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Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural: Volume 1
Contents:
v • Introduction by Philip Van Doren Stern
xv • Arthur Machen by Robert Hillyer
7 • The Great God Pan • (1894) • novella by Arthur Machen
71 • The White People • (1904) • novelette by Arthur Machen
117 • The Inmost Light • (1894) • novelette by Arthur Machen
151 • The Shining Pyramid • (1895) • novelette by Arthur Machen
179 • The Great Return • (1915) • novelette by Arthur Machen
v • Introduction by Philip Van Doren Stern
xv • Arthur Machen by Robert Hillyer
7 • The Great God Pan • (1894) • novella by Arthur Machen
71 • The White People • (1904) • novelette by Arthur Machen
117 • The Inmost Light • (1894) • novelette by Arthur Machen
151 • The Shining Pyramid • (1895) • novelette by Arthur Machen
179 • The Great Return • (1915) • novelette by Arthur Machen
- GenresHorror
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
13 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Machen
1,120 books1,010 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 29, 2008
Here's how I usually work: I get into something by chance, but then that thing branches off into any number of myriad other new interests. Such is the case with Arthur Machen. Through reading, I ended up in comics. Through comics, I ended up an Alan Moore fanatic. Through Moore, I heard his audio performance 'Highbury Working,' in which Machen appears in a fascinating fashion.
This anthology, the first I've been able to pick up of his work (AUS$4 in Melbourne), is an excellent introduction and got me to read still more (so far, only 'The Three Impostors,' his most recognised work).
Here collected are 4 tales of Lovecraftian horror: "The Great God Pan", "The White People", "The Inmost Light", "The Shining Pyramid." These are not Lovecraftian in the typical use of the term; there are no giant, fantastic beasts with bizarre names being raised by eldritch rites. Instead, these tales evoke the spirit of Lovecraft's other tales, those that hearken back to Poe in their suggestion of greater terror than that which is seen. These four stories share the common bond of ancient religion -- and ancient secrets -- at their core, and I'd be hard pressed to recommend one over another. Get the book and read them all!
This anthology, the first I've been able to pick up of his work (AUS$4 in Melbourne), is an excellent introduction and got me to read still more (so far, only 'The Three Impostors,' his most recognised work).
Here collected are 4 tales of Lovecraftian horror: "The Great God Pan", "The White People", "The Inmost Light", "The Shining Pyramid." These are not Lovecraftian in the typical use of the term; there are no giant, fantastic beasts with bizarre names being raised by eldritch rites. Instead, these tales evoke the spirit of Lovecraft's other tales, those that hearken back to Poe in their suggestion of greater terror than that which is seen. These four stories share the common bond of ancient religion -- and ancient secrets -- at their core, and I'd be hard pressed to recommend one over another. Get the book and read them all!
August 18, 2011
One of my favoutite authors of all time! Understated, under-rated and excellent.
October 3, 2025
I'm giving this such a high rating because the first two stories of this small volume, The Great God Pan and The White People, are extraordinary and among the best of their kind. The other three stories are good, and very illuminating for fans of Lovecraftian horror (The Great Return has elements that seem to have inspired parts of The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow over Innsmouth, and Kaitlyn Kiernan's stories). I'm surprised Machen isn't anthologized more.
December 5, 2023
I read Machen so infrequently that I doubt I could count him amongst my favorite writers. I do this because his writing, so soaked in magic and mystery, is such a joy to read that I don't ever want to have read it all. By the time I have done so--if I ever do--I will have sufficiently forgotten enough to start again, with the mystical touch feeling brand new.
Machen is an early creator of the weird tale. He didn't write about anything so mundane as ghosts like many of his contemporaries. He wrote about the thin, glimmering film over all our eyes that protects us from the truth about reality. Some characters catch a brief glimpse, others have the film removed entirely, usually to disastrous effect.
This collection includes The Great God Pan (one of my all-time favorite shorts that I never grow tired of revisiting), The White People, The Inmost Light, The Shining Pyramid, and The Great Return. What these stories are about isn't as important as how they're told. Development is subtle, with most stories presented in a fragmented style, each section falling into place like pieces of a puzzle. If you arrive at the conclusion having not paid sufficient attention, you still might not see the final image.
What really matters is the journey. It's the attention to detail about the world, the slow, meandering trip through the ancient forests of England and the dark streets of London, where you'll eventually stumble on things you never knew could be there, as though you'd made a wrong turn into another dimension of reality.
Machen is an early creator of the weird tale. He didn't write about anything so mundane as ghosts like many of his contemporaries. He wrote about the thin, glimmering film over all our eyes that protects us from the truth about reality. Some characters catch a brief glimpse, others have the film removed entirely, usually to disastrous effect.
This collection includes The Great God Pan (one of my all-time favorite shorts that I never grow tired of revisiting), The White People, The Inmost Light, The Shining Pyramid, and The Great Return. What these stories are about isn't as important as how they're told. Development is subtle, with most stories presented in a fragmented style, each section falling into place like pieces of a puzzle. If you arrive at the conclusion having not paid sufficient attention, you still might not see the final image.
What really matters is the journey. It's the attention to detail about the world, the slow, meandering trip through the ancient forests of England and the dark streets of London, where you'll eventually stumble on things you never knew could be there, as though you'd made a wrong turn into another dimension of reality.
October 31, 2015
In the late 1800s, before Lovecraft, Arthur Machen was writing about ancient horror and myth. What people may find lacking is the way he ends stories abruptly, as if he's a scientist simply coming to the best conclusion or explanation of the preceding fairytales and horrifying ghost story he just told. However, the content is worth it. There are more complete editions of this book but this one's an old paperback I've had for a long time now. It contains one of Machen's best stories about fairies and scary myths... "The White People". It's about a diary that is found and read by one of the characters in the story. Most of the story is the contents of diary, as written by a girl who talks about her unique experiences. As usual, Machen prolongs tension or overdramatizes simple things in order to get you to wonder exactly how is this a horror story. Eventually the story ends almost abruptly, but this time it ends with a terrifying image which people almost unanimously agree makes The White People his best and most eloquent story.
July 29, 2015
Good stories but every single one of them took me a bit to get into. After they always linger.
July 19, 2013
my favourite story is "the terror"......
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews