Dean Spanley: A Novel
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
What if a mild-mannered Edwardian clergyman harboured a secret life as a dog in a former incarnation — and a fine Imperial Tokay was all it took to unlock those memories? Dean Spanley is Lord Dunsany's masterful comic novella, set in the drawing rooms and dining tables of early 20th-century England, in which a narrator coaxes the eccentric Dean Spanley into recounting, glassy-eyed and increasingly uninhibited, vivid recollections of chasing rabbits, guarding hearths, and experiencing a loyalty so pure it borders on the divine. The premise is absurdist, the execution impeccable — Dunsany sustains the conceit with a perfectly deadpan wit that never overplays its hand, leaving the reader both charmed and, unexpectedly, moved. Beneath its genial, comic surface, the novel presents a quietly profound meditation on memory, mortality, and the bond between humans and their animals — themes that resonate with a tenderness Dunsany conceals beneath layers of irony and restraint. His prose is elegant and spare, belonging to that great Anglo-Irish tradition of fabulist storytelling that counts Swift and Wilde among its forebears. This edition also includes the screenplay adaptation by Alan Sharp, offering readers a rare and fascinating glimpse into how Dunsany's singular vision was translated for the screen. Whether encountered as satire, as fantasy, or as a surprisingly affecting elegy for companionship, Dean Spanley rewards every reader who wonders what their dog might say, if only it could speak.
Author: Lord Dunsany
Format: Hardback
Genre: Classic fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
What if a mild-mannered Edwardian clergyman harboured a secret life as a dog in a former incarnation — and a fine Imperial Tokay was all it took to unlock those memories? Dean Spanley is Lord Dunsany's masterful comic novella, set in the drawing rooms and dining tables of early 20th-century England, in which a narrator coaxes the eccentric Dean Spanley into recounting, glassy-eyed and increasingly uninhibited, vivid recollections of chasing rabbits, guarding hearths, and experiencing a loyalty so pure it borders on the divine. The premise is absurdist, the execution impeccable — Dunsany sustains the conceit with a perfectly deadpan wit that never overplays its hand, leaving the reader both charmed and, unexpectedly, moved. Beneath its genial, comic surface, the novel presents a quietly profound meditation on memory, mortality, and the bond between humans and their animals — themes that resonate with a tenderness Dunsany conceals beneath layers of irony and restraint. His prose is elegant and spare, belonging to that great Anglo-Irish tradition of fabulist storytelling that counts Swift and Wilde among its forebears. This edition also includes the screenplay adaptation by Alan Sharp, offering readers a rare and fascinating glimpse into how Dunsany's singular vision was translated for the screen. Whether encountered as satire, as fantasy, or as a surprisingly affecting elegy for companionship, Dean Spanley rewards every reader who wonders what their dog might say, if only it could speak.