Arthur Machen

I am reading Arthur Machen's first volume of autobiography, entitled Far Off Things. I'm unsure why I put it off so long. A Fragment of Life, The Hill of Dreams, Ornaments in Jade, The Three Impostors and The White People were life changing works for me, to the point I stopped even considering Machen as the horror writer he is best known as. He's more of a consummate master philosopher-artist.

I guess I assumed his autobiography would be more journalistic, as is the case with much of his later work. I am startled by how lyrical, mystical and artistic it is so far. Perfect summer day reading for outside.

'Sweet and fearful sounds,
Following in alternation till the soul
Was melted all within, the heart was still
And almost life departed, then at last
The glory of the goddess was revealed.'
– Arthur Machen, Eleusinia

I feel this sums up his oeuvre.

My reading of Machen is embarrassingly paltry; paltry it might be, I still find him to be a little black angel, sucking the shadows out of his moors and his fields then licking the page all sensuous, his black saliva swirling into some of the best existential horror.

His 1890s delvings in to the horror tale are among the very best ever penned, but it is only one facet of his writing, and I think it's unfortunate he is only known as a horror writer. Machen was more interested in mystery and awe than he was horror, which has unfortunately come to define his legacy.

Many of his best works are non-horror, so you should check out A Fragment of Life, The Great Return, The Hill of Dreams, Ornaments in Jade, N, The Secret Glory and Far Off Things. They have each helped change the way I see reality. No exaggeration. These are superior works to all of his horror tales bar the Big Four, I'd affirm. Of his other terror tales, I really like The Shining Pyramid. The sense of awe at the climax is effective.

I once read Joshi say that Machen was a great horror writer let down by his anti-materialist philosophy, which is odd as I think he's a writer of a few great horror stories made unforgettable by his ability to communicate his anti-materialist philosophy in rhapsodic prose through his overall body of work. He was so much more than just the proto-Lovecraft he's now known as. Along with Aickman and de la Mare he helped me attain a sense of spiritual awe outside of materialism and organised religion. These are more than horror writers, damnit. They helped me see beauty and alleviate my life crippling depression.

Quote Originally Posted by Prince James Zaleski

His 1890s delvings in to the horror tale are among the very best ever penned, but it is only one facet of his writing, and I think it's unfortunate he is only known as a horror writer. Machen was more interested in mystery and awe than he was horror, which has unfortunately come to define his legacy. Many of his best works are non-horror, so you should check out A Fragment of Life, The Great Return, The Hill of Dreams, Ornaments in Jade, N, The Secret Glory and Far Off Things. They have each helped change the way I see reality. No exaggeration. These are superior works to all of his horror tales bar the Big Four, I'd affirm. Of his other terror tales, I really like The Shining Pyramid. The sense of awe at the climax is effective. I once read Joshi say that Machen was a great horror writer let down by his anti-materialist philosophy, which is odd as I think he's a writer of a few great horror stories made unforgettable by his ability to communicate his anti-materialist philosophy in rhapsodic prose through his overall body of work. He was so much more than just the proto-Lovecraft he's now known as. Along with Aickman and de la Mare he helped me attain a sense of spiritual awe outside of materialism and organised religion. These are more than horror writers, damnit. They helped me see beauty and alleviate my life crippling depression.

Thank you for the recommendations as always, James.

I've read The Shining Pyramid before, and was impressed by it; the pacing, the tension, and the atmosphere were superb. Further, probably the best appropriation of Welsh faerie folk legends I've ever seen in fiction.

No problem. I'm just glad to have people to talk to, especially about things I'm passionate about.

A good Machen-esque story is Mark Samuels' The Tower. It seemed to capture the emotional complexity of Machen's anti-materialist technique more than much of the Weird Tales gangs' more lurid attempts at a Machen story, as they tended to focus mainly on the horror and missed much of the awe and strange beauty that accompanied it. It's the sort of tale Clive Barker at his best did quite well with The Hellbound Heart or In the Hills, the Cities. M. P. Shiel handled similar ideas in Vaila or Dark Lot of One Saul.

Machen posited that rather than our universe being a nightmare, it is a veil behind which peeps a reality of both infinite wonder and infinite terror – each of them being perhaps inextricably linked to the other in some super complex way our brains can't often process outside of the realm of poetic art. It's a worldview I find very compelling and agreeable, although I disagree with his Christianity, as I think that codifies and over-literalises our universe to too simple a degree.

Quote Originally Posted by Prince James Zaleski

A good Machen-esque story is Mark Samuels' The Tower. It seemed to capture the emotional complexity of Machen's anti-materialist technique more than much of the Weird Tales gangs' more lurid attempts at a Machen story, as they tended to focus mainly on the horror and missed much of the awe and strange beauty that accompanied it. It's the sort of tale Clive Barker at his best did quite well with The Hellbound Heart or In the Hills, the Cities. M. P. Shiel handled similar ideas in Vaila or Dark Lot of One Saul.

Mr. Samuels' name seems to be haunting this forum like a spectre! I guess I'll have to acquire some of his stuff, though it's also been suggested to me that I pick up Justin's tribute anthology before I even begin to read his work. Decisions decision...

Quote

Machen posited that rather than our universe being a nightmare, it is a veil behind which peeps a reality of both infinite wonder and infinite terror – each of them being perhaps inextricably linked to the other in some super complex way our brains can't often process outside of the realm of poetic art. It's a worldview I find very compelling and agreeable, although I disagree with his Christianity, as I think that codifies and over-literalises our universe to too simple a degree.

That's pretty queer, disagreeable on my end since I'm a materialist, though interesting nonetheless. Since he was a Christian, I assume that this is a mutation of Christian dualism with some more heretical mysticism he picked up in the Order of the Golden Dawn tossed in? Did he anthropomorphize the universe, as the wording in your response suggests, though admittedly vaguely?

Machen's anti-materialist world view was already formed at a young age from his peregrinations in the Welsh woods and hills. It's likely he would have felt a similar feeling of spiritual awe and mystic emanations if he weren't a Christian, although we shall never know. The frequent image of him is one of a conventional conservative Christian, but his world view was much more than that. I have a huge respect for ST Joshi, but he gave Machen a really rough ride in his Weird Tale book for his opposition to materialism.

Today I reread Machen's Out of the Picture. It had the same problems of pacing and dramatic focus I see in his later terror tales (in fact, much of the exact same material is covered in his meandering final novel The Green Round), but his philosophy is continually a delight to read. The parts in which Machen got to dissect views on art were wonderful, and I liked the ambiguity of the Jekyll/Hyde plot. Change is the superior story from his Children of the Pool collection, but this tale still had some merit. It just needed focus to achieve its full potential. The poltergeist subplot was an unnecessary diversion.

I'd love to hear more information/opinions regarding The House of the Hidden Light. It is a tome I shall likely never own. In the meantime, when I get a bit more cash I'm going to make it a priority to obtain a copy of The Secret Glory with the missing final chapters. Then my Machen collection will be as complete as it's ever likely to be.

'I mean, if it turned out that we have all been in the wrong about everything; that we live in a world of the most wonderful treasures which we see all about us, but we don't understand, and kick the jewels into the dirt, and use the chalices for slop-pails and make the holy vestments into dish-cloths, while we worship a great beast—a monster, with the head of a monkey, the body of a pig and the hind legs of a goat, with swarming lice crawling all over it.' – Arthur Machen, The Secret Glory

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by Prince James Zaleski

'I mean, if it turned out that we have all been in the wrong about everything; that we live in a world of the most wonderful treasures which we see all about us, but we don't understand, and kick the jewels into the dirt, and use the chalices for slop-pails and make the holy vestments into dish-cloths, while we worship a great beast—a monster, with the head of a monkey, the body of a pig and the hind legs of a goat, with swarming lice crawling all over it.' – Arthur Machen, The Secret Glory

Love the quote, but the opposite could be true.