The Complete Pegānā

 If you want to avoid the loathing of all things and otiose verbiage of Lovecraft, but still desire a cosmos that is at best indifferent and at worst actively hostile, you could do worse than Lord Dunsany’s mythology about the Gods of Pegānā. Lord Dunsany’s style is the opposite of that of Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany writes horror by omitting adjectives and descriptions of rituals which are either known to those who dwell therein or are secrets known only to the Gods. Many of the most memorable elements of Lovecraft’s cosmos derive from here, including the sleeping god whose dream we are and his musical attendant. The best collection to read these tales is The Complete Pegānā: All the Tales Pertaining to the Fabulous Realm of Pegānā. The cosmos of the Gods of Pegānā is mostly Lucretian, in which the prayers of Men usually reach only as far as the ears of the priests; the attitude of the Gods towards Man is best epitomized in these lines from the chapter “Of Yoharneth-Lahai”: “Yoharneth-Lahai is the god of little dreams and fancies … To whom Yoharneth-Lahai come not with little dreams and sleep he must endure all night the laughter of the gods with highest mockery in Pegānā.”

The first half of the collection is structured like a holy book. The chapter divisions are similar to the surāt of the Qur’an. The chronology is similar to the books of the Bible, stretching from the creation of the Gods and the Worlds to the End. The content in the beginning is reminiscent of the Theogony of Hesiod (another noted pessimist), while the middle contains longer stories of Men and their desperate attempts to access the Gods. The Gods win, every time. There is some variety, such as the rebellion of minor streams. The final tale is that of the End, in which the god of Time is slain by one of his own hounds, who are the Hours which devour all things.

The second half of the collection is an expansion of the mythology, both in the realms of the Gods and of Men. The order here is more varied. On the divine side, it includes “A Legend of the Dawn,” in which the sole child among the gods loses her ball (the Sun), and “When the Gods Slept,” in which worse things than the gods creep into the world and further degrade Men. On the human side, there is “The Relenting of Sarnidac,” in which a disabled dwarf undergoes accidental apotheosis, and “In the Land of Time,” in which a king declares war against Time himself.

The final three tales of the collection are titled “Beyond the Fields We Know”: each tale involves a traveler from our world participating in the world of Pegānā. These serve as a link between the realms of Dunsany’s dreams and the “real world,” thereby allowing a transition to more familiar landscapes with a new appreciation. A good (but definitely not tame) Lion once put it thus: “I am [there] … But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason you were brought [here], that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” Homecoming is a necessity after the adventure in the perilous realm.

If you enjoy Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, you will enjoy Pegānā; but I would not recommend a graphic novel adaptation, for the sign of Mung and the other Gods of Pegānā are best left to dreams and dreamers.