Plays Of Near And Far
By Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany
Length3h 12m
About this audiobook
Sometimes one needs to indulge in the pastel whimsies of Dunsany. This mood overtakes me every so often. It happened recently, so I read this substantial book of his plays. I found each piece to be enchanting, humorous, witty at times, fairly clever and pleasingly ridiculous. The first and longest of the plays, entitled simply 'If', is the best and the most inventive. It's a time travel story that involves a wish and a chance to change one incident in the past and then endure all that follows from that change. It is also a story about travel to distant lands, to an implausible and theatrical Eastern kingdom in which the cliches of the Orient abound. It is also a story about change to one's personality, and how a mild mannered English businessman can be turned into a despot under the influence of a certain kind of mischievous and capricious woman. The other plays in the book are briefer and lesser but still entertaining. There is a play that tells the annual story of the bees in heroic fantasy terms. There is a play about how Shakespeare would be ignored if he was alive in Dunsany's era. There is a rather brilliant and prescient play about the dangers of processed food that is so cutting in its satire that it seems more like a work by Saki. Thinking about it more carefully, this latter play is probably the most important one in the book, and yet 'If' will always be the one that is best remembered, for its beauty, its languor, cleverness and daftness.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (36)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing
GenreGeneral Fiction, Literary Classics
Length3 hrs 12 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 22, 2019
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Plays of Near & Far
5CHEEZO
2PREFACE
6A GOOD BARGAIN
3THE COMPROMISE OF THE KING OF THE GOLDEN ISLES
7IF SHAKESPEARE LIVED TO-DAY
4THE FLIGHT OF THE QUEEN
8FAME AND THE POET
Series
More from Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany
Tales Of WonderEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany4h 12m3.8 (162)$2.30
A Dreamer's TalesEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany3h 47m4.2 (853)$2.30
Tales Of WarEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany2h 43m3.7 (89)$2.30
Unhappy Far-Off ThingsEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany1h 17m3.9 (52)$2.30
The Sword Of Welleran And Other StoriesEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany3h 31m4.0 (681)$2.30
Five PlaysEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany2h 50m3.9 (61)$2.30
Don Rodriguez, Chronicles Of Shadow ValleyEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany7h 51m4.0 (446)$2.30
Selections From The Writings Of Lord DunsanyEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany2h 36m3.8 (38)$2.30
Plays Of Gods And MenEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany3h 6m3.9 (52)$2.30
Fifty-One TalesEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany1h 46m3.9 (643)$2.30
Tales Of Three HemispheresEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany2h 43m3.8 (151)$2.30
The Gods Of PeganaEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany1h 42m3.9 (2.5K)$2.30
Time And The GodsEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany4h 14m4.0 (1.4K)$2.30
If: A Play In Four ActsEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany3h 7m3.3 (21)$2.30
The Book Of WonderEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Baron Dunsany2h 22m4.1 (1.2K)$2.30
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett11h 23m4.5 (189.9K)$29 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
The Book Of NegroesLawrence Hill15h 45m4.5 (107.3K)$33 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery11h 1m4.5 (1.2M)$2.30 · $0.00
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
These Precious DaysAnn Patchett11h 14m4.5 (45.2K)$29 · $0.00
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 50m4.6 (1.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
H. P. LOVECRAFT Ultimate Collection: Novellas, Short Stories, Poetry & Essays (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft12h 28m4.6 (2.3K)$2 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust16h 8m4.5 (10.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
Lessons in TruthH. Emilie3h 50m4.6 (1.4K)$4.70 · $0.00
TORAH - Bilingual Edition: English/Hebrew (Annotated)Max Margolis, JPS28h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
Betty Crocker picture cooky bookBetty Crocker, Inc. General Mills2h 13m4.5 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Tales of Beatrix PotterBeatrix Potter3h 36m4.5 (75K)$3 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery11h 1m4.5 (1.2M)$2.30 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
The North American IndianEdward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge6h4.5 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Uncensored 13 Chapter Version + The Revised 20 Chapter Version (Annotated)Oscar Wilde16h 12m4.5 (2.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
Grimoire Of The Everyday WitchIsadora Lys / Virginia Santos5h 35m4.5 (3.9K)$9 · $0.00
Winnie-the-PoohAlan Alexander Milne2h 52m4.5 (401.1K)$3 · $0.00
Sitting PrettyRebekah Taussig7h 33m4.5 (18.9K)$26 · $0.00
The Poetic Edda & The Prose EddaSnorri Sturluson, Saemund Sigfusson9h 34m4.5 (4K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Satires & Essays of Mark Twain (Annotated)Mark Twain23h 21m4.5 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesLucy Maud Montgomery11h 10m4.4 (1.3M)$8 · $0.00
The Posthumous Memoirs Of Brás CubasMachado De Assis7h 39m4.4 (120.4K)$5 · $0.00
You may also like
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare3h 29m4.2 (1.1M)$1 · $0.00
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare2h 7m4.1 (1.2M)$3 · $0.00
Andersen's Fairy TalesHans Christian Andersen5h 11m4.3 (296.7K)Free
Memoirs Of Extraordinary Popular DelusionsCharles Mackay10h 22m4.0 (9.2K)Free
William Shakespeare: Macbeth. A drama.William Shakespeare2h 58m4.1 (1.1M)$12 · $0.00
Saint JoanBernard Shaw6h 16m4.0 (14.4K)$2.30
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare2h 30m4.2 (1.1M)$1.80 · $0.00
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare1h 22m4.2 (1.1M)$1 · $0.00
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare2h 11m4.1 (1.1M)$16 · $0.00
Hadrian the Seventh (Annotated)Frederick Rolfe14h 54m3.8 (1.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare2h 30m4.2 (1.1M)$1.20 · $0.00
The Canterbury TalesGeoffrey Chaucer22h 19m3.8 (274.9K)$35
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Complete Edition: Volume 1-3)Charles Mackay33h 13m4.1 (35.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Complete Edition: Volume 1-3)Charles Mackay33h 5m4.0 (11.3K)$1 · $0.00
The History of Caliph VathekWilliam Beckford4h 10m3.6 (11.9K)$2 · $0.00
Richard IIIWilliam Shakespeare3h 34m4.1 (64.6K)$15
ElectraEuripides1h 46m4.1 (10.5K)$2.30
Satan's DiaryLeonid Andreyev6h 55m3.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Macbeth William Shakespeare1h 56m4.2 (1.1M)Free
The Emperor's New ClothesHans Christian Andersen12m4.2 (20.3K)$6 · $0.00