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Hieroglyphics
Arthur Machen
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I really think then that we have disposed of perhaps the most generally received of artistic fallacies—that books are to be judged by their power of reproducing in the reader those feelings of grief, interest, curiosity, and so forth which he experiences or may experience in his everyday life, which he really does experience in greater or less degree every time he talks to a [23]friend, takes up a newspaper, or receives a telegram. It comes to this again and again, doesn't it, that Art and Life are two different spheres, and that the Artist with a capital A is not a clever photographer who understands selection in a greater or less degree.
But before we go on with our work and see what can be done with other literary "solvents" I want to make a digression. I should have . . . Read More
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Community Reviews
3.25⭐
Essay in which Arthur Machen espouses his manifesto concerning his mystical creed on literature and what is it that makes up fine literature from just popular or regular material. First published in 1902, Hieroglyphics: A Note upon Ecstasy in Literature is an analysis of the nature of literatur
I stumbled into this essay on what makes great literature by one of my favorite Victorian scribblers of Gothic thinking I was about to read an entirely different book by him--this is a Kindle problem, no book covers, and a muddled middle aged man far away from his library during a forced sabbatical.
Machen is one of the most underrated writers in the history of literature, having written some truly excellent books. I was intrigued when I heard about this book, and was able to recently read it. I found that in some ways this book had some really profound insights into what truly makes good liter
After having read Machen's Hieroglyphics, I'm still trying to get my head around the specifics of the arguments forwarded by the "hermit" who speaks the narrative (presumably a stand-in for Machen himself).
In general terms, the appeal to "ecstasy" in literature makes perfect sense, but the waters g
A tough read.
This is one of Machens more challenging reads, mostly because it has aged so dreadfully.
Not a horror story this time, but instead an extended essay on Machens thoughts on writing, literature and the quality of the written word.
Whilst it offers some interesting and very useful advice in places, it no
Fascinating mystical and artistic creed and a good-natured marvel of circumlocution. Practically everything Machen wrote in the 1890s had the touch of genius, and this even applies to his non-fiction, though this is actually presented as a fictional account from Machen's familiar of imagination.
Here
A consistently interesting and occasionally persuasive collection of essays, written in the second-person, all pertaining to the distinction between "literature" and fine literature, between artifice and art. It mostly helps to illuminate Machen's own aims with his fiction, his emphasis on what he c