There is a quote attributed to the author. “There are strange things lost and forgotten in obscure corners of the newspaper.” –Arthur Machen
His real name is Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s. Consisting of only 82 pages this book can play on your mind.
Published in the 1890s it was declared “degenerate”, which for the 1890s would have not taken much, but even I was creeped out by some of its passages. The first chapter hit me hardest on what a ‘doctor’ could and can “get away with” in the 1890s, considering the poor souls that were subjected to electric shock in the 1950s/60s. I have to admit, that I am reading and rereading the book trying draw out the imagery the author is trying to suggest. Some of you may be more ‘literate’ than I. This book reminds me of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. What I am convinced of is this book needs to be brought to film. The author was way ahead of his time, and his imagination would have been better served if his story appeared first as TV or movie script. Even Stephen King called it, “Maybe the best [horror story] in the English Language.
“There are constant references: “She saw the Great God Pan. Once you have seen the Great God Pan. etc.”
I don’t want to see THE GREAT GOD PAN!