The Great God Pan >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Great God Pan Author Arthur Machen Country United Kingdom Language English Genre(s) Horror novella Publisher Creation Books Publication date 1926 Media type print (hardback) Pages 128 The Great God Pan is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content, although it has since garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Machen’s story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism.
Contents [hide] 1 Plot summary 2 Critical opinion 3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 4 Influence 5 References 6 External links [edit] Plot summary A woman in Wales has her mind destroyed by a scientist's attempt to enable her to see the god of nature Pan. Years later, a young woman named Helen Vaughan arrives on the London social scene, disturbing many young men and causing some to commit suicide; it transpires that she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the woman in the experiment. [edit] Critical opinion In "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1926; revised 1933), H. P. Lovecraft praised the novel, saying: "No one could begin to describe the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds"; he added that "the sensitive reader" reaches the end with "an appreciative shudder." Lovecraft also noted, however, that "melodrama is undeniably present, and coincidence is stretched to a length which appears absurd upon analysis." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993) notes "The story begins with an sf rationale (brain surgery) which remains one of the most dramatically horrible and misogynistic in fiction." [edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations "The Great God" was brought to the stage in 2008 by WildClaw Theatre Company in Chicago. It was adapted and directed by WildClaw Artistic Director Charley Sherman. [edit] Influence The story's depiction of a monstrous half-human hybrid inspired the main plotline of Lovecraft’s "The Dunwich Horror", which refers by name to Machen’s story. According to Lovecraft scholar Robert M. Price, "'The Dunwich Horror' is in every sense an homage to Machen and even a pastiche. There is little in Lovecraft's wonderful story that does not come directly out of Machen's fiction."[1] It also inspired Peter Straub's Ghost Story. The book was translated into French by Paul-Jean Toulet (Le grand dieu Pan, Paris, 1901). It was a major influence on his first novel, Monsieur du Paur, homme public. Stephen King wrote in the endnotes for his story collection Just After Sunset (2008) that his newly published novella N. was "strongly influenced" by Machen's piece, which he noted, "surmounts its rather clumsy prose and works its way relentlessly into the reader's terror-zone. How many sleepless nights has it caused? God knows, but a few of them were mine. I think "Pan" is as close as the horror genre comes to a great white whale." In another interview he stated: "Not Lovecraft; it’s a riff on Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan,” which is one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn’t anywhere near that good, but I loved the chance to put neurotic behavior—obsessive/compulsive disorder—together with the idea of a monster-filled macroverse." [2] [edit] References ^ Price, pp. ix-x. ^ "SELF-INTERVIEW By Stephen King 10:50am September 4th, 2008 [edit] External links On 7/15/09, Shane Mage <shm...@pipeline.com> wrote: > > On Jul 15, 2009, at 11:31 AM, c b wrote: > > > It would seem that Michael Jackson aesthetic was a species of the > > bourgeois Romanticists "Peter Pan" philosophy..."child as the father > > of the man",which more abstractly is probably part of the process of > > the origin of > > the human species. "Pan" is part of the species name of the > > chimpanzee. > > > But "pan" as genus (not species) name for chimpanzees is taken from > the resemblance of chimps and bonobos to the iconography of the Great > God Pan. And there is absolutely nothing childlike about Pan. > > > Shane Mage > > > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > > > Herakleitos of Ephesos > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
