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 Ritual and Other
Stories
-
- by Arthur Machen
-
- With an
Introduction by R.B. Russell
-
- 'The
Flower-Tunicked Priest of Nightmare', Arthur Machen
(1863-1947) is best known for his horror and supernatural
fiction and has been a cult writer since the 1890s. The
publication of this revised third edition of
Ritual and Other Stories reflects the
continued interest in Machen's work, and collects
together his more elusive short fiction. Through the
publication of Ritual and its companion 'best of'
volume Tales of Horror and the
Supernatural, Tartarus has now reissued all Machen's
short stories in accessible form.
-
- As R.B.
Russell writes in his new Introduction, 'the great
strength of Ritual is that it spans Machen's
career and thus reveals his development as a writer'. As
well as two early pieces from the 1880s, Ritual contains from the 1890s
stories that compare well with Machen's better-known
decadent work, such as The Great God
Pan. These include the exquisite prose-poem
'Rus in Urbe' (1890), and the stories from the
Ornaments in Jade collection,
written in the 1890s but not published until 1924.
Machen's much underrated later work is represented by,
amongst others, 'The Tree of Life' (1936), 'one of the
most sympathetic stories Machen ever wrote', and the
title story 'Ritual', which although written in 1937
'could have been penned at any time in his career, and is
undeniably Machen at his best'.
-
- Ritual & Other
Stories contains:
- The
Priest and the Barber, The Spagyric Quest of Beroaldus
Cosmopolita, The Town of Long Ago, Candletime, Cidermas,
Over the Gate, Of the Isle of Shadows, A Further Account
of the Academy of Lagado, Tales from Barataria, Sir
John's Chef, Rus in Urbe, By the Brook, The Autophone,
The Brook Farm, A Remarkable Coincidence, A Double
Return, A Wonderful Woman, The Lost Club, An Underground
Adventure, Jocelyn's Escape, The Red Hand, The Rose
Garden, The Turanians, The Idealist, Witchcraft, The
Ceremony, Psychology, Torture, Midsummer, Nature, Holy
Things, The Young Man in the Blue Suit, The Soldiers'
Rest, The Monstrance, The Dazzling Light, The Little
Nations, The Men from Troy, The Light That Can Never Be
Put Out, Drake's Drum, A New Christmas Carol, 7B Coney
Court, Munitions of War, The Gift of Tongues, The
Islington Mystery, Johnny Double, The Cosy Room, Awaking,
Opening the Door, The Compliments of the Season, The
Dover Road, The Exalted Omega, The Tree of Life, Out of
the Picture, Change, Ritual.
-
- Ritual & Other Stories
is a sewn hardback book of 382+viii pages
with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, and d/w.
Fourth edition.
-
- Price:
£35/$70 inc. p&p.
-
- ISBN 1
872621 27 9
-
- Recent reviews:
- Stories of the macabre exert their pull
from Hallowe'en onwards, such as the stories of Arthur
Machen, republished by Tartarus Press in handsome
editions, made for reading by a flickering fire. -
Suzi Feay, The
Independent (29/10/05)
-
- If
you want an overall picture of Machen the man . . .
secure a copy of Ritual from Tartarus while stocks
last. - Reggie Oliver, All
Hallows
-
- Offering genuine emotion and passages
that reach the ecstacy for which Machen so often
attained, Ritual and Other Stories delights and
disturbs in equal measure, embodying within its
bewitching narratives an alchemist's brew of wisdom and
wonder. - William P. Simmons, Cemetary
Dance
-
  
- Five titles by
Arthur Machen in print from the Tartarus Press (from top
left): The Secret of the
Sangraal & Other Writings, Dreads and
Drolls,
Ritual and Other
Stories,
The Hill of
Dreams, and
Tales of Horror and the
Supernatural.
Page
updated 16th April 2008
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