works, which of course the Dreamlands in Lovecraft's writings overtly imitates. 
Dunsany also populated his fantasy worlds with imaginary gods of various types, as in his first published book, The Gods of Pegāna. The concept of an invented pantheon was a key influence on H. P. Lovecraft, who said he "got the idea of the artificial pantheon and myth-background represented by 'Cthulhu', 'Yog-Sothoth', 'Yuggoth', etc." from Dunsany.Some Notes on Non-Entity, by H. P. Lovecraft.
Dunsany also invented creatures, like gnoles and gibbelins, that seem like models for the zoogs and ghasts of Lovecraft's Dreamlands.
In his correspondence, Lovecraft listed some of his favourite works by Dunsany:When I think of Dunsany, it is in terms of The Gods of the Mountain, "Bethmoora", "Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean", "The City of Never" [sic], "The Fall of Babbulkund", "In the Land of Time", and "Idle Days on the Yann".Another Dunsany piece cited as a particular influence on Lovecraft is "A Shop in Go-by Street".
==References==
Category:Lovecraft's Inspirations (authors)
Category:Deceased (Real World)
Category:Mythos-Adjacent Authors