tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4910172916743136087.post7299747212494663506..comments2023-04-05T12:02:19.722+00:00Comments on Aklo Letters: Brief review of the New Penguin Machen - The White People and Other Weird StoriesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4910172916743136087.post-50487230781856449812012-05-08T20:41:13.541+00:002012-05-08T20:41:13.541+00:00I can’t believe this collection doesn’t include th...I can’t believe this collection doesn’t include the Great God Pan. That seems to me to be an utterly perverse omission although I can guess why it isn’t there. Joshi didn’t care much for this story, considering its effect to be based entirely on an obvious plot twist. Now this is clearly wrong since the first time I read the story I was already familiar with the plot through Lovecraft’s essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature”. The story still impressed me enormously. I was even more impressed when I reread it later when I, of course, knew the plot twice over. Indeed – I am not sure what Joshi means by a twist – unless it is the revelation that all the appearances of a strange woman turn out to be of the same strange woman. <br /><br />For me, the true genius of the story lies in what I would call Machen’s “stepping stone” effect. He creates a hierarchy of horror. On the lowest rung is the strange woman who is half human and half monstrous. Behind her, and more horrifying, is her father Pan who is wholly monstrous. But it seems to me that even Pan isn’t the centre of the story. Machen suggests that behind Pan is the most hideous thing of all – the natural world conceived as something completely alien to humanity. And Machen’s trump card is that he keeps even the lowest rung of the hierarchy i.e. the strange woman out of sight – only suggesting her indirectly. It is a truly awesome effect. No wonder Lovecraft admired the story so much.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13866581770209205298noreply@blogger.com