{"title":"Arthur Machen","description":"Arthur Machen is a significant figure in supernatural literature of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. His work, which mixes Gothic horror with fin-de-siecle mysticism, has influenced writers and film-makers (notably H. P. Lovecraft, Jorge Luis Borges, Stephen King, and Alan Moore). From the beginning of his literary career, Machen espoused a mystical belief that the humdrum ordinary world hid a more mysterious and strange world beyond. His gothic and decadent works of the 1890s concluded that the lifting of this veil could lead to madness, sex, or death, and usually a combination of all three. Machen's later works became somewhat less obviously full of gothic trappings, but for him investigations into mysteries invariably resulted in life-changing transformation and sacrifice. Aaron Worth is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at Boston University, having previously taught courses in English and American literature at Brandeis University. His book Imperial Media: Colonial and Information Systems in the British Literary Imagination, 1857-1918 was published by Ohio State UP in 2014 (reviewed in TLS and widely in scholarly journals; paperback edition in 2016). He has published essays on Victorian literature and culture in leading journals including Victorian Studies, Victorian Literature and Culture, and Victorian Poetry, as well as original horror fiction in magazines including Cemetery Dance and Aliterate. Worth is the author of the entry on Horror Fiction in the recent Blackwell's Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature (2015).","products":[{"product_id":"the-hill-of-dreams-paperback","title":"The Hill of Dreams - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOften compared to Huysmans' \u003ci\u003eA Rebours\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Hill of Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e is a meditation on alienation and the lure of the fantastical\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom his earliest literary experimentation, Arthur Machen refused to sit in his own time, clawing his way back to a past inhabited by false gods and terrifying fairies. \u003ci\u003eThe Hill of Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e thus performs a kind of reverse archeology. Instead of the writerly excavation of character development and world-building, Machen entombs his main character, Lucian Taylor, in his own mind, cutting him off from the living world of sensation. Lucian journeys \"all the long way from the known to the unknown,\" into the ruins of an old Roman fort, imbued with the Celtic magic that stirred in the Welsh hills of Machen's childhood. From this idyll, the story becomes a classic \u003ci\u003ekünstlerroman\u003c\/i\u003e, following Lucian to the gray streets of London where he succumbs to his worse nature. Written in 1897 but not published until 1907, the book was, in Machen's own estimation, his masterpiece. All Mandylion books come adorned in a translucent dust jacket that emphasizes the unique material qualities of the book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eArthur Machen\u003c\/b\u003e (1863-1947) was born Caerleon, Wales. His most well-known works include \u003ci\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOrnaments of Jade\u003c\/i\u003e. He has influenced writers as diverse as H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Jorge Luis Borges and Sylvia Townsend Warner.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101125578975,"sku":"9798988606154","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/2RyYwxakr29798988606154.webp?v=1781068308"},{"product_id":"the-great-god-pan-paperback","title":"The Great God Pan - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eArthur Machen (March 3, 1863 - December 15, 1947) was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. He also is well known for his leading role in creating the legend of the Angels of Mons. His surname rhymes with blacken.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101567586527,"sku":"9781986008280","price":8.08,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/MGxXQVBrM1hyZGE3QUErbVQ1dytpdz09.webp?v=1781071737"},{"product_id":"the-great-god-pan-paperback-1","title":"The Great God Pan - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/i\u003e (1894) is a novella by Arthur Machen. Condemned as decadent and obscene upon publication, \u003ci\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/i\u003e earned praise from Oscar Wilde and H. P. Lovecraft, and is now regarded as one of Victorian literature's finest--and most unsettling--stories of horror and the occult. Throughout the years, it has influenced such figures as Stephen King, Guillermo del Toro, and Josh Malerman with its depiction of the god Pan and unsettling blend of science, myth, and magic. Clarke has always taken an interest in occult matters, so when a friend offers him a chance to witness an experimental procedure intended to access the spirit realm, he cannot refuse. When the young patient Mary awakens, she shows signs of terror and soon succumbs to a catatonic state. Convinced of their success in discovering the world of \"the great god Pan,\" Clarke and Raymond agree to keep their discovery a secret. Years later, a nearby town begins reporting the mysterious disappearances of young children, all of whom have been seen in the forest with a young woman named Helen Vaughn. Before they can solve the case, however, Vaughn disappears, leaving Clarke and the townspeople traumatized. As their secret grows too terrible to bear, Raymond and Clarke must steel themselves in order to solve the connection between Mary and Helen, and to close the portal to the spirit realm for good. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Arthur Machen's \u003ci\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic of British horror fiction reimagined for modern readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInvited by his friend to witness an experimental procedure, Clarke watches with interest and horror as the surgeon opens his young patient's mind to grant her a vision of the spirit realm. Years later, a nearby town is traumatized by the strange disappearance of several children, prompting Clarke to investigate. \u003ci\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/i\u003e is a novella by Arthur Machen.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101583118559,"sku":"9781513282978","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/c1JvTnZqNmtybmRJQWRzT3lJVFI5dz09.webp?v=1781071768"},{"product_id":"the-great-god-pan-and-other-horror-stories-hardcover","title":"The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSomething pushed out from the body there on the floor, and stretched forth a slimy, wavering tentacle...\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePerhaps no figure better embodies the transition from the Gothic tradition to modern horror than Arthur Machen. In the final decade of the nineteenth century, the Welsh writer produced a seminal body of tales of occult horror, spiritual and physical corruption, and malignant survivals from the primeval past which horrified and scandalized late-Victorian readers. Machen's \"weird fiction\" has influenced generations of storytellers, from H. P. Lovecraft to Guillermo Del Toro - and it remains no less unsettling today. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis new collection, which includes the complete novel \u003cem\u003eThe Three Impostors\u003c\/em\u003e as well as such celebrated tales as \u003cem\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe White People\u003c\/em\u003e, constitutes the most comprehensive critical edition of Machen yet to appear. In addition to the core late-Victorian horror classics, a selection of lesser-known prose poems and later tales helps to present a fuller picture of the development of Machen's weird vision. The edition's introduction and notes contextualize the life and work of this foundational figure in the history of horror.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101596029151,"sku":"9780198813163","price":24.79,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/M3loQTE4aUtCdWphbDAvNTAwL3ZPdz09.webp?v=1781071795"},{"product_id":"the-great-god-pan-paperback-2","title":"The Great God Pan - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMysterious deaths in London baffle authorities, but for two men the reason is quite clear: they have seen something unspeakably terrible and lost their lives for it. For Clark it goes back to events from years ago; events he had strangely forgotten.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Great God Pan\u003c\/em\u003e was written in the style of Bram Stoker's \u003cem\u003eDracula\u003c\/em\u003e and first published in the Victorian year, 1894. The monster: the elusive pagan god figure, Pan, who none dare to look upon lest they die of horror.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101641019615,"sku":"9781944322311","price":16.18,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/R09HVVZDNUJsVWljdE1zVTN5Z1N1UT09.webp?v=1781071878"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/arthur-machen.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}