COVE

Sime's "Mung and the Beast of Mung", first appeared in Dunsany's "The Gods of Pegāna, which he published at his own expense in 1905" (Anderssen 71). The image has Mung standing above this cruel looking creature, where Mung asserts this sense of authority and his cleverness. By placing a being, that is "grinning…like death in a hot and hideous land" it proves his power as the God of Death without the need of facial expressions (Dunsany 36). Using the context as well, that book was "heavily influenced by the King James Bible, and with a strongly philosophical foundation exploring humanity’s relationship with the cosmos and the powers behind it" (Anderssen 71), the viewer can see Sime's rendition of a fantastical God of Death through personifying death through a skulled figure. With using that stereotypical perception of death, Sime takes it one step further by using a vast shadow highlighting Mung's dominance to further emphasize the feelings of horror and eeriness. Thus with the influence of religion and fantasy, Sime adds horror to the nineteenth century viewer.

Works Cited

Anderssen, Martin. “Lord Dunsany (1878-1957).” The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, no. 12, 2018, pp. 70–79. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48536200. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.

Dunsany, Edward. “The Gods of Pegana, with Illus. in Photogravure by S.H. Sime : Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, 1878-1957 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, [London] Pegana Press, 1 Jan. 1970, pp.  archive.org/details/godsofpeganawith00dunsuoft/page/36/mode/2up.

Dunsany, Edward. "The Revolt of the Home Gods" The Gods of Pegana. Internet Archive, [London] Pegana Press, 1 Jan. 1970, pp. 34-37,  archive.org/details/godsofpeganawith00dunsuoft/page/36/mode/2up.

Sidney, Sime. "Mung and the Beast of Mung" The Gods of Pegana. Internet Archive, [London] Pegana Press, 1 Jan. 1970, p. 37,  archive.org/details/godsofpeganawith00dunsuoft/page/36/mode/2up.