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Rating: The Welsh writer Arthur Machen is undoubtedly one of the great masters of fantastic literature: in Italy, he was introduced by Fruttero and Lucentini in the now historical anthology "Stories of Ghosts". Their judgment, overwhelmingly positive, tended to frame him as a decadent writer possessing a refined and aestheticizing style. It was the late Claudio De Nardi, in the first edition of "The Three Impostors" published by Fanucci, who painted a detailed portrait of Machen in a beautiful article entitled "The Decadent Horrors of Arthur Machen". In reality, Machen has always been published in Italy, but his fame has always remained restricted. Now things are starting to move again: after Edizioni Hypnos published A Fragment of Life/The White People (translating for the first time in Italy an unpublished work and republishing one of his best stories), it is now the turn of the worthy Providence Press with "The Green Round".
This is an important work that is being translated into Italy for the first time: we are faced with the last novel written by Machen in 1933. It is, in a sense, his spiritual testament and a book that represents the "summa" of his philosophical and aesthetic theories, in which he recaps the entire essence of his pursuit of a deeper reality. We are facing an escape from the ordinary that undoubtedly has something decadent as Claudio De Nardi well pointed out. The protagonist of the story, Lawrence Hyllier, is a solitary character without any friends: he lives in fantasies and studies ancient forgotten legends. Worried about the state of his nerves, the doctor advises him to stay by the sea in the locality of Porth. Here he initially indulges in social life, nonetheless enjoying his solitary walks: during one of these, he visits the "Green Round" of the title, a sort of secluded cove. The events then take a nasty turn as he is associated, as an accomplice, with the murder of a lady. Everyone claims to have seen him in the company of a repugnant being, and for this reason, he is expelled from the place. Upon returning to London, he takes lodging at an inn: from this moment on, he becomes a witness to further strange events: he seems to be followed by something mysterious and supernatural. Lawrence Hyllier is a typical "Machenian" character, similar to the protagonist of The Hill of Dreams: he represents his alter ego in his obsessive search for a deeper and truer dimension without descending into cheap esoteric trinkets. In this novel, the theme of "the little people," which Machen extensively discussed in his most successful works influencing greatly H.P. Lovecraft, returns as a protagonist.
The Green Round is a great book, and I would say it is essential to fully understand the thought of Arthur Machen. An absolutely unmissable volume for fans of the fantastic that honors a great writer. Available on the Providence Press website in paperback and Deluxe edition (now sold out): http://www.providencepress.it/it/the-silver-key/.
Arthur Machen "The Green Round" - 192 pages – Providence Press – 2018 – Euro 17.90
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