Something pushed out from the body there on the floor, and stretched forth a slimy, wavering tentacle...

Perhaps no figure better embodies the transition from the Gothic tradition to modern horror than Arthur Machen. In the final decade of the nineteenth century, the Welsh writer produced a seminal body of tales of occult horror, spiritual and physical corruption, and malignant survivals from the primeval past which horrified and scandalised-late-Victorian readers. Machen's 'weird fiction' has influenced generations of storytellers, from H. P. Lovecraft to Guillermo Del Toro-and it remains no less unsettling today.

This new collection, which includes the complete novel The Three Impostors as well as such celebrated tales as The Great God Pan and The White People, constitutes the most comprehensive critical edition of Machen yet to appear. In addition to the core late-Victorian horror classics, a selection of lesser-known prose poems and later tales helps to present a fuller picture of the development of Machen's weird vision. The edition's introduction and notes contextualise the life and work of this foundational figure in the history of horror.

Features

• A new selection of Machen's core horror classics, a selection of his lesser-known prose poems and later tales helps to present a fuller picture of Machen's development
• The first critical edition to include the complete novel The Three Impostors underpinned by scholarly research
• Includes a chronology, bibliography, and notes to provide additional contextual interest
• Machen's influence extends from H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and the fantasy cinema of Guillermo del Toro

ABOUT THE SERIES

For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Introduction
The Lost Club (1890)
The Great God Pan (1894)
The Inmost Light (1894)
The Three Impostors; or, the Transmutations (1895)
The Shining Pyramid (1895)
The Red Hand (1895)
From Ornaments in Jade (1897, 1924)
Psychology, or, Fragments of Paper
The Rose Garden
The Ceremony
The Turanians
The White People (1899)
The Bowmen (1914)
Out of the Earth (1915)
The Coming of the Terror (1917)
The Islington Mystery (1927)
N (1935)
The Children of the Pool (1936)
Ritual (1937)
References
Further Reading

Arthur Machen

Edited by Aaron Worth, Associate Professor, Rhetoric, Boston University

Aaron Worth is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at Boston University, having previously taught courses in English and American literature at Brandeis University. His book Imperial Media: Colonial and Information Systems in the British Literary Imagination, 1857-1918 was published by Ohio State UP in 2014 (reviewed in I^LS and widely in scholarly journals; paperback edition in 2016). He has published essays on Victorian literature and culture in leading journals including Victorian Studies, Victorian Literature and Culture, and Victorian Poetry, as well as original horror fiction in magazines including Cemetery Dance and Aliterate. Worth is the author of the entry on Horror Fiction in the recent Blackwell's Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature (2015).