Arthur Machen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arthur Machen
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Machen circa 1905
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| Born | Arthur Llewellyn Jones 3 March 1863 Caerleon, Monmouthshire, Wales |
| Died | 15 December 1947 (aged 84) Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Occupation | Short story writer, novelist, journalist, actor |
| Genre | Horror, fantasy, supernatural fiction, weird fiction |
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Arthur Machen (born Arthur Llewellyn Jones; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was a Welsh author. He was also a mystic, someone interested in spiritual truths. He is famous for his supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction stories.
His short novel The Great God Pan (published in 1894) is a classic horror story. Even Stephen King called it "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language." Machen is also known for "The Bowmen." This short story was believed by many to be true, leading to the legend of the Angels of Mons.
Contents
Arthur Machen's Life Story
Growing Up in Wales
Arthur Machen was born Arthur Llewelyn Jones in Caerleon, Monmouthshire, Wales. His birthplace is now marked with a special blue plaque. The beautiful landscapes of Monmouthshire greatly influenced him. He loved the area's Celtic, Roman, and medieval history. This love is a big part of many of his books.
Machen came from a family of church leaders. When he was two, his father became a vicar in Llanddewi Fach. Machen grew up in the rectory there. His father had changed his name to Jones-Machen to receive an inheritance. Arthur later used "Arthur Machen" as his writing name.
A local historian, Fred Hando, believed Machen's interest in magic started early. At age eight, he read an article about alchemy in his father's library.
Early Career in London
At eleven, Machen went to Hereford Cathedral School. He received an excellent education there. However, his family couldn't afford university. So, Machen moved to London. He tried to get into medical school but didn't succeed.
Machen showed early talent for writing. In 1881, he published a long poem called "Eleusinia." He lived in London with little money. He worked as a journalist, a clerk, and a tutor. In the evenings, he wrote and took long walks around the city.
In 1884, he published The Anatomy of Tobacco. He then found work with a publisher, George Redway. He worked as a cataloguer and magazine editor. This led to more work translating French books. He translated famous works like the Heptameron and the Memoirs of Casanova.
In 1887, Machen married Amelia (Amy) Hogg. She was a music teacher who loved the theatre. She introduced him to other writers and people interested in the occult. One of these was A. E. Waite, who became a close friend. Machen also met writers like M. P. Shiel and Edgar Jepson. Soon after his marriage, he received money from Scottish relatives. This allowed him to spend more time writing.
Success and Challenges in the 1890s
Around 1890, Machen started publishing stories in magazines. These stories were inspired by writers like Robert Louis Stevenson. They often had gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first big success, The Great God Pan.
It was published in 1894 and became very popular. Many people criticized it for its scary content, which made it sell even better.
Machen then wrote The Three Impostors in 1895. This novel was made up of several connected stories. It is now seen as one of his best works. However, after a scandal involving Oscar Wilde that year, publishers were hesitant to print Machen's dark horror stories. So, some of his greatest works were written then but published much later. These included The Hill of Dreams and "The White People."
Difficult Times and New Beginnings
In 1899, Machen's wife, Amy, died after a long illness. This was a very sad time for him. He slowly recovered, partly with help from his friend A. E. Waite. Through Waite, Machen joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a group interested in magic. However, Machen's interest in it didn't last long.
In 1901, Machen found a new path by becoming an actor. He joined Frank Benson's traveling theatre company. This job took him all over the country.
In 1903, Machen married Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston. This marriage brought him much happiness. In 1902, he found a publisher for his earlier work, Hieroglyphics. This book explored the nature of literature. Machen believed true literature should create "ecstasy."
In 1906, Machen's writing career began to improve. His book The House of Souls collected his best works from the 1890s. This brought them to a new audience. He also wrote a satirical work, Dr Stiggins, which is not as well-known.
At this time, Machen also studied Celtic Christianity, the Holy Grail, and King Arthur. He wrote that the Grail legends came from old memories of Celtic Church rituals. These ideas appeared in his novel The Secret Glory. This book was one of the first to suggest the Grail survived into modern times. This idea has been used by many writers since. In 1907, The Hill of Dreams, often called his best work, was finally published.
For the next few years, Machen continued acting and working as a journalist. However, it was hard for him to earn enough money. His family's inheritance had run out.
Journalism and World War I
In 1910, Machen took a full-time job as a journalist at the Evening News. His son Hilary was born in 1912, and his daughter Janet in 1917.
When World War I began in 1914, Machen became famous again. This was because of his story "The Bowmen" and the "Angels of Mons" legend it created. He wrote more stories based on this success. Many of these were meant to boost morale during the war. His more notable works from this time were "The Great Return" (1915) and The Terror (1917). He also wrote articles about his life, later published as Far Off Things.
Machen did not enjoy working at the newspaper. He only stayed because he needed money for his family. The money allowed him to move to a bigger house in St John's Wood in 1919. This house became a place for writers and artists to gather. In 1921, he was let go from the Evening News. This was a relief, but it caused money problems. Still, Machen was known as a great writer in London. He was in demand as an essay writer throughout the 1920s.
A Popular Writer in the 1920s
The year 1922 brought a new wave of success for Machen. The Secret Glory, considered by some to be his last great work, was finally published. His autobiography Far Off Things also came out. New editions of his other books, like The House of Souls and The Hill of Dreams, were released.
Machen's books found new readers and publishers in America. Many requests came in to republish his works. American fans like Vincent Starrett helped make this happen.
In 1923, a collection of his works (the "Caerleon Edition") was published. A second autobiography, Things Near and Far, also came out that year. The third and final volume, The London Adventure, was published in 1924. Machen's older books suddenly became valuable collector's items. In 1924, he published a collection of bad reviews of his own work called Precious Balms. During this successful period, Machen's home was full of visitors and social events. He made new friends, including Oliver Stonor.
Later Years
By 1926, the boom in republishing his works slowed down. Machen's income dropped. He continued to republish older works and write essays for magazines. He also wrote introductions for his own books and those of other writers. However, he wrote little new fiction. In 1927, he became a manuscript reader for a publisher, Ernest Benn. This gave him a steady income until 1933.
In 1929, Machen and his family moved from London to Amersham. They still faced money problems. He received some help in 1932 with a government pension of £100 per year. But losing his job with Benn's a year later made things hard again. A few more collections of Machen's shorter works were published in the 1930s. This was partly thanks to John Gawsworth, who also started writing a biography of Machen.
Machen's money troubles finally ended in 1943. A special appeal was launched for his eightieth birthday. Famous writers like Max Beerbohm, T. S. Eliot, and Bernard Shaw supported it. The appeal was successful. This allowed Machen to live comfortably for the last few years of his life until 1947.
Arthur Machen's Beliefs
Spiritual Views
From the start of his writing career, Machen believed in mysticism. This is the idea that the ordinary world hides a more mysterious world beyond it. His early horror stories suggested that seeing this hidden world could lead to madness or death. Later, his stories were less about gothic horror. But for him, exploring mysteries always led to big changes and sacrifices. Machen loved the medieval world because he felt it showed deep spirituality.
Machen loved literature that expressed "rapture, beauty, adoration, wonder, awe, mystery." He called this feeling "ecstasy." He especially liked writers who achieved this. His favorite authors included those who wrote medieval romances, François Rabelais, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Edgar Allan Poe. He did not like writers who failed to create this feeling.
Machen strongly disagreed with a materialistic view of the world. He was suspicious of science, materialism, and business. He felt these things went against his conservative, bohemian, and mystical nature. Some people think his strong criticism of things he disliked made some of his works less appealing today. This is especially true for his World War I propaganda stories.
Machen was raised in the Church of England and always held Christian beliefs. However, he was also fascinated by paganism and the occult. He studied alchemy, the kabbalah, and Hermeticism. These interests were part of his close friendship with A. E. Waite. Machen was also very practical. He needed strong proof for any supernatural event. He was very doubtful of Spiritualism.
The death of his first wife led him to a spiritual turning point. He experienced several mystical events. After trying out the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the traditional church rituals became more important to him. He became a High Church Anglican. He combined his mystical experiences, Celtic Christianity, and literary readings into his beliefs.
Political Views
In politics, Machen held very traditional views. When asked about the Spanish Civil War in 1937, he said he was "entirely for General Franco."
Arthur Machen's Impact
Machen's writing has had a big impact. His stories have been translated into many languages. They have been reprinted in countless story collections. In the early 1970s, a paperback reprint of The Three Impostors introduced him to a new generation of readers. Smaller publishers continue to keep his work available today. In 2010, two of his books were republished in a special Welsh series. This was to mark 150 years since his birth.
Critics see Machen's works as important to the late Victorian horror revival. They compare his themes to those in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula. Writers like Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle admired his work. He is also noted in studies of Anglo-Welsh literature. The French writer Paul-Jean Toulet translated The Great God Pan into French.
Influence on Genre Fiction
Historian Brian Stableford says Machen "was the first writer of truly modern horror stories." He believes Machen's best works are still among the finest in the genre.
Machen was very popular in 1920s America. His work influenced the horror stories found in magazines like Weird Tales. He also influenced fantasy writers like James Branch Cabell and Robert E. Howard.
H. P. Lovecraft recognized Machen's importance. In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," Lovecraft called Machen one of the four "modern masters" of supernatural horror. Machen greatly influenced Lovecraft's own writing. Lovecraft's reading of Machen helped him create his famous Cthulhu Mythos. Machen's idea of ancient horrors hiding in modern settings inspired Lovecraft. Machen's story "The White People" talks about strange unknown rituals and beings. Lovecraft often used this idea in his mythos.
Lovecraft even included some of Machen's ideas, like Nodens, in his Cthulhu Mythos. He also used similar plotlines. For example, "The Dunwich Horror" is similar to The Great God Pan. Many other Lovecraft stories also show Machen's influence.
Many modern horror and fantasy writers have read and enjoyed Machen's intense stories. He has influenced writers like Peter Straub, Stephen King, and Ramsey Campbell. For example, T. E. D. Klein's novel The Ceremonies was partly based on Machen's "The White People."
Wider Literary Influence
Machen's influence goes beyond just genre fiction. Jorge Luis Borges saw Machen as a great writer. Through Borges, Machen influenced magic realism. He also greatly influenced Paul Bowles and Javier Marías. Marías even dedicated a part of his 1989 novel All Souls to collecting Machen's works.
Machen was a very important figure in the life of Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman. Betjeman said Machen led him to become a High Church Anglican. This was a key part of Betjeman's beliefs and poetry. Sylvia Townsend Warner admired and was influenced by Machen. His great-granddaughter, artist Tessa Farmer, is also influenced by him.
Machen was also a pioneer in psychogeography. This is the study of how landscapes connect with the mind. His writings about his walks in Wales and London are very interesting to writers on this topic. These include authors like Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd. Alan Moore explored Machen's mystical experiences in his work Snakes and Ladders.
Aleister Crowley loved Machen's works, believing they held "Magickal" truth. He put them on his students' reading lists. However, Machen, who never met Crowley, disliked him. Other occultists, like Kenneth Grant, also find Machen inspiring. Machen also influenced his friend Evelyn Underhill. She included some of his ideas in her important book Mysticism.
A chapter in the French best-seller The Morning of the Magicians (1960) talks a lot about Machen's ideas. It describes his view of reality as an example of "fantastic realism."
Influence in Other Fields
In music, composer John Ireland found Machen's works life-changing. They directly influenced much of his music. Mark E. Smith of The Fall also found Machen inspiring. The band Current 93 has also used Machen's mystical ideas in songs like "The Inmost Light." Some artists on the Ghost Box Music label are also heavily influenced by Machen.
Film directors like Mexican Rogelio A. González made a successful film based on Machen's "The Islington Mystery." This interest in Machen's works is also shared by Guillermo del Toro and Richard Stanley. Other notable people who admire Machen include Barry Humphries and Rowan Williams, a former Archbishop of Canterbury.
Literary Societies
An Arthur Machen Society was started in the United States in 1948. It lasted until the 1960s. Then, an Arthur Machen Society was formed in the UK in 1986. This was later replaced by the current group, The Friends of Arthur Machen.
The Friends of Arthur Machen (FoAM) is a non-profit group started in 1998. It aims to support interest in Arthur Machen and his work. It also helps with research. It publishes two journals: Faunus and Machenalia. The group also organizes walks related to Machen's interest in psychogeography.
Famous members include Javier Marías and Stewart Lee. The society was nominated for a World Fantasy Special Award: Non-Professional in 2006.
Selected Works
Here are some of Arthur Machen's most important works, listed by when they were written:
- The Chronicle of Clemendy (1888): Fantasy tales about a Welsh group with mystical roots.
- "The Lost Club" (1890): A short story about a secret London society where members mysteriously disappear.
- The Great God Pan (written 1890–1894; published 1894): A short horror novel.
- "The Inmost Light" (1894): A short horror story. A scientist traps his wife's soul in a jewel, and something else enters her body.
- "The Shining Pyramid" (1895): A short horror story. Strange stone arrangements appear on a young man's land.
- The Three Impostors (1895): A horror novel with several short stories inside it.
- "The Novel of the Black Seal": A story about a hidden, non-human race living in the Welsh hills.
- "The Novel of the White Powder": A man's behavior changes strangely after taking a new medicine.
- "The Red Hand" (1895): A short detective/horror story about a murder with an ancient stone axe.
- The Hill of Dreams (written 1895–1897; published 1907): A novel about an artist's journey into dark, mystical madness and ecstasy. Many consider it Machen's best work.
- Ornaments in Jade (written 1897; published 1924): Short prose poems that hint at dark pagan powers.
- "The White People" (written 1899; published 1904): A short horror story told as a young girl's diary. It details her growing interest in witchcraft.
- Hieroglyphics: A Note upon Ecstasy in Literature (written 1899; published 1902): A book explaining Machen's idea that true literature should create "ecstasy."
- A Fragment of Life (written 1899–1904; published 1904): A short novel about a young couple who choose a spiritual life over a material one.
- The House of the Hidden Light (Written in 1904 with Arthur Edward Waite): A book of coded and mystical letters.
- The Secret Glory (written 1899–1908; published 1922): A novel about a schoolboy who searches for the Holy Grail.
- "The Bowmen" (1914): A story written during World War I. Ghosts of archers from the battle of Agincourt help British troops. This story led to the Angels of Mons legend.
- "The Great Return" (1915): A short story where the Holy Grail returns to a Welsh village.
- The Terror (1917): A short horror novel set in wartime Britain. It describes unexplained murders in the countryside.
- Far Off Things (1922): The first part of his autobiography.
- Things Near and Far (1923): The second part of his autobiography.
- "Out of the Earth" (1923): A short horror story about the mythical "Little People" acting brutally.
- The London Adventure (1924): The third and final part of his autobiography.
- Dog and Duck (1924): A collection of essays.
- The Glorious Mystery (1924): More essays and short writings.
- The Canning Wonder (1925): A non-fiction study of an 18th-century mystery.
- Dreads and Drolls (1926): A collection of essays.
- Notes and Queries (1926): More essays.
- Tom O'Bedlam and His Song (1930): Essays.
- "Opening the Door" (1931): A short story about a man's mysterious journey into a fairy realm.
- The Green Round (1933): A novel about a man haunted by a dwarf after visiting a "green round" on a beach.
- "N" (1934): A short story about finding a hidden fairyland in London.
- The Children of the Pool (1936): A collection of short stories, including "Change" and "Out of the Picture."
- Arthur Machen & Montgomery Evans: Letters of a Literary Friendship, 1923–1947 (1994): A collection of letters.
- Bridles and Spurs (1951): Essays.
Minor Works
- Constance Benson's autobiography Mainly Players (1926) has an introduction written by Machen. He was part of her acting company from 1901 to 1909.
See Also
In Spanish: Arthur Machen para niños
Images for kids
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Machen circa 1905
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Arthur Machen's birthplace at The Square, High Street, Caerleon
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The Rectory, Llanddewi Fach—Machen's childhood home
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The House of Souls (London: Grant Richards, 1906), with cover designs by Sidney Sime
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Cover of the U.S. edition of The Secret Glory (New York: Knopf, 1922), one of the series of Machen's works published by Alfred A. Knopf in the 1920s
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Blue plaque installed on Machen's birthplace in Caerleon in November 1997, under the auspices of the UK Arthur Machen Society
