Local History of South Wales & Llanhilleth Miners' Institute: Arthur Machen 1863-1947, born South Wales

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Arthur Machen 1863-1947, born South Wales

My friend is involved with the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebrations of Arthur Machen's birth, taking place around Caerleon and Machen. Arthur was a literary Gothic (horror) writer who used his experiences in South Wales to help colour his fiction. Sue will be displaying her wall-hanging at The Priory, Caerleon, as part of the Caerleon Festival. She intends the piece below to illustrate the thinking behind her design.

Far off Things - Arthur Machen and the landscape of Gwent.

An exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Arthur Machen remains until Sat 6 April at Newport Museum and Art Gallery, John Frost Square, Newport, South Wales, NP20 1PA. Free admission. For more information, contact richardframe@hotmail.co.uk

Sue Thomas' Musings on the writing of Arthur Machen and his Books

1863-1947

Arthur Machen, while just a child, his imagination running wild, roamed freely down the Gwent countryside paths. Wandering along these ancient dark, dank and deep sided track ways encouraged the ideas to imprint stories in his mind.

As he watched the glowing furnace-like skies over theTwmbarlwm hillside, from his rectory bedroom window the slowly sinking rays of light darkened into an ink black landscape.

Sometimes as the sun slipped away below the hill, fearful dragons were conjured out of the stormy billowing clouds the howling wind evoking the shadowy fanciful creatures, frightful and fierce.

Later, when a grown man, remembering these childhood memories, he wrote of his ambling journeys recalling the wonderful sunlit landscapes, but also like a Janus mask looking both ways using a slight shift of vision something half glimpsed like stepping from a sun dappled path onto a shadow filled lane his writing could be both revealing and light or enveloped and dark.

Each story turning a page at a time he used his pen as an archeologist uses his trowel peeling back one layer after another to reveal hidden horrors, mystic creatures; his words and sentences allowing many a complex spine chilling character to evolve.