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Average Rating:  out of 9 Reviews
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Price: $8.45
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Sale: $8.36
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Manufacturer: Book Jungle
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EAN (European Article Number): 9781605977843
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: Arthur Machen
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Publisher: Book Jungle
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Publication Date: 2008-07-04
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Reading Level: 68
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Description: When The Great God Pan appeared in print it was lambasted for its sex and horrific content. Of course this only made it's popularity soar. Arthur Machen, 1863-1947) was a Welsh novelist, short story writer, journalist and actor. He wrote horror, fantasy and supernatural fiction. His love of Celtic, Roman and medieval history is seen in many of his stories. The Great God Pan is a novella. Scientists destroy a woman's mind when they attempt to help her see the god of nature, Pan. Years later, a young woman named Helen arrives in London's social scene. Her presence disturbs many young men who commit suicide. It is discovered that Helen is the monstrous child of Pan and the woman from Wales.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Interesting |
Date: 2008-11-24 |
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Details: Interesting quick read. Early "horror" genre. I think I bought it because Stephen King mentioned it. Other great early horror classics that are favorites of mine include "Dracula" and "Frankenstein." Nothing can beat "Phantom of the Opera" for a bodice-ripping romantic scary story. None of these early classics are ANYTHING like the movies we have grown accustomed to seeing. There is so much more to "Dracula" than Bela Lugosi (no disrespect intended). Give them a try. |
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Review Summary: The Great God Pan |
Date: 2008-09-06 |
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Details: Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan" (1894) delves into Machen's favorite subject: the supposed existence of a spiritual realm that is imperceptible to the human eye. A realm -- in the mind of Machen -- populated by golden-haired fairies haunting Welsh meadows, sex-crazed demons of ancient mysticism, furry red-eyed changelings that drag children underground with ropes, and phantom Roman legions glimpsed on foggy British moors. Clearly, Machen was a dreamer-sentimentalist, but with a very, very creepy sexual side. His Orthodox Anglo-Catholic upbringing imbued his mind with a love/hate fascination of aberrant sexuality; in particular, its spiritual ramifications. It was this fascination that lead to his writing "The Great God Pan."
Machen's "The Great God Pan" is based upon the concept of spiritual demons that seduce their victims. This age-old story shares some of its esoteric origins in the Old Testament. Prior to textual expurgations by Christian Councils, the Old Testament once referenced the existence of incubi (male) or succubi (female) which preyed on sexual debutantes. Their queen was Lilith -- the Night Hag -- the first wife of Adam in Hebrew and Akkadian folklore. Lilith was a nymphomaniac whom Yahweh made from dung, prior to the creation of Eve. Lilith's inability to obey Adam led to her banishment and replacement by Eve. Later, Lilith mated with beasts and had offspring. Although in Hellenistic myth Pan was the foster brother of Zeus, some of Joseph Campbell's monomyth theorists claim that Pan was one of Lilith's children.
The Pan deity present in Machen's horror story borrows from the aforementioned lore and also from the contemporary exorcism of his day. In the 19th century, exorcists believed that a demon could invade a weak soul and, if a child was conceived in lust by that soul, be born into the resulting child. Another variant was that a person in a hypnotic or drowsy state of mind could glimpse the spirit realm and have unwanted "encounters" there. Machen expounded upon this latter variant of exorcism in "The Great God Pan" by having Dr. Raymond create an experiment that allows others to glimpse that spirit world and creates tragic, yet kinky results.
In "The Great God Pan," the experiment performed upon a seventeen-year old female, Mary, results in her seeing the "real world [...] beyond the veil" and, in doing so, she is raped by Pan. Mary goes insane, but bears a child nine months later from that unholy union. Years later, Helen Vaughan, the offspring of Pan and Mary, shocks London society by engaging in bizarre sexuality and destroying lives as the result of her taint by Pan. Machen foreshadows these events with the Latin adage: "Et diabolus incarnatus est. Et homo factus est." The English translation is: "And a devil was made incarnate. And a human being was produced."
Overall, I enjoyed Machen's "The Great God Pan." To me, Machen's tale is similar to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) minus the clear-cut, black-and-white demarcation between good and evil. I also think "The Great God Pan" would be an excellent story to have your girlfriend read if the topic of marriage and children has just come up... |
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Review Summary: Gothic Horror |
Date: 2005-12-02 |
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Details: I got this because the author was at one time affiliated with the Golden Dawn. It is horror that was an influence of H.P. Lovecraft. I liked it because the author maintains an aura of darkness that could be disturbing. This is neo pagan horror that you usually don't see any more. Stehpen King commercialized horror but this is more obscure. A few pages in I already thought highly of it. I thought it was cool that he was such an icon back at the turn of the last century. |
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Review Summary: The Great God Pan. |
Date: 2005-11-14 |
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Details: "An incoherent nightmare of sex . . . " - The Westminster Gazette.
_The Great God Pan_ is the first book of the Welsh writer of weird tales and mystic Arthur Machen, published first in 1894. This book was regarded as a form of decadent literature and was panned by critics of the Victorian era. Arthur Machen was a fascinating character and antiquarian whose weird writings reveal his learning in the occult and his mystical inclinations. Machen was an Anglo-Catholic opposed to modernism in all its forms who was to join the secret society of the Golden Dawn, though he would reject the nefarious doings of such individuals as Aleister Crowley. Machen had an enormous influence on later writers of weird tales including especially H. P. Lovecraft who mentions him in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" as an important influence. This book, republished by Creation Classics, is complimented by automatic drawings of Austin Osman Spare, a friend of Machen and a fellow occultist and mystic. In addition, this book contains Machen's introduction to the story proper.
_The Great God Pan_ begins with a scientist/doctor and his friend attempting to perform a surgical operation on the brain of a seventeen year old girl, Mary, so that she may "see the Great God Pan". The doctor discusses his theories of "transcendental medicine", in which he believes he can control her through this operation. The operation fails and Mary is rendered an "idiot". The story then skips to the memoirs of Mr. Clarke, the friend of Dr. Raymond from the experiment on Mary. Mr. Clarke recounts a tale involving a young girl named Helen Vaughan, who encounters a pagan idol from Roman times in a field. The story involves murder and intrigue as well as a demonic sex change, which occur later in the tale. Machen's mystical inclinations can be seen as he presents the reader with an alchemical transformation.
Though this book was initially criticized harshly by the establishment in Victorian times, it has endured and set the place of Arthur Machen as an important writer of weird tales. Machen's stories are quite unique and his influence on subsequent writers of supernatural fiction continues to endure.
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Review Summary: LOVE this little book - wish it never ended!! |
Date: 2005-09-24 |
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Details: Wow, I read this on a plane ride and didn't want to put it down. Machen did an amazing job of creating this atmosphere of terror and horror and dread and evil...without ever actually spilling blood and showing us what happened. The way he described what transpired with Helen was awesome. The way he led us along these different paths and then brought them all home so that everything made perfect sense was brilliant. I would have loved more of a backstory and more details into Pan...but that's minor. Can't say enough great things about this little book of "terror." Has something this short and this powerful been written in the last 20 or 30 or 40 years? Great stuff! |
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