Lost in Pegana

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I'm in Japanese print again!  As you may recall, I wrote an introduction to Lost Tales Volume I, the Pegana Press chapbook collection of previously unreprinted Lord Dunsany stories.  Now, that same introduction has been translated by Hiroshi Inagaki and published in volume 14 of the very fine looking Dunsany fanzine, Pegana Lost.

There is, as I'm sure you know, no money involved in such a publication.  But there is the pleasure of being associated with people half a world away who also care passionately about the lapidarian prose of a half-forgotten master of fantasy.  For just a moment, I am there with them.

And yet another reason to wish I knew Japanese!  How much of his stories' special beauty survives the translation?  Or, considering that Japanese tales of the supernatural were clearly one of his influences, is it possible that translation actually improves his tales?  As we are told translation into French does for Poe.

I'll never know, not really.  But it's a pleasant thing to think about. 

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