The Great God Pan

Author: 
Arthur Machen
ISBN: 9781906998165

"Arthur Machen’s stories… are inspired by a genuine emotion. He hardly ever wrote merely to frighten others; he did so because he knew he lived in an alien world." - Jorge Luis Borges

"One of the greatest horror stories ever written." - Stephen King

Synopsis:

Arthur Machen's most famous story was condemned on its first publication in 1894 as decadent and nightmarish. But its mixture of chilling horror and pagan sexuality with contemporary Victorian London, plus his distinctive and haunting writing style, soon brought him cult status.

 

About the author:

 

 
Machen spent a solitary childhood in the Monmouthshire countryside, exploring the Black Mountains, the ancient forest of Wentwood and the Severn Valley. He drew on his childhood among these dark landscapes and long-buried pagan remains, interweaving it with his adult life in bohemian fin-de-siécle London, to create magical and often deeply disturbing tales.
 
After WWI, he became a star on both sides of the Atlantic, and attracted admirers including H. P. Lovecraft, who described him as one of the four ‘modern masters of the horror story’. His fans today include Stephen King, Clive Barker, Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, who have all emphasised their debt to Machen as ‘the forgotten father of weird fiction’ (The Guardian)

 

Short extract:

A contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde and William Butler Yeats, all of whom admired his work tremendously, Machen's legacy is central to gothic fiction in the twentieth century. His great literary significance was recognized by H. P. Lovecraft who named Machen as one of the four "modern masters" of supernatural horror. His immediate influence in the US is recognisable in the development of the pulp horror found in magazines like Weird Tales and on such notable fantasy writers as Robert E. Howard. The Shining Pyramid was filmed for television in 1980 and films with Machen influences or references include John Carpenter's 1980 film The Fog (which features a character named "Mr. Machen").

 

Buy:

 

Buy The Great God Pan from the Parthian online bookstore for £7.99.

 

This title is also available as an ebook: http://thelibraryofwales.com/node/68

 

Price: £7.99

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