Arthur Machen

The Great God Pan Arthur Machen

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THE GREAT GOD PAN

The Great God Pan is a succinct gem of horror and mystery; a kind of spiritual variation on classic tales of lycanthropy; though its effectiveness depends on one's sensitivity to, and belief in, the potential horrors of the very real though unseen forces beneath material manifestation.

The Story Outline:

The first few pages of The Great God Pan describe Mr. Clarke's visit to his friend Dr. Raymond. After many years of study, Dr. Raymond has theorized that the spirit world is all around us, but that humans are unable to perceive it because of the particular set-up of our sensory systems.

A scientist, a self-proclaimed practitioner of transcendental medicine, Dr. Raymond operates on the young teenage girl Mary's brain to heighten her spiritual awareness; but instead Pan, the wild nature spirit, or rather the tremendous invisible life force that seethes beneath nature's visible cloak, enters and impregnates her.

The spawn of this diabolical union, a society woman with a lovely though strangely unsettling face, wreaks havoc in late 19th century London (very atmospherically portrayed in all its twisty mystery) as a series of well-heeled men mysteriously commit suicide.

The rest of the story is Mr. Clarke's collection of accounts of unexplained suicides and strange deaths (apparently from shock and terror) in London society and his gradual suspicion that there is some connection between these deaths and Dr. Raymond's failed experiment.

Facts and Trivia:

1. Written in 1894, Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan is a novella which was highly influential to H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. King, in fact, said The Great God Pan is ..".one of the best horror stories ever written. Maybe the best in the English language. Mine isn't anywhere near that good..."

2. The title was taken from the poem "A Musical Instrument" published in 1862 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in which the first line of every stanza ends ..". the great god Pan."

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