The Great God Pan

"The Great God Pan" is a novella written by Arthur Machen. The original story was published in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it in 1894. On publication it was widely denounced by the press as degenerate and horrific because of its decadent style and sexual content. Machen’s story was only one of many at the time to focus on Pan as a useful symbol for the power of nature and paganism.

Plot summary

A woman in Wales has her mind destroyed by a scientist's attempt to enable her to see the god of nature Pan. Years later, a young woman named Helen Vaughan arrives on the London social scene, disturbing many young men and causing some to commit suicide; it transpires that she is the monstrous offspring of the god Pan and the daughter of the woman in the experiment.

Critical opinion

In "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1926; revised 1933), H. P. Lovecraft praised the novel, saying: "No one could begin to describe the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds"; he added that "the sensitive reader" reaches the end with "an appreciative shudder." Lovecraft also noted, however, that "melodrama is undeniably present, and coincidence is stretched to a length which appears absurd upon analysis."

"The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" (1993) is far less impressed; in its opinion, "The story begins with an sf rationale (brain surgery) which remains one of the most dramatically horrible and misogynistic in fiction."

Influence

The story's depiction of a monstrous half-human hybrid inspired aspects of Lovecraft’s "The Dunwich Horror", which refers by name to Machen’s story. It also inspired Peter Straub's "Ghost Story".

The book was translated into French by Paul-Jean Toulet ("Le grand dieu Pan", Paris, 1901). It was a major influence on his first novel, "Monsieur du Paur, homme public".

External links

*gutenberg|no=389