Critical Essays on Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen (1863–1947) is one of the leading figures in horror and supernatural fiction. Admired by his contemporaries Oscar Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jerome K. Jerome, he was associated with the Decadent movement of the Eighteen Nineties and faced hostile criticism for his dark and daring stories.
Later he explored Celtic mythology and the symbolism of the Holy Grail, and in the First World War created the legend of the Angels of Mons, a story so convincing many took it as a true account. His “The White People” is often acclaimed as one of the finest weird stories ever written.
This important critical anthology offers over 20 essays on Machen, many of them newly written for the book. Contributors discuss the full range of Machen’s writing, including his association with Decadence, his incantatory prose style, his evocative writing about London and Gwent, his interest in ritual magic, alchemy and the occult, his Celtic Christianity, and his sense of the numinous.
As well as a full account of Machen’s period of peak artistry in the Nineties, the collection also covers his neglected later work. He never lost his deep interest in folklore and popular customs, eccentric characters and curious historical episodes, and contributors show how these continued to inform his work right up until his last writings.
This volume also reprints Machen’s own rueful and amusing commentary on his books, from the hard-to-find 1923 bibliography by Henry Danielson; Arthur Rickett’s “A Yellow Creeper,” an 1895 satire on Machen’s “The Great God Pan”; Donald Sidney-Fryer's lyrical essay on Arthur Machen and King Arthur; and Aleister Crowley’s views on the Angels of Mons and other hoaxes of the war.
The volume has been edited by Mark Valentine, who has written introductions to several of Machen’s books, and is the author of Arthur Machen (1995) and editor of the journal of the fantastic Wormwood; and Timothy J. Jarvis, co-editor of Faunus, the journal of The Friends of Arthur Machen, instructor in creative writing, and author of the novel The Wanderer (2014) and numerous works of short fiction.
Contents
Introduction
MARK VALENTINE
I. Biography and Bibliography
Arthur Machen: The Evils of Materialism
S. T. JOSHI
Arthur Machen: The Pagan— His Work and His Personality
GEOFFREY H. WELLS
Arthur Machen: A Novelist of Ecstasy and Sin
VINCENT STARRETT
About My Books
ARTHUR MACHEN
The City, the Vision, and Arthur Machen
GODFREY BRANGHAM
II. Aestheticism and Decadence
The Book in Yellow: How Dorian Inspired Lucian
ROGER DOBSON
A Yellow Creeper
ARTHUR RICKETT
Arthur Machen and Decadence: The Flower-Tunicked Priest of New Grub Street
JAMES MACHIN
New Arabian Frights: Unholy Trinities and the Masks of Helen
A Glow in the Sky: Some Observations on Machen’s Style
JON PREECE
The Secret and the Secrets: A Look at Machen’s Hieroglyphics
JOHN HOWARD
III. Mysticism, Magic, and Paganism .
Arthur Machen’s Panic Fears: Western Esotericism and the Irruption of Negative Epistemology
MARCO PASI
A Fit Symbol for His Meaning: Arthur Machen and the Inexpressible
KAREN JOAN KOHOUTEK
The Revenge of Vulcan
G. J. COOLING
Perfume of the Trellised Vine
RON WEIGHELL
Of Sacred Groves and Ancient Mysteries: Parallel Themes in the Writings of Arthur Machen and John Buchan
PETER BELL
Beyond the Veil of Reality: Mysticism in Arthur Machen’s “The White People”
EMILY FOSTER
Sanctity Plus Sorcery: The Curious Christianity of Arthur Machen
IAIN SMITH
“The Abyss of All Being”: “The Great God Pan” and the Death of Metaphysics
GEOFFREY REITER
Arthur Machen and King Arthur, Sovereigns of Dream: A Personal Interpretation
DONALD SIDNEY-FRYER
IV. Myths and Wonders
The Impossible History: Machen’s “A Fragment of Life”
Three Great Hoaxes of the War
ALEISTER CROWLEY
The Canning Enigma: Some Observations on Arthur Machen’s The Canning Wonder
JEREMY CANTWELL
“All Manner of Mysteries”: Encounters with the Numinous in The Cosy Room and Other Stories
Some Thoughts on “N”
THOMAS KENT MILLER
“It Is Getting Very Late & Dark”: Machen’s Last Fiction
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
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