The White People and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen
Machen’s strange stories of the fantastical and grotesque have finally made it to Penguin Classics. The White People and Other Weird Stories, which features an introduction by S.T. Joshi, editor of American Supernatural Tales, is the ideal introduction to the father of weird fiction. The odd exercise that is the title story, “The White People,” leaves the reader uneasy and confused. As his character, Ambrose reveals on the first page, “there have been persons who have sounded the very depths of iniquity, who all their lives have never done an “evil deed”,” Machen sets the stage for a story that defies logic altogether.
The White People and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen
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One of the first outstanding British authors of supernatural horror literature was Machen. Welsh writer active in the 1890s and early 1900s. He managed to portray spiritual dread in a way that no one else had. The White People, which is primarily written in the style of a teenage girl’s diary, is in my opinion his best story. Nothing is actually displayed. The consequences of this narrative are rather disturbing, even though the surface is completely benign. The girl has been raised by a governess, as they did back then, and it is evident that the governess has connections to the fairy people, pre-human creations, nymphs, and other such beings.
She has been taking this child into the hills or the forests since she was very young, and the child has caught glimpses of the other side. She tells several fairy stories and traditions, which form the bulk of the story. It is a famous example of a horror story’s use of allusions and hints to imply something far bigger than what is really stated.
Arthur Machen, who is widely regarded as the greatest Welsh author of all time, is one of the most illustrious and influential writers of his age, however, it can be challenging to find his books now because of a general reluctance to reading older works.
Penguin Classics are always a fantastic resource for new readers to discover any author as well as a fantastic collection for devoted followers of Machen or other strange stories. One of the founding fathers of supernatural literature, fantasy tales, horror stories, and most importantly: the so-called “strange story,” which is an eclectic literary blending of all three, is Machen, a Welshman who appeared on the literary scene a few decades before Lovecraft. For anyone who enjoys Lovecraft or the aforementioned authors, this book is a must-have.
