The Great God Pan: Difference between revisions

Written by [[Arthur Machen (Creator)|Arthur Machen]] in 1894 and originally published in a magazine, ''The Great God Pan'' is known for being one of the prototypes of the [[Cosmic Horror Story|Cosmic Horror]] genre. It was a huge influence on [[H.P. Lovecraft (Creator)|HP Lovecraft]], who used it as the basis for his own story ''[[The Dunwich Horror (Literature)|The Dunwich Horror]]'', as well as for the [[Cthulhu Mythos|deity]] [[Mother of a Thousand Young|Shub-Niggurath]]. It is worth noting that the main themes of the story - the idea that there are [[Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]] and [[Eldritch Abomination|horrors outside of our reality that we do not understand]] - are very Lovecraftian in nature, making these tropes [[Older Than They Think|older than you think]].

 

 

In Wales a scientist, Dr. Raymond, experiments on a woman named Mary to enable her to "see Pan". Sadly, her mind is broken and Clarke, who watched the experiment, gives up occultism. Cut to several years later in London, where another man named Villiers meets an old friend of his who was led to misery by his wife Helen Vaughan. Curious, Villiers begins investigating. Meanwhile, an alarming number of wealthy, prominent men are being driven to [[Go Mad From the Revelation|madness]] and [[Driven to Suicide|suicide]] following their encounters with a mysterious woman known as Mrs. Beaumont. Though Clarke is initially hesitant to give him the information he needs, Villers soon learns that Mrs. Beaumont is indeed Helen Vaughan, the daughter of Mary and the [[Eldritch Abomination|pagan nature deity]] Pan.