An American editor and critic, Joshi is the leading figure in the field of H. P. Lovecraft scholarship and criticism. As an editor, his publications include several volumes of Lovecraft's previously uncollected or unpublished works, critical editions of Lovecraft's major fiction, a collection of essays surveying Lovecraft's critical reputation, the journal Lovecraft Studies, and the definitive bibliography of Lovecraft's life and work as well as a full-length biographical and cr...

In the essay below, Gekle examines the supernatural quality of Machen's fiction and places his work within a literary context.

Stern is an American editor, historian, and author. In the following essay, he provides an overview of Machen's fiction.

In the essay below, Nash analyzes Arthurian elements in Machen 's The Great Return and contends that the short novel also contains themes characteristic of Machen 's supernatural tales.

Arthur Machen achieved notoriety as a writer through a series of short stories he wrote in the 1890s which, perhaps more than any other literary material, are a bridge between the supernatural tale of the nineteenth-century and the twentieth-century genre of the horror-film. Stories such as "The Great God Pan" (1894), "The Inmost Light" (1894) and "The Novel of the White Powder" (1895) achieved both fame and opprobrium for their author through the powerful sense of...

In the following essay, Owens examines "The Great God Pan, " "The Inmost Light, " and "The Novel of the White Powder, " maintaining that the stories are influenced by the work of "decadent" writers of the 1890s.

In the following essay, Burleson provides a deconstructionist interpretation of Machen's short story "N."

Sweetser is an American educator and critic. In the essay below, he discusses the defining characteristics of Machen 's fiction.

Lovecraft is considered one of the foremost modern authors of supernatural horror fiction. Strongly influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, and early science fiction writers, he developed a type of horror tale that combined occult motifs, modern science, and the regional folklore of his native New England to produce the personal mythology on which he based much of his work. As is evident from his own fiction, Lovecraft was well versed in the history of Gothic writing, and his Supernatural Horror in Li...

In the following essay, Roberts briefly compares Machen's short stories to those of Edgar Allan Poe.

In the following review, the commentator emphasizes the singular nature of Ornaments in Jade, contending that the reader "with a mind receptive and swept bare of all previously conceived notions of what a book should be, and how one ought to write, will find the subtleties and the refinements of Machen 's alchemy have a meaning. "

Klein is considered one of the leading American authors of supernatural fiction. In the following tribute to House of Souls, he assesses the influence of Machen's "The White People" on his own work.

Krutch is widely regarded as one of America's most respected literary and drama critics. Noteworthy among his works are The American Drama since 1918 (1939), in which he analyzes the most important plays of the 1920s and 1930s, and "Modernism" in Modern Drama (1953), in which he stresses the need for twentieth-century playwrights to infuse their works with traditional humanistic values. A conservative and idealistic thinker, he was a consistent proponent of human dignity and the preemi...

In the following review, Douglas offers a favorable assessment of The Shining Pyramid.

In the following excerpt, the reviewer outlines the plot of Machen's short novel The Terror.

Highly regarded for his mystery novels, Carr was an American editor, biographer, and short story writer. In the following essay, he offers a positive assessment of the short stories collected in Tales of Horror and the Supernatural.