The Great God Pan: Arthur Machen

[poliphilo]

No, Arthur, this really won't do. There's no such thing as unspeakable horror or unfathomable evil. Your dirty little mind is fully capable- as well you know- of visualising and naming the things you're hinting at. Yes, I know you're having to contend with Victorian censorship- but even so you're perpetrating a lie- that evil is somehow glamorous- and that's wrong- as wrong as any of the enormities you're imagining but not describing. As you will find out- because you're going to live through two world wars- evil is actually rather dim and dusty and dingy- "banal" as Hannah Arendt reported- and best symbolised not as a beautiful woman with unearthly eyes but as a little man in spectacles- in some sort of uniform- sitting at a desk...

Comments

[internet-sampo.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Machen. What bugs me about my own tastes is that I feel this way about Machen but love (no pun intended) H.P Lovecraft, even tho he could be accused of the same thing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Taste is a funny thing. From all I'd read about him- from writers I respect- I thought I was going to love Machen...

[sovay]

but even so you're perpetrating a lie- that evil is somehow glamorous- and that's wrong- as wrong as any of the enormities you're imagining but not describing.

How do you feel about "The White People"?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Haven't read that one yet- but I will

[sovay]

Haven't read that one yet- but I will

I look forward to hearing what you think. I remember liking it.

I don't remember feeling much about "The Great God Pan," but it still partly inspired a poem that I like: "The Marriage He Saw Beneath the Shade."

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

I think "evil" is born of pettiness, spite, and greed--all of which I view as small. Not insignificant,--just small-minded, close-fisted, and unkind.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I agree with that. There's nothing grand about evil.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Yeah, totally agree with this. The real evil here's committed by Dr Raymond and his friends. "The White People" is much more successful at hinting things, but the frame narrative's frustrating.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I found Machen's interchangeable male protagonists rebarbative- and I don't think I was meant to. I'll give the White People a go- and maybe some of his later things.