Tarturus Press is publishing a new edition of The Secret Glory by Arthur Machen this coming March 5.
Amazon.com says of this novel: “Unlike most of Machen’s other works, The Secret Glory is not usually considered a work of horror. Instead it is a semi-autobiographical tale of a young man, Ambrose Meyrick, and his attempt to struggle through the public school system all the while preoccupied with a childhood memory of the Holy Grail hidden in his native Wales. ”
The new edition will include Chapters Five and Six which were omited from the original publication; read more at the pubisher’s site: http://tartaruspress.com/secretglory.htm
According to Wikipedia “Aleister Crowley loved Machen’s works, feeling they contained ‘Magickal’ truth, and put them on the reading list for his students…” (though the admiration was apoarently not mutual)
Wikipedia also notes:
“Machen, brought up as the son of a Church of England clergyman, always held Christian beliefs, though accompanied by a fascination with sensual mysticism; his interests in paganism and the occult were especially prominent in his earliest works. Machen was well read on such matters as alchemy, the kabbalah, and Hermeticism, and these occult interests formed part of his close friendship with A. E. Waite. Machen, however, was always very down to earth, requiring substantial proof that a supernatural event had occurred, and was thus highly sceptical of Spiritualism. Unlike many of his contemporaries, such as Oscar Wilde and Alfred Douglas, his disapproval of the Reformation and his admiration for the medieval world and its Roman Catholic ritualism did not fully tempt him away from Anglicanism—though he never fitted comfortably into the Victorian Anglo-Catholic world.
“The death of his first wife led him to a spiritual crossroads, and he experienced a series of mystical events. After his experimentation with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the orthodox ritual of the Church became ever more important to him, gradually defining his position as a High Church Anglican who was able to incorporate elements from his own mystical experiences, Celtic Christianity, and readings in literature and legend into his thinking.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen
Among contemporary artists influenced by Machen are Mark E. Smith of the British post-punk band The Fall and David Tibet of Current 93.
