Safe Return Doubtful

This is a really interesting short novel from Machen, in that as typical it is of him, as entertaining to read, the plot is confused and doesn’t really make much sense. If it’s read as a series of vignettes, it may be appreciated better. I could take such a vignette out from the last third of the book, and another from the first third, swap them round, and I don’t think it would make much difference to the overall storyline.

Set in the hills of north Wales, Machen’s home turf, this concerns one Mr. Clarke, who visits a Dr. Raymond, an acclaimed surgeon who believes that humans are surrounded by a supernatural world, but aren’t aware of it. Dr. Raymond believes he can surgically alter the human brain to enable the barrier between the worlds to be lifted, in his words, ‘to see the Great God Pan’. He demonstrates with a test subject, but it goes horribly wrong.

As a result, Clarke distances himself from Raymond, but years later, living in London, is still obsessed by seeing the ‘unseen’. He decides to write a book, and researches a girl called Helen V, who has encountered strange goings-on near her village. This takes him back to north Wales, where Helen lives, and another encounter with Raymond.

First published in 1890, it is possible to see the book’s influence on what was to follow frequently in the text. With his body of work, of which this is a good example, Machen demonstrated how restraint can be more effective than the brash in-your-face approach used to get a scare from many horror writers; provide the reader the tools to enable them to terrify themselves, rather than drowning them in a gazpacho of blood, severed limbs and guts.

Panned on its publication for being depraved and immoral, it is on of Machen’s most popular works, and best viewed these days as a keystone to the weird and horror genres; a classic indeed.