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One
of the things that always seems to surprise people unfamiliar
with the writing of Caerleon
born Arthur
Machen, is the
variety of well known names happy to endorse his excellence and,
in the case of creative artists, count him as one of the formative
influences on their own work. These people have come to be as
familiar with the name Caerleon as many who have lived there.
For some it is a place of pilgrimage when possible; some return
almost annually. Often it is the first port of call for UK visitors
from as far afield as Japan or America.
Here is a selection of familiar names and some of their comments
about him...
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From
the then Bishop of Monmouth, the Very
Reverend Dr Rowan Williams,
now Archbishop of Wales:
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'
I do indeed have a great enthusiasm for Machen, who has been a
major literary discovery for me since moving to these parts, and
I have been devouring as much primary and secondary material as
I can trace. It would be a great joy to join the society *…'
*The Arthur Machen Literary Society - now sadly no longer functioning, however the "Friends of Arthur Machen" - FoAM - is going strong! |
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Godfrey
Smith, Associate
Editor and popular columnist with the Sunday Times:
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'He
was a Celt; a man who saw wonder in the ordinary; who could find
mystery and romance simply in a walk round that desolate area
north of Gray's Inn Road which fascinated him. He entered history
when he created the myth of the "Angels of Mons" .....
In fact there is much more to Machen than that: notably his masterpiece
"The Hill of Dreams" .....
Godfrey Smith and Mary visited the Machen sites at Caerleon from
their home in the Cotswolds and, together with enthusiasts Barry
Humphries and Julian
Lloyd Webber, attended
a dinner in Machen's honour at the Hay Literary Festival.
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Andy
Warhol Interview
with Mick Jagger:
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Warhol:
'What are you reading
these days?'
Jagger:
'Oh, Arthur Machen
..... none of his things have been filmed ... They would make
incredible films. There's one called "The Novel of the White Powder"
about this man who goes to a doctor or chemist and receives this
white powder which he has to take every day, and he gets stranger
and stranger and eventually he ends up as a ball of blackness
that just drips through the ceiling horribly one night .... There's
a tremendous visual sequence at the end where this one eye comes
out of this blackness. It would make a fantastic movie.'
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Michael
Powell, director
of such films as "The Red Shoes" wrote:
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'I
swallowed Arthur Machen gulp by gulp… It is fitting that I record
now, many years later, in 1988 how much I owe him for terror,
pity and fantasy.'
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The
publisher Peter Davies better known as Peter
Llewellyn Davies one
of J.M.Barrie's 'Lost Boys' on whom he based Peter Pan wrote:
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'One
can't presumably call him a great artist. But if I had to say,
as an omnivorous reader, of prose and poetry, what writer has
given me the deepest pleasure in my life, I believe I'd answer,
if I was honest, Arthur Machen.'
Peter Davies was one of the few people present at Machen's funeral.
He recalled that an aunt had once told him that the Llewellyn
Davies family were related to Machen through his London cousins
called Jones. He regretted that by the time he felt more interest
in the matter she had died.
The similarity of themes of Machen's "The Terror" and "The Birds"
by Daphne Du Maurier
has been noted
by many. Du Maurier was first cousin to the Llewellyn Davies boys
and probably spent the summers with them in the country as was
the custom in Edwardian middle-class families. It is likely that
the cousins shared books, including those of Machen.
J.M.Barrie himself
was known to enjoy and collect Machen's books.
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The
appeal launched to collect money as a gift for Machen on his eightieth
birthday was supported by writers, publishers and actors of the
day including T.S.Elliot,
Edith Evans,
Edith Sitwell,
John Betjeman,
John Masefield,
Walter De la Mare,
Arthur Quiller-Couch
and George
Bernard Shaw.
Pictured right, Machen, on his eightieth birthday at the Hungaria
Restaurant, between Lady
Constance Benson
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From
"Summoned By Bells" by John
Betjeman:
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'Borrow
this book and come to tea again.
With Arthur Machen's "Secret Glory" stuffed
Into my blazer pocket, up the hill
On to St. Merryn ...
I would not care to read that book again.
It so exactly mingled with the mood
Of those impressionable years.'
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People
often ask me why Arthur Machen didn't revisit Caerleon in his
later years. Maybe he felt the same about the village, that had
given him so much inspiration, as John Betjeman felt about his
book…
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