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The Great God Pan |  | Author: Arthur Machen
Publisher: General Books LLC
Category: Book
Buy New: $9.94
as of 11/27/2009 07:40 CST details
New (10) Used (7) from $9.94
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 526977
Media: Paperback
Pages: 82
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.3
ISBN: 0217798179
EAN: 9780217798174
ASIN: 0217798179
Publication Date: August 17, 2009
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE INMOST LIGHT I One evening in autumn, when the deformities of London were veiled in faint blue mist, and its vistas and far - reaching streets seemed splendid, Mr. Charles Salisbury was slowly pacing down Rupert Street, drawing nearer to his favourite restaurant by slow degrees. His eyes were downcast in study of the pavement, and thus it was that as he passed in at the narrow door a man who had come up from the lower end of the street jostled against him. ' I beg your pardonwasn't looking where I was going. Why, it's Dyson!' ' Yes, quite so. How are you, Salisbury ? ' ' Quite well. But where have you been, Dyson ? I don't think I can have seen you for the last five years ?' ' No; I daresay not. You remember I wasgetting rather hard up when you came to my place at Charlotte Street ?' ' Perfectly. I think I remember your telling me that you owed five weeks' rent, and that you had parted with your watch for a comparatively small sum.' ' My dear Salisbury, your memory is admirable. Yes, I was hard up. But the curious thing is that soon after you saw me I became harder up. My financial state was described by a friend as " stone broke." I don't approve of slang, mind you, but such was my condition. But suppose we go in; there might be other people who would like to dineit's a human weakness, Salisbury.' ' Certainly; come along. I was wondering as I walked down whether the corner table were taken. It has a velvet back, you know.' ' I know the spot; it's vacant. Yes, as I was saying, I became even harder up.' 'What did you do then?' asked Salisbury, disposing of his hat, and settling down in the corner of the seat, with a glance of fond anticipation at the menu. 'What did I do? Why, I sat down and reflected. I had a good classical education,and a posi...
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
 Let down June 22, 2009
Alisa R. Haller (Utah usa)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
this booked was so hyped up to be the ultimate for horror/occult fans. I must have missed the point. Not worth the price of admission.
Great story in a bad package June 3, 2009
P. G. Laughlin (Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As mentioned in most of the other reviews, this is a terrific story, easily digested in one sitting. Unfortunately, the publishing house for this version failed to really proof their work. I found at least 3 errors. No really big deal, but the story is only 94 pages long. Take some time and give Machen's work the respect it deserves.
nice book, slow shipping February 2, 2009
M Twain
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book was in great shape, the story was ok. The book took FOREVER to get here though.
Interesting November 24, 2008
J. Seidel (California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
 The Great God Pan September 6, 2008
flask
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
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