Episode 3: Ecstasy, Sin, and "The White People"

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 10:00:00 -0500

JF and Phil delve deep into Arthur Machen's fin-de-siècle masterpiece, "The White People," for insight into the nature of ecstasy, the psychology of fairies, the meaning of sin, and the challenge of living without a moral horizon.

WORKS CITED OR DISCUSSED

Arthur Machen, "The White People" - full text or Weird Stories audiobook read by Phil Ford

Arthur Machen, Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy

H. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"

J.F. Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice

Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Jack Sullivan (ed)., The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural

John Keel, The Mothman Prophecies: A True Story

Patrick Harpur, Daimonic Reality

Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers

Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, The Morning of the Magicians

Michael Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

J.K. Huysmans, Against Nature (À rebours)

Weird Stories: Arthur Machen's "The White People"

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 10:00:00 -0500

Weird Stories is a series of readings for Weird Studies listeners who want to dig deeper into the themes and ideas discussed on the Weird Studies podcast.

In his seminal essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," H. P. Lovecraft named Arthur Machen one of the four "modern masters" of horror fiction, alongside Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, and M. R. James. Born in 1863, Machen burst onto the London literary scene in 1890 with the controversial novella "The Great God Pan." He was briefly considered one of the luminaries of the Decadent movement before falling into obscurity and experiencing a literary rebirth toward the end of his life.

In this Weird Stories installment, Phil Ford reads the complete text of one of Machen's most famous works, "The White People" (1904).

Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “The White People”

Episode 3: Ecstasy, Sin, and "The White People"

Weird Stories: Arthur Machen's "The White People"