‘The Great God Pan’ – Arthur Machen

 

Page Count: 58 Pages

Regular visitors to the blog will know that every now and then, I decide that I really need to read something of Arthur Machen's, buy a book and then promptly pop it on a bookshelf to be forgotten about/possibly given away. Well… I can confirm that I have finally read an Arthur Machen story and it’s the one that everyone knows about. I had to start somewhere and the cover for ‘Tales of Horror and the Supernatural’ pretty much demanded that I start there. As a child of the eighties (mostly), I’ve got a soft spot for cover art like this; take a look and tell me that you disagree. Some things really were better in the ‘old days’ ;o)

Anyway…

‘The Great God Pan’ was originally published, as a novella, in 1894 and my copy can be found in the 1975 Panther edition of ‘Tales of Horror and the Supernatural (Volume 1)’. Honestly though, if you’re looking to read ‘The Great God Pan’ yourself, you’ll have absolutely no trouble finding it in print or as an eBook. It’s not hard to come by.

‘The Great God Pan’ tells the story of one man’s attempts to see into the supernatural world but also what happens when the occupants of that world take an interest in our attempts to pry. The ancients called it ‘Seeing the great god Pan’; what happens though, when Pan sees us?

I found ‘The Great God Pan’ to be a bit of a tough nut to crack at first. I can’t speak for his other work but here, Machen has a habit of not only having his characters talk with the same voice but also not making it cleat (to me anyway) who is speaking at any moment in a conversation. I’ll happily take responsibility for that second point, I’m not the best at following narrative at the moment, but it was tough to get into the story itself.

I’m glad I stuck with it though. ‘The Great God Pan’ uses misguided science (and man’s arrogance) to pierce the veil of the supernatural and give us a glimpse at what lies beyond. I liked how this was done, showing us Mary’s reaction but also giving Clarke little hints of that experience, just not with the accompanying brain surgery… And what was up with Doctor Raymond and his ‘I own Mary at this point, I can do what I like with her’ attitude? Machen almost drops that as an afterthought. It’s not just the supernatural that can be evil, mankind can (as ever) more than hold its own in that regard.

And then we’re into a supernatural murder mystery that asks all the right questions and lets the answers unfold in such a way that my attention was held throughout. After a long day, I couldn’t ask for any more than that. The answer is held just out of reach until exactly the right moment and the ending comes as a real surprise, especially when you consider the implications of what Mary experienced. A read of the Wikipedia page shows that readers initially reacted strongly against these implications (well, it was 1894…); I’d say fair play to Machen for staying true to the horror he envisioned and sticking to the course he had plotted. I’m not a hundred percent sold on how Villiers and Clarke deal with the problem (really, would that approach actually work?) but it leads to a particularly gruesome death scene so I’m not complaining.

Despite some early problems, ‘The Great God Pan’ ended up being a thoroughly engaging read; chilling when it needed to be and powerful in the way it delivers its finale. Now I’m starting to run out of Clark Ashton Smith tales to feature here, don’t be too surprised if you see more from Arthur Machen.