Image: Sidney Sime’s “Mung” (1905)
Sidney Sime’s “Mung”, an illustration for Lord Dunsany’s The Gods of Pegana(1905), shows the deity Mung, the bringer of death. This image captures the cosmic dread, which was central to Dunsany’s work, with Mung emerging from the surreal, shadowy surroundings. Sime’s intricate detailing of Mung’s elongated, distorted form and the creepy, unearthly landscape work to emphasise the alien and the unknown. With familiar reference points being absent in this, the composition evokes a sense of the ineffable. It also reflects Dunsany’s depiction of a universe governed by forces beyond human comprehension. Sime’s ability to render the intangible in visual terms matches Machen;s assertion that true horror resides in the “unimaginable”(Machen).
Works Cited
Dunsany, Lord. The Gods of Pegāna. George Allen, 1905.
Machen, Arthur. Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature. A. Rivers, 1902.