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MA RES: ‘Wonder’s native haunt’: Earth-centred Sacrality in the Fantasies of Lord Dunsany and J.R.R. Tolkien (33,000 words)

Davis / Drew Prize for Special Achievement in a Postgraduate Thesis in English Literature

The fantasies of Lord Dunsany and J.R.R. Tolkien share a concern for nature in the twentieth century due to industrialisation and the devastation of war, yet Tolkien’s popularity has resulted in many more studies on his appreciation of the natural world. However, both authors can be drawn together by situating their fantasies within the discourse surrounding wonder and disenchantment. This thesis follows thinkers such as Max Weber and Patrick Curry in arguing that the doctrine of mastery at the core of certain religious worldviews and secular notions of progress devalues our sense of Earth-centred sacrality. Against the disenchanting desire to control and manipulate, Dunsany and Tolkien advocated for the acceptance of human limitations and the adoption of a pluralistic regard for other beings. To reveal this, the study engages with the philosophy and ethics of wonder, as well as literary frameworks such as Don Elgin’s comic ecological perspective and Tolkien’s defence of fantasy in ‘On Fairy-Stories’. Analysis of Dunsany’s Pegāna mythology and Tolkien’s The Silmarillion shows that both narratives serve as mythic expositions for the diminishment of Earth and are bound by their promotion of humility in human-nature relations. The study then turns to Dunsany’s fantasy-reality short stories, which make use of Romantic tropes and non-anthropocentric conceptions to critique modern society. The discussion of Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings strengthens the ties between both novels by addressing the significance of faery as a means of recovering wonder and exploring attitudes towards nature. Ultimately, this thesis contends that Dunsany’s commitment to affirming our place on Earth has not been fully grasped by researchers. Moreover, it argues that Dunsany often surpassed Tolkien in the understanding of Earth-centred sacredness by better aligning his fiction with the values inherent in a stance of wonderment.

Keywords: Lord Dunsany, J.R.R. Tolkien, nature, wonder, disenchantment, ecological ethics, anthropocentrism, religion, modernity

Sample from thesis

Delivered ‘Return to Wildness and Wonder: Lord Dunsany’s Critique of Modernity’ to the Inkling Folk Fellowship (24th May, 2024)

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PUBLISHED WORK

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The Opening – The Ecological Citizen Vol 9 No 1 + Audio-visual Narration

A flash fiction piece about a hermit in a hermetically sealed city. This story was written for Feral Lines, a collection I co-edited with Joe Gray

Through the Wound, the World – READ HERE

A talk delivered at the International Ecoliteracy Research Festival in Denmark (14th August) (major paper)

Inside a Song – Earth Tongues #3

For Earth Day 2025, I wrote about the importance of speaking and singing in nature to honour the Earth, as well as my experiences reciting the songs and poems of JRR Tolkien.

The Things That Tether Us / A review of Non-things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld – The Ecological Citizen Vol 8 No 2

Byung-Chul Han’s Non-things challenges the digital infosphere for disembodying existence and eroding creativity, narrative continuity, and relationality. Drawing on Heidegger, Han warns against severing ties to tangible things that give life meaning. He urges reclaiming physical participation on Earth, while respecting the separateness and wildness of things. Non-things tells us that to go through life tethered to things and grounded by the history and memory that they establish is to walk with the Earth rather than trampling over or seeking to transcend it altogether.

Dreams Made of Sand – The Ecological Citizen Vol 8 No 1

A naturalist takes his son to the beach on a day unlike any other. This story was partly inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’, the film ‘Melancholia’ (2011), the poetry of Norman MacCaig, S.T. Coleridge’s ‘Fears in Solitude’, and John Clare’s ‘The Instinct of Hope’. Most importantly, it serves as a paean to Yellowcraig Beach, East Lothian.

Caring for Carrion Beetles – Earth Tongues #2

A reflective essay about inspired by advocacy for compassionate entomology, critiquing the anthropocentric and harmful practices often accepted in ecology. Through personal anecdotes and philosophical insights, I emphasise the intrinsic value of nonhuman life, in particular Silphids and other overlooked insects, and call for more respectful and mindful interactions with nature.

BSc Dissertation (2018/2019)

Just Save Perception – Earth Tongues

Today’s environmental activists employ destructive and therefore counterproductive methods. I argue that we need to cultivate the saving perception, which rests on the adoption of a non-reactionary sense of conservative gratitude for art and heritage more broadly.

Defiance in Half-light – Elsewhere journal

This essay centres around contemplation of the twilight and the more-than-human world in microcosm at Chinnor Hill Nature Reserve. It promotes stillness in these days of perpetual revolution, growing political divides and mounting fears of global conflict.

Contributions to the ‘What Is?’ series (The Ecological Citizen)

Wonder
A post-secular and Earth-centred ethics of sacrality can be established by centralising wonder, adopting an animist ontology and revitalising the other in society.

Environmental Stewardship
A definition of stewardship and its follies as a paternalistic and managerialist approach to conservation and ecological ethics.

Habitat Fragmentation
A short explanation of habitat fragmentation grounded in ecological principles.

Wilderness
An exploration of the complexities of wilderness.

The Gate – Reliquiae Vol 10 No 2 + LISTEN HERE + Preview

This poetic (CNF) essay concerns the power of thresholds in myth, ritual, literature and fine art. The essay also serves as a meditation on an important personal symbol.

Developing an ecocentric mindset through exploration and role-play within online virtual worlds – The Ecological Citizen

This paper is a creative reflection on how engaging with virtual worlds instilled in me an appreciation of nature and heritage. I focus primarily on my experience inhabiting Azeroth (World of Warcraft).

You can’t fly to space in a Corinthian column – Sci Phi Journal

This article is an argument for the retention of natural and cultural motifs in architecture as a means of honouring our storied world, the beauty of which continues to be eroded by unimaginative visions in which the future is synonymous with ugliness and sterility.

This personal essay details my transition from atheism towards a better understanding of and respect for religion. Though emphasis is placed on my changing perception of Christianity, this is not a conversion story. Instead, the essay dwells on death, nature, myth, and creativity.

The Bookworm – The Dark Sire + Preview

A story-starved boy craving freedom is forced to read from a holy text.

Turniphead – Cosmic Horror Monthly + Issue 17

A disfigured young man faces the wrath of Allborough.

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Unpublished Work

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The following section provides examples of unpublished fiction and nonfiction work, which I’ve included here as my published credits comprise a fraction of my total output. This list does not include old work, only the best of these from the past few years. Having made over 100 fiction submissions, I’ve decided to forge my own way due to unfair practices in the politically driven fantasy/Weird fiction market.

• The Cloak of Godfrey Shaw, a professor develops a bond with a young boy over a magical cloak
• The Gate, a dark, mythopoeic and metafictional fantasy story concerning a portal into a secondary world
• Gifts of Flesh, a traveller encounters a tribe devoted to appeasing a sacred animal god
• The Twofold Jar, An old scholar’s obsession with a fantastical realm leads to relationship troubles with his partner
• Carrion Running, a flash piece about Silphid beetles, my dissertation topic
• A Once-Bright House, a story concerning the conflict between a germaphobe father and a son obsessed with a woodland across the street
• Fisherman’s Choice, another flash piece about a strange new type of bait suited to catch something other than fish
• They Shall Go No Further, a flash story about a Mesolithic hunter and the rise of modern man
• The Link, a short story inspired by The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato
• Under an Enervating Sky, flash about the horrors of modern sculpture
• ‘C‘, a short story about a man obsessed with one particular name
• Doghood, a short story based on Diogenes and his teachings
• Together We’ll Go, Lucius and Lothar hike in nature for their birthday, only for Lothar to fall suddenly ill
• Call to Destruction, two thugs called ‘Breakers’ take the desecration of beauty to new extremes
• Exposure Therapy (Drabble #1), a Black Mirror-esque exploration of age and technology / Awareness of Faults (Drabble #2), a story inspired by the Kintsugi art form / Tabula Rasa (Drabble #3), in a world where beauty is scorned, a ‘Scraper’ must make a difficult decision / The Longing (Drabble/Microfiction #4), on a lonely night, a man feels the pull of something more.
• The Escapist, an exploration of Tolkien’s defence of escapist fiction and higher ideals
• FERINE, a flash story about a rehabilitation programme
• Aspire, Arthur! a young boy spots a beautiful tower carved with animal and plant motifs amid the drab tower blocks of his home city
• To the Glen, a CNF piece about my discovery of nature, my journeys to Glen Coe, and the loss of meaningful places as a consequence of apocalypse
• Visions Through the Window, a CNF essay on trips to Creag Meagaidh with my twin and the power of the window as a symbol of connection to the more-than-human world.

Novellas

• The Inward Gate – a fantasy/magical realism story concerning the search for a lost brother
• Mote the Dweller – a cave-dwelling society which values darkness and silence is overrun by a group bringing brightness and cacophony
• Of Stifled Things – a young boy befriends a homeless man in touch with nature who laughs at the pretensions of the affluent of Brightview
• Shepherd of the Pines – on a journey to the Scottish Highlands, a man encounters a troubled hermit

Sarturus

Sarturus is a personal passion project that began around 2014-2016, although it has roots in childhood imagination. It is a constructed myth-world which, taken together, accounts for about 500 pages of prose in various forms, and many diagrams and charts have also been created. My twin, a video editor, illustrator and motion graphic designer, has produced professional audio dramas (voice acted by an international team) as well as maps for Sarturus. His most recent project, which he put three years of work into, is the animated production Of Old It Was Written.

While Sarturus is a world of our own devising, we’ve drawn inspiration from such sources as Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, the history and material culture of the Celts and the Byzantine Empire, and the films Kingdom of Heaven and Princess Mononoke.

THIRD SERPENT PRODUCTIONS

Watch OF OLD IT WAS WRITTEN (2025)