Beginning on Feb. 9, 2023, the Darkly Bright site will post occasional essays about Arthur Machen's reading. The series is called Books Around Machen, a title inspired by the essay "Men About Machen" in a booklet edited by Brocard Sewell. Machen's writing often haunts the imaginations of his readers. What do we know about Machen's own literary reading? There is much to explore, however immethodically.

The first essay is about The High History of the Holy Graal, a translation by Sebastian Evans of the medieval Perlesvaus. It turns out that this book was enjoyed not only by Machen, but by members of the Oxford-based group the Inklings. Essayist Dale Nelson finds that it's still a good read.


[darklybrightpress.com]

The second Books Around Machen column will be on the Victorian biography that Machen estimated he had read around 20 times.

And remember, Darkly Bright reprints Machen rarities every week.

Here's a piece of 2000+ words on that book about which Machen said he'd read it around 20 times:

[darklybrightpress.com]

And happy birthday tomorrow to Machen!

The 3rd Books Around Machen entry is now published. It reviews Walter de la Mare's collection "On the Edge," which in 1930 Machen reviewed very favorably in a piece called "The Line of Terror." Machen discussed only one story and mentioned just one other one. The review below tells about the entirety of this extraordinary collection. One of the short stories, "At First Sight," is really a novella.

[darklybrightpress.com]