The Great God Pan: “I dream in fire but work in clay.”

By Arthur Machen

Arthur Llewelyn Jones was born on March 3rd, 1863 in Carleleon in Monmouthshire, Wales. His father had adopted his wife's maiden name, Machen, to inherit a legacy, legally becoming "Jones-Machen"; his son was baptised under that name. Later he shortened it to Arthur Machen, as a pen name. An early and avid reader, Arthur read books far beyond his years the results of which ensured a firm foundation in literature. At eleven, Arthur boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. However family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Arthur was sent to London to sit exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. Arthur, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem "Eleusinia." In 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. By 1884 he published his second work, ‘The Anatomy of Tobacco’, and worked with the publisher and bookseller George Redway. This led to further work as a translator from French. In 1887, the year his father died, Arthur married Amelia Hogg, an unconventional music teacher with a passion for the theatre. Soon after the marriage, Arthur began to receive a series of legacies from Scottish relatives that allowed him to devote more time to writing. Around 1890 Arthur began to publish in literary magazine. This led to his first major success, ‘The Great God Pan’. It was published in 1894 was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and of course sold extremely well. In 1899, Amelia died of cancer after a long period of illness. Arthur was devastated. His recovery was helped by his a change of career to acting. By 1901 he was a member of Frank Benson's company of travelling players which took him around the country. In 1902 Arthur managed to find a publisher in 1902 for ‘Hieroglyphics’, an analysis of the nature of literature, which concluded that true literature must convey "ecstasy". Arthur married Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston, in 1902, a happy and sustaining union. In 1906 Machen's literary career began once more as the book ‘The House of Souls’ collected his most notable works of the nineties and brought them to a new audience. By 1910 Arthur accepted a full-time journalist's job at Alfred Harmsworth's Evening News. In February 1912 his son Hilary was born, and a daughter Janet in 1917. The coming of war in 1914 saw Arthur return to the public eye with ‘The Bowmen’ and the publicity surrounding the "Angels of Mons" episode. He published a series of stories capitalizing on this success, most were morale-boosting propaganda, with the most notable ‘The Great Return’ (1915) and ‘The Terror’ (1917), being more accomplished. The year 1922 saw ‘The Secret Glory’ finally published, as was the first volume of his autobiography ‘Far Off Things’, and new editions of Machen's Casanova, The House of Souls and The Hill of Dreams all came out. Arthur’s works had now found a new audience and publishers in America. By 1926 the boom in republication was mostly over, and Arthur’s income dropped. In 1927, he became a manuscript reader for the publisher Ernest Benn. This regular income lasted until 1933. By 1929, Arthur and his family had moved to Amersham, Buckinghamshire, but were still faced with financial hardship. In 1932 he received a Civil List pension of ₤100 per annum in 1932, but the loss of work from Benn's a year later made things difficult once more. Arthur’s finances finally stabilised with a literary appeal in 1943 for his eightieth birthday. The names on the appeal show the recognition of Machen's stature as a distinguished man of letters. They included Max Beerbohm, T. S. Eliot, Bernard Shaw, Walter de la Mare, Algernon Blackwood, and John Masefield. The success of the appeal allowed Arthur to live the last few years of his life in relative comfort, until his dea

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Word To The Wise
• Release date: Jun 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781783944798

Book preview

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

Arthur Llewelyn Jones was born on March 3rd, 1863 in Carleleon in Monmouthshire, Wales.

His father had adopted his wife's maiden name, Machen, to inherit a legacy, legally becoming Jones-Machen; his son was baptised under that name. Later he shortened it to Arthur Machen, as a pen name.

An early and avid reader, Arthur read books far beyond his years the results of which ensured a firm foundation in literature.

At eleven, Arthur boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. However family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Arthur was sent to London to sit exams to attend medical school but failed to get in.

Arthur, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem Eleusinia. In 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.

By 1884 he published his second work, ‘The Anatomy of Tobacco’, and worked with the publisher and bookseller George Redway. This led to further work as a translator from French.

In 1887, the year his father died, Arthur married Amelia Hogg, an unconventional music teacher with a passion for the theatre. Soon after the marriage, Arthur began to receive a series of legacies from Scottish relatives that allowed him to devote more time to writing.

Around 1890 Arthur began to publish in literary magazine. This led to his first major success, ‘The Great God Pan’. It was published in 1894 was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and of course sold extremely well.

In 1899, Amelia died of cancer after a long period of illness. Arthur was devastated. His recovery was helped by his a change of career to acting. By 1901 he was a member of Frank Benson's company of travelling players which took him around the country.

In 1902 Arthur managed to find a publisher in 1902 for ‘Hieroglyphics’, an analysis of the nature of literature, which concluded that true literature must convey ecstasy.

Arthur married Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston, in 1902, a happy and sustaining union.

In 1906 Machen's literary career began once more as the book ‘The House of Souls’ collected his most notable works of the nineties and brought them to a new audience.

By 1910 Arthur accepted a full-time journalist's job at Alfred Harmsworth's Evening News. In February 1912 his son Hilary was born, and a daughter Janet in 1917.

The coming of war in 1914 saw Arthur return to the public eye with ‘The Bowmen’ and the publicity surrounding the Angels of Mons episode.

He published a series of stories capitalizing on this success, most were morale-boosting propaganda, with the most notable ‘The Great Return’ (1915) and ‘The Terror’ (1917), being more accomplished.

The year 1922 saw ‘The Secret Glory’ finally published, as was the first volume of his autobiography ‘Far Off Things’, and new editions of Machen's Casanova, The House of Souls and The Hill of Dreams all came out. Arthur’s works had now found a new audience and publishers in America.

By 1926 the boom in republication was mostly over, and Arthur’s income dropped.

In 1927, he became a manuscript reader for the publisher Ernest Benn. This regular income lasted until 1933.

By 1929, Arthur and his family had moved to Amersham, Buckinghamshire, but were still faced with financial hardship.

In 1932 he received a Civil List pension of ₤100 per annum in 1932, but the loss of work from Benn's a year later made things difficult once more.

Arthur’s finances finally stabilised with a literary appeal in 1943 for his eightieth birthday. The names on the appeal show the recognition of Machen's stature as a distinguished man of letters. They included Max Beerbohm, T. S. Eliot, Bernard Shaw, Walter de la Mare, Algernon Blackwood, and John Masefield. The success of the appeal allowed Arthur to live the last few years of his life in relative comfort, until his death at age 84 on December 15th, 1947 in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.

Index Of Contents

I - THE EXPERIMENT   

II - MR. CLARKE'S MEMOIRS  

III - THE CITY OF RESURRECTIONS   

IV - THE DISCOVERY IN PAUL STREET    

V - THE LETTER OF ADVICE   

VI - THE SUICIDES  

VII - THE ENCOUNTER IN SOHO 

VIII - THE FRAGMENTS

Arthur Machen – A Concise Bibliography

I

THE EXPERIMENT

I am glad you came, Clarke; very glad indeed.  I was not sure you could spare the time.

I was able to make arrangements for a few days; things are not very lively just now.  But have you no misgivings, Raymond?  Is it absolutely safe?

The two men were slowly pacing the terrace in front of Dr. Raymond's house.  The sun still hung above the western mountain-line, but it shone with a dull red glow that cast no shadows, and all the air was quiet; a sweet breath came from the great wood on the hillside above, and with it, at intervals, the soft murmuring call of the wild doves. Below, in the long lovely valley, the river wound in and out between the lonely hills, and, as the sun hovered and vanished into the west, a faint mist, pure white, began to rise from the hills.  Dr. Raymond turned sharply to his friend.

Safe?  Of course it is.  In itself the operation is a perfectly simple one; any surgeon could do it.

And there is no danger at any other stage?

None; absolutely no physical danger whatsoever, I give you my word. You are always timid, Clarke, always; but you know my history.  I have devoted myself to transcendental medicine for the last twenty years.  I have heard myself called quack and charlatan and impostor, but all the while I knew I was on the right path.  Five years ago I reached the goal, and since then every day has been a preparation for what we shall do tonight.

I should like to believe it is all true.  Clarke knit his brows, and looked doubtfully at Dr. Raymond.  Are you perfectly sure, Raymond, that your theory is not a phantasmagoria, a splendid vision, certainly, but a mere vision after all?

Dr. Raymond stopped in his walk and turned sharply. He was a middle-aged man, gaunt and thin, of a pale yellow complexion, but as he answered Clarke and faced him, there was a flush on his cheek.

"Look about you, Clarke.  You see the mountain, and hill following after hill, as wave on wave, you see the woods and orchard, the fields of ripe corn, and the meadows reaching to the reed-beds by the river. You see me standing here beside you, and hear my