Other editions of book Far Off Things

Far off Things by Arthur Machen, 1922. Arthur Machen (1863 - 1947) was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan (1894) has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror (Stephen King has called it "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language").

"Far Off Things" is a series of autobiographical sketches by the great Arthur Machen; notice how even in fairly mundane prose from nearly the beginning, there's a haunting quality to the words themselves.To lovers of the supernatural, the spooky, the mystical and the uncanny in literature, Arthur Machen (1863-1947) is pretty much the ultimate cult author. Certainly few writers have had such a pervasive effect on the landscape of weird fiction. In his lifetime Machen counted Yeats, Wilde and Conan Doyle among the admirers of his unsettling, lyrical stories of pagan Wales and mysterious London. Later on, he became famous for his First World War story The Bowmen, which imagined the longbow-wielding ghosts of Agincourt coming to the aid of Tommies in the trenches. Mistaken for factual truth, it was the source for the urban legend of the Angels of Mons.Far Off Things is a book of enormous thoughtfulness and charm, a perfect foil to the more alarming aspects of Machen’s fiction. It could well mark the beginning of a splendid obsession with his work.

Well, as I say, I found myself on a certain night a partaker of all this cheerfulness. I was one guest among many; there were explorers and ambassadors and great scientific personages and judges, and the author who has given the world the best laughter that it has enjoyed since Dickens died: in a word, I was in much more distinguished company than that to which I am accustomed. And after dinner the Persians (as I will call them) have a kindly and courteous custom of praising their guests; and to my astonishment and delight the speaker brought me into his oration and said the kindest and most glowing things imaginable about a translation I once made of the "Heptameron" of Margaret of Navarre. I was heartily pleased; I hold with Foker in "Pendennis" that every fellow likes a hand. Praise is grateful, especially when there has not been too much of it.

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Arthur Machen (3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan (1890; 1894) has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror, with Stephen King describing it as "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language." He is also well known for his leading role in creating the legend of the Angels of Mons.