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Review Summary: Short and sweet! |
Date: 2007-12-30 |
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Details: Is it "impostor" or "imposter"?--that is the question that nagged me while I read The Three Impostors. Which spelling is correct, and which is the imposter/or? The lexicographers need to come down hard on this issue!!
That aside, The Three Impostors is a black diamond of a little dark fantasy, told in hypnotic descriptive prose. The book is structured as a series of stories within a frame story, much like the Decameron or Canterbury Tales, only the frame story has its own plot and is the most interesting of all in The Three Impostors. The sub-stories range from the strange to the macabre, to the frankly paranormal, each entertaining in its own right besides what it contributes to the whole. Moreover, Machen's style glitters with curious flights of thought and characterizations, well nigh as enertaining as the story itself.
What struck me most of all about The Three Impostors is how panoramically influential this short book is, as if it were the whole nine muses of twentieth century literature! The Maltese Falcon owes an obvious debt to the Gold Tiberius. I think the Novel of the Dark Valley is a clear precursor to The Trial, and obviously, Lovecraft derived his whole schtick from the Adventure of the Missing Brother. Machen himself must have been influenced by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published about 10 years earlier, but Machen amplifies and enhances the original, rather than narrowing it.
Altogether, The Three Impostors, however you spell it, was well worth the 150 pages of reading time. Dyson and Phillipps are my new literary heroes! I would recommend the edition from Chaosium, since this includes several other good Machen works for about the same price as the other editions. |
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Review Summary: An undiscovered diamond |
Date: 2004-02-05 |
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Details: This little book is an unexpected but welcome surprise in the world of literature. Jorge Luis Borges wrote the introduction in the Spanish edition that I own. And he was right, few people know the existence of this great mistery novel, otherwise it would be already a classic. In has the flavour of Dickens and the imagination and dexterity of Agatha Christie. His name is Arthur Machen. |
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Review Summary: Death In Disguise |
Date: 2003-08-10 |
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Details: Horror master Arthur Machen's crowning achievement, a still shocking compendium of interwoven short horror tales. In late 19th century London, a scientist and an unpublished writer join forces as amateur detectives in an attempt to solve a minor but puzzling mystery which ultimately leads to the discovery of a truly diabolical conspiracy. In the course of their investigations, the two men find themselves repeatedly surrendering their attention to a series of seemingly outlandish tales spun by an assortment of eccentric story tellers. The stories, which all deal with imposture of some kind, are only tangentially related to each other, yet offer the somewhat bumbling sleuths important clues to the mystery at hand. Machen builds suspense slowly and methodically, masterfully leading the reader on to a completely unexpected, gruesome climax. Comical, tragic, sophisticated, violent, horrific, and even downright disgusting, THE THREE IMPOSTORS is a classic horror novel of sly deception and wit.
The 1995 Everyman paperback is the only critical edition of this remarkably rich book released to date, offering a scholarly introduction (by editor David Trotter) that carefully details Machen's main influences (chiefly Robert Louis Stevenson) and themes (imposture of various kinds, also derived from Stevenson). A short text summary nicely encapsulates the narrative's various twists and turns. Finally, a section entitled "Machen and His Critics" provides a welcome offering of mostly contemporaneous critical responses to this remarkable book; while many of these reviews were laudatory, quite a few passionately outraged quotes reveal just how shocking THE THREE IMPOSTORS must truly have been in its time. |
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Review Summary: An Excellently Presented Anthology |
Date: 2000-09-09 |
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Details: Arthur Machen can easily be described as one of the writers who provided the foundation to the 20th century fantasy and horror literature. This one is a great collection of horror stories, most of which has a quite Lovecraftian style. If you are new to Machen, and/or like stories with a tinge of "Mythos Horror" in them, you'll definetely like this one. |
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out of 4 Reviews
