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a_monkey's review against another edition
4.0
The Great God Pan and The White People are basically perfect.
petiteesperance's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
4.0
Hey, look! A book that's out of copyright and available on Project Gutenberg! Yay!
"The House of Souls" contains four stories that may or may not take place in the same universe; the atmosphere and details sound very much like they might, but it's never explicitly stated.
"A Fragment of Life" (1904) is the first one, but I think I'd have preferred it to be the last. It's a long story about a young, newly wedded couple that receives a sum of money, invests nine tenths of it and debates how to spend the remainder.
As they go back and forth on the decision, we find out more about their lives and the lives of those they know: the mysterious actions of an uncle, the oddness of an old woman, the husband's past explorations of London and discovering it as if it were a new and magical place.
It's a slow story, and it has a certain magic to it. It's almost a sort of magical realism before the genre came into being. But it ends like this:
It would be impossible to carry on the history of Edward Darnell and of Mary his wife to a greater length, since from this point their legend is full of impossible events, and seems to put on the semblance of the stories of the Graal. It is certain, indeed, that in this world they changed their lives, like King Arthur, but this is a work which no chronicler has cared to describe with any amplitude of detail.
So, after a normal, vaguely magical story, we're told it becomes a fantasy novel we'll never read. OH WELL.
The next three stories, however, are deeply mystical and filled with to the brim with the supernatural.
The White People (1904) is a story-within-a-story. The story is a dialogue between men about sainthood and pure evil, which is... eh. But the story-within is the deranged journal of a teenage girl who gets involved in magic and abominations that are never quite described on page, but are always hinted at.
It's quite brilliant, splendidly conveying unpleasantness and evil, as well as hinting at a larger world of eldritch magic.
The Great God Pan (1894) is told in multiple parts, some of which don't seem connected at first. A scientist does an experiment on a woman who is rendered mad for the rest of her life. In London and abroad, a mysterious woman causes the ruin and suicide of a number of men.
The Inmost Light (1894) is a story about a doctor's wife who dies under mysterious circumstances. A passer-by who saw her at the window was shocked by the evil in her figure and determines to find out what happened to her.
----
Machen's style is beautiful and his atmosphere is mysterious and horrifying, really conveying the feeling of abomination and supernatural terror.
At a more careful look, however, his plots tend to rely on coincidence, which isn't great, although I'll allow it.
The women are the oddest thing. When they aren't a manifestation of evil incarnate, they're strangely passive. Both "The Great God Pan" and "The Inmost Light" have them willingly lay down their lives and sanity for the sake of the experiment of the most important man in their lives (like lambs to the slaughter). One thinks that the question "Can I drill into your skull and probably drive you insane?" would be answered with a resounding "No", but here we are, with two replies of "Yes" that are never explained in-universe (one is "Yes, but you need to kill me afterwards."). What the heck?
"The House of Souls" contains four stories that may or may not take place in the same universe; the atmosphere and details sound very much like they might, but it's never explicitly stated.
"A Fragment of Life" (1904) is the first one, but I think I'd have preferred it to be the last. It's a long story about a young, newly wedded couple that receives a sum of money, invests nine tenths of it and debates how to spend the remainder.
As they go back and forth on the decision, we find out more about their lives and the lives of those they know: the mysterious actions of an uncle, the oddness of an old woman, the husband's past explorations of London and discovering it as if it were a new and magical place.
It's a slow story, and it has a certain magic to it. It's almost a sort of magical realism before the genre came into being. But it ends like this:
It would be impossible to carry on the history of Edward Darnell and of Mary his wife to a greater length, since from this point their legend is full of impossible events, and seems to put on the semblance of the stories of the Graal. It is certain, indeed, that in this world they changed their lives, like King Arthur, but this is a work which no chronicler has cared to describe with any amplitude of detail.
So, after a normal, vaguely magical story, we're told it becomes a fantasy novel we'll never read. OH WELL.
The next three stories, however, are deeply mystical and filled with to the brim with the supernatural.
The White People (1904) is a story-within-a-story. The story is a dialogue between men about sainthood and pure evil, which is... eh. But the story-within is the deranged journal of a teenage girl who gets involved in magic and abominations that are never quite described on page, but are always hinted at.
It's quite brilliant, splendidly conveying unpleasantness and evil, as well as hinting at a larger world of eldritch magic.
The Great God Pan (1894) is told in multiple parts, some of which don't seem connected at first. A scientist does an experiment on a woman who is rendered mad for the rest of her life. In London and abroad, a mysterious woman causes the ruin and suicide of a number of men.
The Inmost Light (1894) is a story about a doctor's wife who dies under mysterious circumstances. A passer-by who saw her at the window was shocked by the evil in her figure and determines to find out what happened to her.
----
Machen's style is beautiful and his atmosphere is mysterious and horrifying, really conveying the feeling of abomination and supernatural terror.
At a more careful look, however, his plots tend to rely on coincidence, which isn't great, although I'll allow it.
The women are the oddest thing. When they aren't a manifestation of evil incarnate, they're strangely passive. Both "The Great God Pan" and "The Inmost Light" have them willingly lay down their lives and sanity for the sake of the experiment of the most important man in their lives (like lambs to the slaughter). One thinks that the question "Can I drill into your skull and probably drive you insane?" would be answered with a resounding "No", but here we are, with two replies of "Yes" that are never explained in-universe (one is "Yes, but you need to kill me afterwards."). What the heck?
bookwisp86's review against another edition
4.0
Slow plodding writing with bright sparks of excitement. I can see it's influence in other works, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they like the history of horror.
aliciamares44's review against another edition
4.0
“El santo se propone recuperar un don que ha perdido; el pecador trata de conseguir algo que nunca fue suyo. En pocas palabras, vuelve a escenificar la Caída.”
Aquí hay cuatro de los mejores cuentos de Arthur Machen, precursor y brillante exponente del llamado “horror cósmico”. Visiblemente fue el puente entre lo gótico y la Weird Fiction.
Para el autor, el horror no está en la sangre roja abundante y volcánica, vulgar; está en aquellos lugares donde la carne y el alma convergen para separarse tras romper las costuras.
El horror de Machen está cimentado en lo esotérico y pagano. Él espolvorea frases en latín y alude a antiguos dioses —intrínsecamente sexuales— que se pasean entre líneas, rehusándose a saltar tras una esquina para espantar al espectador. Sí: oímos el aliento pero nunca vemos desnudados los colmillos.
Ya sea ofreciendo la materia gris en cirugía para poder ver aquello que la humanidad nunca debió ver, volviendo a un pozo del que sale gente blanca a bailar, encapsuladas en gemas preciosas y terribles o jugando entre maleza con un hombre desnudo, las mujeres son rumores: visiones escondidas tras ventanas corrientes pero, tan susceptibles al horror, que se vuelven puentes para su poder destructivo.
Es un clásico, nunca dejará de ser relevante o de gestarse, de renacer. Tanto el prólogo como el epílogo me parecen invaluables, y la edición está muy cuidada. ¡Bravo Perla Ediciones!
“¿Estás seguro por completo, Raymond, de que tu teoría no es una fantasmagoría: una visión espléndida, desde luego, pero al fin y al cabo una visión?”
Son visiones, sí. Pero casi tangibles.
Aquí hay cuatro de los mejores cuentos de Arthur Machen, precursor y brillante exponente del llamado “horror cósmico”. Visiblemente fue el puente entre lo gótico y la Weird Fiction.
Para el autor, el horror no está en la sangre roja abundante y volcánica, vulgar; está en aquellos lugares donde la carne y el alma convergen para separarse tras romper las costuras.
El horror de Machen está cimentado en lo esotérico y pagano. Él espolvorea frases en latín y alude a antiguos dioses —intrínsecamente sexuales— que se pasean entre líneas, rehusándose a saltar tras una esquina para espantar al espectador. Sí: oímos el aliento pero nunca vemos desnudados los colmillos.
Ya sea ofreciendo la materia gris en cirugía para poder ver aquello que la humanidad nunca debió ver, volviendo a un pozo del que sale gente blanca a bailar, encapsuladas en gemas preciosas y terribles o jugando entre maleza con un hombre desnudo, las mujeres son rumores: visiones escondidas tras ventanas corrientes pero, tan susceptibles al horror, que se vuelven puentes para su poder destructivo.
Es un clásico, nunca dejará de ser relevante o de gestarse, de renacer. Tanto el prólogo como el epílogo me parecen invaluables, y la edición está muy cuidada. ¡Bravo Perla Ediciones!
“¿Estás seguro por completo, Raymond, de que tu teoría no es una fantasmagoría: una visión espléndida, desde luego, pero al fin y al cabo una visión?”
Son visiones, sí. Pero casi tangibles.
nonesensed's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of highs and lows, at least for me. Here are my impressions of the four short stories:
A Fragment of Life - Dear me, I've rarely been so bored reading a story. It's got a dash of interesting hints of the fantastical peppered throughout, but it's 90% a story about a married couple considering what to do with a sum of money the wife got for a birthday a while back and other such domestic troubles. Sure, the husband of the pair has strange "vibes" now and then, butthe story literally stops once it gets interesting. Yes, literally. It just cuts off with a "the rest of these people's lives is too strange to describe, here's a weird poem the husband wrote, hope you enjoyed all that talk about household economy~!" Not worth the struggle getting through it. Skip it, is my advice.
The White People - My favorite of this collection, as well as of Machen's work in general. It's full of unanswered questions in the best way of eerie horror. The framing device of the two middle-aged men discussing the contents of the actual story I can take or leave, but the Green Book is wonderfully creepy. You can of course go the "witches worshiping the devil" route if you want to be pragmatic, but to me this reads as a young girl who's gotten involved with the fae (and not in the Young Adult romance way, as much fun as such stories can be) or even better, involved with powers or creatures utterly unknown and unknowable to humans. Excellent mood throughout, loved how the rambling storytelling style was used. This story also inspired one of my favorite horror novels, The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, which is an extra plus in its favor! I'd recommend reading this short story first and then digging into Kingfisher's book.
The Great God Pan - An interesting enough read. The ending left me a little wanting for a better reasoning behind how it all came to go down like that, but there's plenty of excellent "too horrible to be mentioned" situations. It's also about a medical professional who happens to be a well-off man tricking a much less well-off and much younger woman to participate in brain surgery that is extremely harmful to her. Bit too real there, Machen, wish you'd gone the route of the results of said horrific experiment doing more to the messed-up doctor who performed the surgery. All in all, pretty creepy! Though fair warning, a lot of children are victims in this story. If that ruins your enjoyment of a horror tale do not read this one.
The Inmost Light - More medical men doing terrible things to the women in their lives. Doctor Black got what he deserved, in my opinion, but not soon enough. Poor Mrs Black. Not as intriguing or complex as the "medical mystery" in The Great God Pan, but it still has its moments.
A Fragment of Life - Dear me, I've rarely been so bored reading a story. It's got a dash of interesting hints of the fantastical peppered throughout, but it's 90% a story about a married couple considering what to do with a sum of money the wife got for a birthday a while back and other such domestic troubles. Sure, the husband of the pair has strange "vibes" now and then, but
The White People - My favorite of this collection, as well as of Machen's work in general. It's full of unanswered questions in the best way of eerie horror. The framing device of the two middle-aged men discussing the contents of the actual story I can take or leave, but the Green Book is wonderfully creepy. You can of course go the "witches worshiping the devil" route if you want to be pragmatic, but to me this reads as a young girl who's gotten involved with the fae (and not in the Young Adult romance way, as much fun as such stories can be) or even better, involved with powers or creatures utterly unknown and unknowable to humans. Excellent mood throughout, loved how the rambling storytelling style was used. This story also inspired one of my favorite horror novels, The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, which is an extra plus in its favor! I'd recommend reading this short story first and then digging into Kingfisher's book.
The Great God Pan - An interesting enough read. The ending left me a little wanting for a better reasoning behind how it all came to go down like that, but there's plenty of excellent "too horrible to be mentioned" situations. It's also about a medical professional who happens to be a well-off man tricking a much less well-off and much younger woman to participate in brain surgery that is extremely harmful to her. Bit too real there, Machen, wish you'd gone the route of the results of said horrific experiment doing more to the messed-up doctor who performed the surgery. All in all, pretty creepy! Though fair warning, a lot of children are victims in this story. If that ruins your enjoyment of a horror tale do not read this one.
The Inmost Light - More medical men doing terrible things to the women in their lives. Doctor Black got what he deserved, in my opinion, but not soon enough. Poor Mrs Black. Not as intriguing or complex as the "medical mystery" in The Great God Pan, but it still has its moments.
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