M. P. Shiel

[Sad Marsh Ghost]

I have been reading his stories lately. My favourite tale of his so far is Vaila. The consensus – and Lovecraft's opinion – seems to be that the revised version, published under the title The House of Sounds, is the superior tale, but I slightly prefer its original incarnation. Some of my favourite parts are excised from the latter version, which is certainly 'pacier' by many people's standards, but it is also less atmospheric and eccentric.

I also read Xelucha, The Pale Ape, The Case of Euphemia Raphash, Huguenin's Wife and The Great King. I have his short story The Bride and his novel The Purple Cloud left to go in this collection, then I have a collection of his Prince Zaleski detective stories lying around somewhere also.

So far, Vaila/The House of Sounds has been by far his best tale, transcending its attempt at cloning House of Usher and becoming its own great story in the process; nevertheless, I have enjoyed each of them, derivative as they are, and his prose style is a decadent delight, so I shall carry on. His stories lift from Poe to a very high degree, but they do so in a somewhat interesting manner which brings to mind how Brian De Palma would steal wholesale from Alfred Hitchcock's filmography, yet deliver his own worthwhile work in the process of cloning the overall plots.

How do TLOers rank Shiel and his work? Am I alone in preferring Vaila to The House of Sounds?

 

[marioneta]

I have an old Arkham House edition of M.P. Shiel stories XELUCHA and Others. I have not gotten around to reading it yet, but he certainly deserves a read, and soon by me (right now reading the weird classics of Robert Aikman). Alan Moore wrote, "What of M.P. Shiel, 'the gem-encrusted magus,' overweight and running from his health through London's twilight streets, wearing a vest of battery-driven lights to alert coachmen and pedestrians to his approaching presence?" The personification of decadence. This in the context of a litany on the classic writers of the weird: Machen, Hodgson, Poe, Blackwood, Lindsay.

 

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Which printings contain the less purple revised texts?

 

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Crazy guy
M. P. Shiel | BizarreVictoria

 

[Sad Marsh Ghost]

Shiel was some bizarre mix of hack Poe rip-off merchant and decadent artist. The details of his crimes were depressing, but as he's long dead I don't feel as if I'm supporting him by having bought his books. Shapes in the Fire and The Purple Cloud are nice reads. Prince Zaleski is riotous shlock. His other novels I have read were poor/ridiculously racist. Content to stop there.

 

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

This might sound bad... because while I recognize how much pain he must have caused people, I couldn't help laughing and being really amused by his biography because it's all just so absurd.

 

[Sad Marsh Ghost]

I think it's fair to say he was a ridiculous person.

 

[Knygathin]

Can anyone help me identify the artist, and locate the full piece, of the background illustration on the following book? Much of the illustration is hid behind the title and decorative pattern:

One named J. T. Lindroos, born 1971, is credited as the illustrator, but to me the illustration looks of much older style. I would be pleasantly surprised if I am mistaken. It seems to me more likely that Lindroos is responsible for the decorative pattern, after having seen some of his other work.


Otherwise, The Purple Cloud is an extraordinary literary work. The short stories in the collection pale by comparison. In some ways it stands superior to Poe, in its imaginary and extreme vision. It is long and requires some patience, but the extended purple prose is the best I have ever read; tremendously powerful, deeply emotional, while subtle, mystical, and peculiar of aspect; existentially profound, and genuinely horrifying. What artistic genius. And full of interesting specific observations and detailed knowledge of settings. From an artistic perspective it is fortunate that he was bizarre or perverse, because a normally balanced person could never have written with this unrelenting ecstasy and passion.

 

[Knygathin]

... the extended purple prose is the best I have ever read; ...

It is not beautiful or musical prose - in fact, it looks a mess - but is very powerful. It reaches for something profound; and sometimes touches upon it, or other times nearly.

 

[Knygathin]

Can anyone help me identify the artist, and locate the full piece, of the background illustration on the following book? Much of the illustration is hid behind the title and decorative pattern: ... J. T. Lindroos, born 1971, is credited as the illustrator, but to me the illustration looks much older in style. I would be pleasantly surprised if I am mistaken.
...

I suspect the illustration is by someone by the name of J. J. Cameron, and originally printed in one of the 1901 issues of The Royal Magazine where The Purple Cloud was serialized. Rather difficult to track down. The contents are supposedly in the public domain, but still unavailable online for copyright reasons.

 

[Ligrotesque]

Can anyone help me identify the artist, and locate the full piece, of the background illustration on the following book? Much of the illustration is hid behind the title and decorative pattern: ... J. T. Lindroos, born 1971, is credited as the illustrator, but to me the illustration looks much older in style. I would be pleasantly surprised if I am mistaken.
...

I suspect the illustration is by someone by the name of J. J. Cameron, and originally printed in one of the 1901 issues of The Royal Magazine where The Purple Cloud was serialized. Rather difficult to track down. The contents are supposedly in the public domain, but still unavailable online for copyright reasons.

The illustrations mentioned here by Cameron can be seen in the Tartarus Press reprint of the 1901 edition

 

[Knygathin]

The Purple Cloud is absolutely horrifying. At first witnessing all the dead, and desolation; but even worse as the soul of the narrator (and of the author?) deteriorates into megalomania from the isolation.

 

[bendk]

The Purple Cloud is absolutely horrifying. At first witnessing all the dead, and desolation; but even worse as the soul of the narrator (and of the author?) deteriorates into megalomania from the isolation.

The Purple Cloud is an apocalyptic "last man" novel by the British writer M. P. Shiel. It was published in 1901. H. G. Wells lauded The Purple Cloud as "brilliant" and H. P. Lovecraft later praised the novel as exemplary weird fiction, "delivered with a skill and artistry falling little short of actual majesty."