In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys a beautifully produced new edition of Arthur Machen’s study of literature
The Welsh author Arthur Machen (1863-1947) wrote some truly unsettling horror fiction, some notable novels about the Holy Grail, some subtle pioneering weird fiction (which I’ve previously reviewed here), and what many (including myself) consider his masterpiece, the 1907 novel The Hill of Dreams, in which the struggling author Lucian Taylor has a series of visions of ancient Roman Britain while living in the Welsh hills. Yet Machen remains unknown to many people, even avid fans of writers like Robert Louis Stevenson, H. G. Wells, and H. P. Lovecraft (on whom Machen was a considerable influence). Even those who’ve heard of him often mispronounce his name (it’s MACK-un, in case you were wondering).