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The Collected Arthur MacHen
376 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1987
3 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Machen
1,107 books999 followersArthur Machen was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His long story The Great God Pan made him famous and controversial in his lifetime, but The Hill of Dreams is generally considered his masterpiece. He also is well known for his leading role in creating the legend of the Angels of Mons.
At the age of eleven, Machen boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. Family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Machen was sent to London, where he sat exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. Machen, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem "Eleusinia" on the subject of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Returning to London, he lived in relative poverty, attempting to work as a journalist, as a publisher's clerk, and as a children's tutor while writing in the evening and going on long rambling walks across London.
In 1884 he published his second work, the pastiche The Anatomy of Tobacco, and secured work with the publisher and bookseller George Redway as a cataloguer and magazine editor. This led to further work as a translator from French, translating the Heptameron of Marguerite de Navarre, Le Moyen de Parvenir (Fantastic Tales) of Béroalde de Verville, and the Memoirs of Casanova. Machen's translations in a spirited English style became standard ones for many years.
Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, The Great God Pan. It was published in 1894 by John Lane in the noted Keynotes Series, which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and subsequently sold well, going into a second edition.
Machen next produced The Three Impostors, a novel composed of a number of interwoven tales, in 1895. The novel and the stories within it were eventually to be regarded as among Machen's best works. However, following the scandal surrounding Oscar Wilde later that year, Machen's association with works of decadent horror made it difficult for him to find a publisher for new works. Thus, though he would write some of his greatest works over the next few years, some were published much later. These included The Hill of Dreams, Hieroglyphics, A Fragment of Life, the story The White People, and the stories which make up Ornaments in Jade.
At the age of eleven, Machen boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. Family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Machen was sent to London, where he sat exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. Machen, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem "Eleusinia" on the subject of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Returning to London, he lived in relative poverty, attempting to work as a journalist, as a publisher's clerk, and as a children's tutor while writing in the evening and going on long rambling walks across London.
In 1884 he published his second work, the pastiche The Anatomy of Tobacco, and secured work with the publisher and bookseller George Redway as a cataloguer and magazine editor. This led to further work as a translator from French, translating the Heptameron of Marguerite de Navarre, Le Moyen de Parvenir (Fantastic Tales) of Béroalde de Verville, and the Memoirs of Casanova. Machen's translations in a spirited English style became standard ones for many years.
Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, The Great God Pan. It was published in 1894 by John Lane in the noted Keynotes Series, which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and subsequently sold well, going into a second edition.
Machen next produced The Three Impostors, a novel composed of a number of interwoven tales, in 1895. The novel and the stories within it were eventually to be regarded as among Machen's best works. However, following the scandal surrounding Oscar Wilde later that year, Machen's association with works of decadent horror made it difficult for him to find a publisher for new works. Thus, though he would write some of his greatest works over the next few years, some were published much later. These included The Hill of Dreams, Hieroglyphics, A Fragment of Life, the story The White People, and the stories which make up Ornaments in Jade.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2012
There are some wonderful things here - Machen's autobiographical writing is often exquisite, especially if read aloud in a rich, Welsh accent. On the other hand, it's a curious selection, lots of great stories are missing and the drawing of Machen credited to Aubrey Beardsley clearly isn't by Beardsley at all, since it depicts Machen as he looked in at least his 50s and Beardsley had died long before then. If you're new to Machen, this isn't the best place to start - get the Penguin collection edited by S.T, Joshi instead.
July 4, 2012
To claim that I've read this book is a bit of a fib. I tried to read this book. I progressed less than halfway through this book. I did not enjoy this book. To say so feels a little like a blasphemy against a literary bigwig, especially since I picked up Machen expecting to love him. I had wanted to read his story, The Great God Pan, for years and it was the first selection in the book. After having it on my to-read list for so long, I was disappointed. Machen's stories seem to rely heavily on the terrifying prospect of elder gods, the veil between worlds rent, and decidedly unfriendly fairie folk. So far, so good. It wasn't really the plots I found lacking, it was Machen's style of jumping about in each narrative so much that I sometimes lost the thread (because I grew bored; he's verbose). It felt choppy and disconnected to me, and I found myself skipping through whole chapters to get to the next event of interest. Finally, I could continue no further. I am a veteran reader of classic literature; I have substantial powers of focus when confronted with the antique language and lengthy narratives of previous centuries. Yet, I could not follow Arthur Machen without my eyelids growing heavy, or without a sense of not caring what happened. Alas.
December 15, 2014
Machen tiene un estilo muy particular para sus relatos y cuentos. Aborda el miedo y el terror lentamente. Permite que los personajes comiencen a transitar el umbral de los desconocido y te tomen de la mano para adentrarte y llevarte hasta ahí, para contarte lo que ellos mismos viven.
Hay un gran trabajo en cada cuento y relato de este escritor. Además, utiliza diálogos muy inteligentes entre sus personajes.
Muy recomendado.
Hay un gran trabajo en cada cuento y relato de este escritor. Además, utiliza diálogos muy inteligentes entre sus personajes.
Muy recomendado.
March 12, 2007
Essential Machen.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews