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The Pleasures of a Futuroscope Hardcover – October 1, 2003

by Lord Dunsany (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
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Lord Dunsany, Irish master of fantasy, was the author of more than a dozen novels, hundreds of short stories, poems, and essays, and dozens of plays. And yet, his last major work, The Pleasures of a Futuroscope, has remained unpublished until this edition. In this powerful and moving novel, written in 1955, a futuroscope--a device that allows a viewer to see into the near or distant future--reveals an awful fate for humanity: a nuclear holocaust has destroyed nearly all human life on the planet. The great city of London is now merely an immense crater, filled in with water from the Thames. The pitiful remnants of humanity have been reduced to a Stone Age existence. The narrator, obsessively looking through the futuroscope, focuses upon the plight of a single family in their struggles to survive and fend off the many enemies, both animal and human, that surround them. When one of their number is kidnapped by a band of gypsies, we can only wonder at her fate in this brave new world of the distant future. Gripping, horrifying, touching, and fascinating, The Pleasures of a Futuroscope shows that Lord Dunsany retained his literary powers undiminished to the end of his life.
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  1. Print length
    200 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hippocampus Press
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0972164480
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0972164481
  8. See all details
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From Publishers Weekly

Apparently written in 1955, this last novel by Irish fantasist Dunsany (1878-1955) doesn't rank with such early masterpieces as The King of Elfland's Daughter, but it offers its own rewards. Methery, the inventor of the futuroscope, a device that allows one to view the future, first appeared in one of Dunsany's Jorkens stories, "The Two-Way War." Here the unnamed narrator, a retired English journalist, borrows Methery's futuroscope simply for fun, as the title suggests. In a set-up that anticipates today's "reality" TV, the narrator watches a family 500 years in the future as they cope with the aftermath of a nuclear strike on London, regularly noting his breaks in the present for dinner, teatime and bedtime. Dunsany's descriptions of sylvan beauty are as lovely as anything he ever wrote, but some readers may find the elegant exposition, with its long paragraphs and sparse dialogue, too old-fashioned. This restrained apocalyptic novel, warning of the dangers of technology, will likely win over only established fans. Joshi's illuminating introduction is a plus.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) was the author of The Gods of Pegana (1905), A Dreamer's Tales (1910), and many other volumes that have made him a legend in the realm of fantasy. Such novels as The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924) and The Blessing of Pan (1927) cemented his reputation. In The Curse of the Wise Woman (1933) and later works, he drew upon the people and heritage of his native Ireland, while such plays as The Gods of the Mountain (1911) and The Queen's Enemies (1916) commanded the British and American stage for decades.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hippocampus Press; First Ed edition (October 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0972164480
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0972164481
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

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  1. S. T. Joshi

    S. T. Joshi

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    S. T. Joshi (Seattle, WA) is a freelance writer, scholar, and editor whose previous books include Documents of American Prejudice; In Her Place: A Documentary History of Prejudice against Women; God’s Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong; Atheism: A Reader; H. L. Mencken on Religion; The Agnostic Reader; and What Is Man? And Other Irreverent Essays by Mark Twain.

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    Lord Dunsany

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Michael R. Broschat
5.0 out of 5 stars A fitting end to a writing career
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2004
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Dunsany (pronounced "dune-SANE-y") started publishing just after the turn into the 20th century. He began with poetry, then moved to plays (stimulated by a challenge from WB Yeats), short stories, and-in 1922-his first novel. Don Rodriguez is a romance that takes place several hundred years ago. Futuroscope is a romance that takes place several hundred years from now. The manuscript for this book was discovered only a couple years ago, long after the author's death in 1957.
The story is that our author-the narrator-has had loan of a marvelous device by a rather disinterested inventor. This device works much like a television set, the difference being that it sees into the future. And with two dials (completely analog, of course), you can adjust where the 'scope is looking and at what time in the future. The narrator warns that the pictures gets dim too much after the time of this story (about 2600 AD), so don't build your hopes too high. The narrator decides to concentrate on the area right around where he lives (in Kent, England), and casts about to see what time period looks interesting. He soon sees what appears to be a nuclear holocaust, and centuries of devastation. Gradually, life comes back, and-strangely enough-it is just like life probably was about 5,000 years ago. Fortunately for us (and the narrator), English is still spoken. Eventually, he finds a small family living within a mile of where he the narrator currently lives, and he follows their lives for a few weeks. This exercise completely captivates him, and his own life becomes simply an observation of some future events, events not exactly unromantic and unadventurous. Some things never change.
Dunsany's point is a life-long point (he would die a couple years after writing this book)-the modern age (symbolized by metal in this book) has robbed man of his true happiness. Not exactly a rare point of view among Brits (and, especially, those with titles), but no less ardently felt for being shared.
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Turner Morgan
4.0 out of 5 stars None of the reviews below relate to the book.
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2004
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I believe I had this read to me when I was young, and remember very much enjoying it- the synopsis supplied in the item description seems to mesh with my recollections. I know it was SOME Dunsany that I haven't been able to find, and time-travel seemed to play into it... However, I distinctly look forward to reading it and discovering that it's still not a Lovecraft book. I imagine the confusion of reviews happened because the editor is very well-known for editing Lovecraft anthologies and miscellania.
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川流桃桜
4.0 out of 5 stars 晩年のダンセイニが書いた「SF」!?
Reviewed in Japan on May 9, 2005
Verified Purchase
まさかダンセイニがこんな本を、と云うのが最初に読んだ時の正直な感想。実はこの本の存在は友人に知らされて実際に買ってみるまで全く知らなかった。何せこの版が正真正銘の「初版」である。
内容は、未邦訳の他の作品にも出て来るメテリィと云う発明家が発明した「未来鏡」と云うガジェットが出て来るのだが、彼の友人で引退したジャーナリストである語り手が、これを使って未来世界の有り様を見物すると云うもの。物語は、恐らくは核戦争によって科学技術文明が壊滅した後の新石器時代に暮らす、或る一家に焦点を合わせている。動物やジプシー等との闘いがあったりはするが、基本的に至って平々凡々(名前からして「ジョー」だの「ケイト」だのである)、日々の生活の糧を得、衣食住に悩み、成長し、結婚し、また新しい家族を作ると云った具合。
この手の未来ものの傑作としてはウェルズやロンドン等が直ぐ様思い浮かぶが、文体の所為もあるだろうが、彼等の様な強烈なる文明批判的な視点はダンセイニには薄い。何の野心も持たぬ文人が、単に自分の老後の愉しみの為に、丁度テレビでも見る具合に「未来鏡」を覗く―――実に淡々としたものである(この辺は恐らくはダンセイニ自身の晩年の生活の一端が窺える)。静かなる老年の境地とでも言おうか、文明に対して正面から闘いを挑むよりも、唯ひたすらにこの世界の人の営みの有り様を黙って凝っと眺めているだけの様な不思議な軽さが漂う、そんな作品である。
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