My favored definition of wisdom has always been 'a recognition of one's limits', and as such, wisdom is vital for writers. When an author knows their capabilities and their flaws, they are in prime position to write a story which takes advantage of their strengths and mitigates their weaknesses.Yet what is preferable for an artist: to stay within the bounds of their skill, or to work to always to exceed them? The first sort will be able to create precise and deliberate works of mastery, while th...

The Great God Pan is a succinct gem of horror and mystery; a kind of spiritual variation on classic tales of lycanthropy; though its effectiveness depends on one’s sensitivity to, and belief in, the potential horrors of the very real though unseen forces beneath material manifestation.A scientist, a self-proclaimed practitioner of transcendental medicine, cuts into a young woman's brain to heighten her spiritual awareness; but instead Pan, the wild nature spirit, or rather the tremendous invisib...

For Reasons, a guy named Raymond wants to experiment on putting a person into some sort of altered state. Mary was, like, super poor, and he took her in and fed her, so this is fair, he says. She agrees because of Stockholm-syndrome-like loyalty to this creep. Bad idea genes abound here, and then-- Mary and Raymond are basically out of the narrative.Again with a really destitute person in the street, Herbert, an old school chum of Villiers. No, you're not supposed to know who Villiers is. Does h...

*Read for Class*I'm glad I had to re-read this for the final, because it's definitely not a 2-star read like my previous rating.

Please note I have this story 3.5 stars and rounded it to 4 stars on Goodreads. I initially picked this to read for my classic horror square, but read something else instead. I still think this is a good short story to read that is not too gory for the non-horror reader group.Written in 1894, "The Great God Pan" created a hysterical stir for being seen as degenerate writing that depicted sexual situations that just were not talked about in polite circles.I guess those Victorians were super sensi...

“In every grain of wheat there lies hidden the soul of a star.”Dr. Raymond believes in a reality beneath the frail flesh of this world from which you draw breath. Beneath the beauty, the fluttering creatures of passing color, under the trickling waters refracting rays of sunlight, a deeper essence lies. He calls it “The Great God Pan.” He wants to find an entrance to this deeper place, so he performs an experiment on Mary. When he drills a hole in her head, she sees. The terror cripples her mind...

Reading this book was a bit like eating a salad made with bottled dressing instead of one made with virgin olive oil (view spoiler)[is there such thing as experienced olive oil? Does Olive do something naughty with Popeye we are never told about? All that spinach makes a man, you know, strong, maybe she couldn't resist the ugly old git? (hide spoiler)] and a spike of balsamic or wine vinegar for piquancy. It was almost there, you could see that there was definitely flavour in there somewhere, bu...

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.Written in 1894, Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan is a short novel which was highly influential to H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. King, in fact, said The Great God Pan is “…one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn’t anywhere near that good…” The Great God Pan used to be hard to find, but is now available free on the Kindle (and at other public domain e-book outlets) and is easily read in one dark and

This was a strange little story, sold as paganism, with a touch of sexuality. It had a supernatural feel, that left me holding my breath in anticipation. Unfortunately, due to the confusing nature of the book, it also left me holding my head in confusion more than once. I was initially intrigued by the story, but midway through it morphed into a Sherlock style detective case, before getting back to the mystical elements that made it unique. Overall it was a good idea, but poorly executed.

I feel like I need to read this again to figure out what the heck just happened.Actually, reading other reviews, it seems like I might have got an edited edition? Like where is the controversial sexual content? The story I read was pretty vague and never described anything really.Anyhoo.So I did really enjoy the idea that messing with a young girl's brain created an unspeakable horror that then went about ruining lives. Karma, my dudes.I loved how it was broken up into smaller anecdotes that eve...

The reason Machen remains influential among modern horror writers is quite evident in his most famous tale, The Great God Pan. While not the as shocking and decadent as his contemporary critics said it was, it is still quite disturbing as Machen tells this story about evil seductions and hidden deities. Machen seems to have a strong interest in the mystical (he hung around with Alister Crowley) and strong pantheistic leanings. Yet while contemporary Algernon Blackwood wrote about the same areas

Arthur Machen’s 1894 novella The Great God Pan is probably his best-known work. Machen himself was an interesting character, a devout Anglo-Catholic with an intense dislike for just about everything modern, as well as a fascination with paganism. His books embody a kind of personal mythology, dealing with the continued existence of a mysterious ancient race, a race that has supposedly given rise to various legends about fairies and so forth. The theme of The Great God Pan is typical of Machen’s

I was in a minor car accident this morning (nothing serious, just a bad case of whiplash) and I'm on diazepam, so apologies in advance if this makes even less sense than my normal 'reviews'...The Great God Pan is, apparently, a seminal work of horror fiction. I've been reading horror fiction all my life, though, and I'd never even heard of it until Stephen King mentioned it (I forget where; did I mention I'm on diazepam?)It's actually not bad at all. While I was reading it, I was thinking 'this

Picking up the old horror classics and working my way through them, I hope to find some real gems that do better than contemporaries. Of course, fiction is fiction and it always changes with time; all styles die. It had the feel of all good ghost stories, without actually being a ghost story. I had to compare it with similar titles, like Prometheus Unbound, or Dracula, and it just felt tired. Not bad, just not very revealing or deep. It's a good book for a day you want to relax and flow into a s...

let me show you the world in my eyes

I quite liked this story by Arthur Machen. I liked the air of mystery, but harrowing menace he created. Apparently the doctor's experiments in piercing the veil had some very bad effects. There was a subtle element of dark sexuality in this story, handled very elegantly. I like that much is left for the reader to discern in this story. Many of those people who see what should have been left hidden don't live long afterward, and I was encouraged to draw my own conclusions about that horror they w...