What do you think?
Rate this book
The Three Impostors; or, The Transmutations
EXCERPT:
“And Mr. Joseph Walters is going to stay the night?” said the smooth clean-shaven man to his companion, an individual not of the most charming appearance, who had chosen to make his ginger-colored mustache merge into a pair of short chin-whiskers.
The two stood at the hall door, grinning evilly at each other; and presently a girl ran quickly down, the stairs, and joined them. She was quite young, with a quaint and piquant rather than a beautiful face, and her eyes were of a shining hazel. She held a neat paper parcel in one hand, and laughed with her friends.
“Leave the door open,” said the smooth man to the other, as they were going out. “Yes, by——,” he went on with an ugly oath. “We’ll leave the front door on the jar. He may like to see company, you know.”
The other man looked doubtfully about him. “Is it quite prudent do you think, Davies?” he said, pausing with his hand on the mouldering knocker. “I don’t think Lipsius would like it. What do you say, Helen?”
“I agree with Davies. Davies is an artist, and you are commonplace, Richmond, and a bit of a coward. Let the door stand open, of course. But what a pity Lipsius had to go away! He would have enjoyed himself.”
“Yes,” replied the smooth Mr. Davies, “that summons to the west was very hard on the doctor.”
The three passed out, leaving the hall door, cracked and riven with frost and wet, half open, and they stood silent for a moment under the ruinous shelter of the porch.
“Well,” said the girl, “it is done at last. I shall hurry no more on the track of the young man with spectacles.”
“We owe a great deal to you,” said Mr. Davies politely; “the doctor said so before he left. But have we not all three some farewells to make? I, for my part, propose to say good-by, here, before this picturesque but mouldy residence, to my friend Mr. Burton, dealer in the antique and curious,” and the man lifted his hat with an exaggerated bow.
“And I,” said Richmond, “bid adieu to Mr. Wilkins, the private secretary, whose company has, I confess, become a little tedious.”
“Farewell to Miss Lally, and to Miss Leicester also,” said the girl, making as she spoke a delicious courtesy. “Farewell to all occult adventure; the farce is played.”
Mr. Davies and the lady seemed full of grim enjoyment, but Richmond tugged at his whiskers nervously.
“I feel a bit shaken up,” he said. “I’ve seen rougher things in the States, but that crying noise he made gave me a sickish feeling. And then the smell—But my stomach was never very strong.”
178 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1895
86 people are currently reading
2237 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Machen
1,076 books988 followersArthur Machen was a leading Welsh author of the 1890s. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His long story The Great God Pan made him famous and controversial in his lifetime, but The Hill of Dreams is generally considered his masterpiece. He also is well known for his leading role in creating the legend of the Angels of Mons.
At the age of eleven, Machen boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. Family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Machen was sent to London, where he sat exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. Machen, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem "Eleusinia" on the subject of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Returning to London, he lived in relative poverty, attempting to work as a journalist, as a publisher's clerk, and as a children's tutor while writing in the evening and going on long rambling walks across London.
In 1884 he published his second work, the pastiche The Anatomy of Tobacco, and secured work with the publisher and bookseller George Redway as a cataloguer and magazine editor. This led to further work as a translator from French, translating the Heptameron of Marguerite de Navarre, Le Moyen de Parvenir (Fantastic Tales) of Béroalde de Verville, and the Memoirs of Casanova. Machen's translations in a spirited English style became standard ones for many years.
Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, The Great God Pan. It was published in 1894 by John Lane in the noted Keynotes Series, which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and subsequently sold well, going into a second edition.
Machen next produced The Three Impostors, a novel composed of a number of interwoven tales, in 1895. The novel and the stories within it were eventually to be regarded as among Machen's best works. However, following the scandal surrounding Oscar Wilde later that year, Machen's association with works of decadent horror made it difficult for him to find a publisher for new works. Thus, though he would write some of his greatest works over the next few years, some were published much later. These included The Hill of Dreams, Hieroglyphics, A Fragment of Life, the story The White People, and the stories which make up Ornaments in Jade.
At the age of eleven, Machen boarded at Hereford Cathedral School, where he received an excellent classical education. Family poverty ruled out attendance at university, and Machen was sent to London, where he sat exams to attend medical school but failed to get in. Machen, however, showed literary promise, publishing in 1881 a long poem "Eleusinia" on the subject of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Returning to London, he lived in relative poverty, attempting to work as a journalist, as a publisher's clerk, and as a children's tutor while writing in the evening and going on long rambling walks across London.
In 1884 he published his second work, the pastiche The Anatomy of Tobacco, and secured work with the publisher and bookseller George Redway as a cataloguer and magazine editor. This led to further work as a translator from French, translating the Heptameron of Marguerite de Navarre, Le Moyen de Parvenir (Fantastic Tales) of Béroalde de Verville, and the Memoirs of Casanova. Machen's translations in a spirited English style became standard ones for many years.
Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, The Great God Pan. It was published in 1894 by John Lane in the noted Keynotes Series, which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and subsequently sold well, going into a second edition.
Machen next produced The Three Impostors, a novel composed of a number of interwoven tales, in 1895. The novel and the stories within it were eventually to be regarded as among Machen's best works. However, following the scandal surrounding Oscar Wilde later that year, Machen's association with works of decadent horror made it difficult for him to find a publisher for new works. Thus, though he would write some of his greatest works over the next few years, some were published much later. These included The Hill of Dreams, Hieroglyphics, A Fragment of Life, the story The White People, and the stories which make up Ornaments in Jade.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
April 23, 2023
My complete review of The Three Imposters is published at Before We Go Blog.
“I have been grinding away at facts for thirty years; it is time for fancies.”
The Three Imposters is Arthur Machen's best work and a classic of Gothic horror.
As the novel opens, we are introduced to the three imposters, two men and one young woman, who are grinning evilly at each other upon completing their greatest heist. The three imposters are con artists extraordinaire who, throughout the novel, adopt various pseudonyms and personas to deceive other unsuspecting characters in their pursuit of ancient treasure. Their ultimate goal is the Gold Tiberius, which is in the possession of “the young man with spectacles,” the main target of their scheme.
The Three Imposters has a layered structure of stories-within-stories-within-stories-within-stories (yes, up to four layers deep). Machen builds layers of mystery and intrigue, pulls back on them, and builds more layers along different threads. This may be disorienting for some readers, but I found the layered structure to be an effective means for assembling the various levels of mystery that drive the main plot of the book.
We know that the story is told by a trio of liars. As the layers of intrigue are alternately constructed and deconstructed, the reader is left wondering which of the tales are pure legends and which are real clues about genuine history, artifacts, and treasures being pursued by the imposters.
Arthur Machen ingeniously incorporates fantasy and horror elements throughout the book. The Three Imposters is a classic of fae horror, first revealed in one of the embedded stories in the middle of the novel:
“I became convinced that much of the folk-lore of the world is but an exaggerated account of events that really happened, and I was especially drawn to consider the stories of the fairies, the good folk of the Celtic races...Just as our remote ancestors called the dreaded beings 'fair' and 'good' precisely because they dreaded them, so they had dressed them up in charming forms, knowing the truth to be the very reverse.”
This particular story is buried four layers deep. Within the main novel of The Three Imposters, there is the “Adventure of the Missing Brother.” Within that story is the “Novel of the Black Seal.” And within that story is “The Statement of William Gregg, F.R.S.,” which finally gives the account of the fae, ending with an H.P. Lovecraft-style tentacle horror scene.
The novel ends where it begins, with the three imposters discarding their fake personas. Machen successfully brings together the many disparate plot threads, although we are left wondering which of the stories are real and which are pure fabrication by the imposters. In retrospect, many important clues are buried in the opening prologue, available right up front for the clever reader-detective.
The Three Imposters is surprisingly fresh for something written in 1894-1895. The plot is convoluted and full of misdirection, but it works effectively to convey a sense of horror and build the layers of mystery to be solved.
“I have been grinding away at facts for thirty years; it is time for fancies.”
The Three Imposters is Arthur Machen's best work and a classic of Gothic horror.
As the novel opens, we are introduced to the three imposters, two men and one young woman, who are grinning evilly at each other upon completing their greatest heist. The three imposters are con artists extraordinaire who, throughout the novel, adopt various pseudonyms and personas to deceive other unsuspecting characters in their pursuit of ancient treasure. Their ultimate goal is the Gold Tiberius, which is in the possession of “the young man with spectacles,” the main target of their scheme.
The Three Imposters has a layered structure of stories-within-stories-within-stories-within-stories (yes, up to four layers deep). Machen builds layers of mystery and intrigue, pulls back on them, and builds more layers along different threads. This may be disorienting for some readers, but I found the layered structure to be an effective means for assembling the various levels of mystery that drive the main plot of the book.
We know that the story is told by a trio of liars. As the layers of intrigue are alternately constructed and deconstructed, the reader is left wondering which of the tales are pure legends and which are real clues about genuine history, artifacts, and treasures being pursued by the imposters.
Arthur Machen ingeniously incorporates fantasy and horror elements throughout the book. The Three Imposters is a classic of fae horror, first revealed in one of the embedded stories in the middle of the novel:
“I became convinced that much of the folk-lore of the world is but an exaggerated account of events that really happened, and I was especially drawn to consider the stories of the fairies, the good folk of the Celtic races...Just as our remote ancestors called the dreaded beings 'fair' and 'good' precisely because they dreaded them, so they had dressed them up in charming forms, knowing the truth to be the very reverse.”
This particular story is buried four layers deep. Within the main novel of The Three Imposters, there is the “Adventure of the Missing Brother.” Within that story is the “Novel of the Black Seal.” And within that story is “The Statement of William Gregg, F.R.S.,” which finally gives the account of the fae, ending with an H.P. Lovecraft-style tentacle horror scene.
The novel ends where it begins, with the three imposters discarding their fake personas. Machen successfully brings together the many disparate plot threads, although we are left wondering which of the stories are real and which are pure fabrication by the imposters. In retrospect, many important clues are buried in the opening prologue, available right up front for the clever reader-detective.
The Three Imposters is surprisingly fresh for something written in 1894-1895. The plot is convoluted and full of misdirection, but it works effectively to convey a sense of horror and build the layers of mystery to be solved.
February 16, 2020
Machen's masterpiece, surely.
All of the usual Machen ingredients are there: the eerie little stories, the twists and turns, the velvet-dark imagination combined with a deceptive lightness of style. And of course the intensely vivid descriptions of London, from street-crossings on The Strand to mysterious suburbs at midnight to the whine of gas jets in Clerkenwell.
But what marks out this extraordinary book as even more extraordinary than the others I have read is its structure. At first it seems loose and even messy, but as you read on it tightens and tightens... and finally clangs together like a bear trap. The ending is stunning.
All of the usual Machen ingredients are there: the eerie little stories, the twists and turns, the velvet-dark imagination combined with a deceptive lightness of style. And of course the intensely vivid descriptions of London, from street-crossings on The Strand to mysterious suburbs at midnight to the whine of gas jets in Clerkenwell.
But what marks out this extraordinary book as even more extraordinary than the others I have read is its structure. At first it seems loose and even messy, but as you read on it tightens and tightens... and finally clangs together like a bear trap. The ending is stunning.
March 25, 2019
Arthur Machen is the master of slow building dread and eerie atmosphere. I think that the following passage is a great example of the previous statement.
"I knew, I thought, if I knew what there were to dread, I could guard against it; but here, in this lonely house, shut in on all sides by the olden woods and the vaulted hills, terror seems to spring inconsequent from every covert, and the flesh is aghast at the half-heard murmurs of horrible things. All in vain I strove to summon scepticism to my aid, and endeavored by cool common-sense to buttress my belief in a world of natural order, for the air that blew in at the open window was a mystic breath, and in the darkness I felt the silence go heavy and sorrowful as a mass of requiem, and I conjured images of strange shapes gathering fast amidst the reeds, beside the wash of the river."
"I knew, I thought, if I knew what there were to dread, I could guard against it; but here, in this lonely house, shut in on all sides by the olden woods and the vaulted hills, terror seems to spring inconsequent from every covert, and the flesh is aghast at the half-heard murmurs of horrible things. All in vain I strove to summon scepticism to my aid, and endeavored by cool common-sense to buttress my belief in a world of natural order, for the air that blew in at the open window was a mystic breath, and in the darkness I felt the silence go heavy and sorrowful as a mass of requiem, and I conjured images of strange shapes gathering fast amidst the reeds, beside the wash of the river."
April 6, 2019
Starting from the very heart of London, they had made their way westward through the stony avenues, and were now just emerging from the red lines of an extreme suburb, and presently the half-finished road ended, a quiet lane began, and they were beneath the shade of elm-trees. The yellow autumn sunlight that had lit up the bare distance of the suburban street now filtered down through the boughs of the trees and shone on the glowing carpet of fallen leaves, and the pools of rain glittered and shot back the gleam of light. Over all the broad pastures there was peace and the happy rest of autumn before the great winds begin, and afar off London lay all vague and immense amidst the veiling mist; here and there a distant window catching the sun and kindling with fire, and a spire gleaming high, and below the streets in shadow, and the turmoil of life.{read in the collection The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories]
October 29, 2010
Every October, just before Halloween, I scan my shelves for some good fantasy/horror -- usually something from Dover Publications, who seem to have a lock on the field. This year, I read Three Impostors by the Welsh writer Arthur Machen. Although I finished the book just minutes ago, my mind is still reeling with what must be one of the most subtle and insidiously terrifying works of the genre I have ever read.
Picture to yourself a mysterious prologue, in which we are introduced to two men and a woman who are leaving a mysterious house in the suburbs of London. They discuss some act which was performed and move on. From another direction come the two main protagonists, Dyson and Phillipps, who take over from this point.
What follows are a number of chapters titled as if they were independent short stories; yet they are all interlinked. Two of the chapters contain substories, which Machen for some reason calls "novels," which have been frequently anthologized, namely, "The Novel of the Black Seal" and "The Novel of the White Powder." If these tales remind one of H. P. Lovecraft, it is no accident. In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," Lovecraft comments that they represent "perhaps the highwater mark of Machen's skill as a terror-weaver."
It is only at the end that we find out what has happened in the series of interlinked tales; and the reader, if he is diligent, winds up paging a second time through the book to see whether it all plays out. It does. Rarely have I encountered such a short novel with so many interwoven skeins.
I have remarked in other reviews about the moral landscape of G. K. Chesterton's tales, in which the sinister qualities of the landscape reflect in some way the moral flaws in the characters (usually of the villains). In Machen's work, on the other hand, the scenes where the action takes place vary widely and sometimes strangely inappropriately, considering what takes place. Machen's point seems to be that great mysteries underlie our lives:
Picture to yourself a mysterious prologue, in which we are introduced to two men and a woman who are leaving a mysterious house in the suburbs of London. They discuss some act which was performed and move on. From another direction come the two main protagonists, Dyson and Phillipps, who take over from this point.
What follows are a number of chapters titled as if they were independent short stories; yet they are all interlinked. Two of the chapters contain substories, which Machen for some reason calls "novels," which have been frequently anthologized, namely, "The Novel of the Black Seal" and "The Novel of the White Powder." If these tales remind one of H. P. Lovecraft, it is no accident. In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," Lovecraft comments that they represent "perhaps the highwater mark of Machen's skill as a terror-weaver."
It is only at the end that we find out what has happened in the series of interlinked tales; and the reader, if he is diligent, winds up paging a second time through the book to see whether it all plays out. It does. Rarely have I encountered such a short novel with so many interwoven skeins.
I have remarked in other reviews about the moral landscape of G. K. Chesterton's tales, in which the sinister qualities of the landscape reflect in some way the moral flaws in the characters (usually of the villains). In Machen's work, on the other hand, the scenes where the action takes place vary widely and sometimes strangely inappropriately, considering what takes place. Machen's point seems to be that great mysteries underlie our lives:
I stand in a world that seems as strange and awful to me as the endless waves of ocean seen for the first time, shining, from a peak in Darien. Now I know that the walls of sense that seem so impenetrable, that seem to loom up above the heavens and to be founded below the depths, and to shut us in for evermore, are no such everlasting impassable barriers as we fancied, but thinnest and most airy veils that melt away before the seeker, and dissolve as the early mist of the morning about the brooks.At one moment, the sun may be shining; at another, one is lost in evil, with the faerie folk and witches and ogres bending our idea of what is real and proper into a cocked hat.
February 15, 2018
This is a strange one, and whilst very short it took me a while to get through because the writing was quite small and the language was quite convoluted at times.
The story follows two gentlemen in London, who travel around and meet other people who tell them various different stories which all become intertwined with the main plot. I say "main plot", but really there isn't much of one to speak of, and this could almost be a collection of short stories.
I did mildly enjoy most of the little stories, and the ending came together quite well, but other than that I wasn't too impressed with this book. Having been compared to H.P. Lovecraft in the blurb, I was left feeling rather disappointed.
The story follows two gentlemen in London, who travel around and meet other people who tell them various different stories which all become intertwined with the main plot. I say "main plot", but really there isn't much of one to speak of, and this could almost be a collection of short stories.
I did mildly enjoy most of the little stories, and the ending came together quite well, but other than that I wasn't too impressed with this book. Having been compared to H.P. Lovecraft in the blurb, I was left feeling rather disappointed.
December 30, 2024
"Fui testigo de una escena horrible, que rebasa toda concepción humana y la fantasía más delirante. Algo salió del cuerpo que se arrastraba por el suelo, un tentáculo viscoso que atravesó oscilante toda la habitación..."
Nuevamente he disfrutado muchísimo esta lectura por su desarrollo, oscuras escenas, misterio, personajes variopintos y el cómo transita por diferentes tipos de terror, sigo encontrando que tiene ciertos detalles que no me cierran del todo, pero son eso, detalles. Me sigue pareciendo una gran obra en su conjunto y más aún con la particularidad de su estructura y construcción. Además de ser gran influencia y precursora dentro del género.
Nuevamente he disfrutado muchísimo esta lectura por su desarrollo, oscuras escenas, misterio, personajes variopintos y el cómo transita por diferentes tipos de terror, sigo encontrando que tiene ciertos detalles que no me cierran del todo, pero son eso, detalles. Me sigue pareciendo una gran obra en su conjunto y más aún con la particularidad de su estructura y construcción. Además de ser gran influencia y precursora dentro del género.
September 12, 2015
El galés Arthur Machen (1860-1947) fue todo un referente del género de terror. Su literatura está fuertemente enraizada por lo religioso y lo pagano, y sus escenarios están muy próximos a la Naturaleza. Y es que el folclore está muy presente en sus relatos, cuya imaginación sugiere leyendas y mitos, hadas y gnomos por igual. Algunos de sus cuentos, como ‘El pueblo blanco’, ‘El sello negro’ o ‘El polvo blanco’, están considerados como clásicos indiscutibles. En palabras de H.P. Lovecraft: ”Entre los creadores actuales del miedo cósmico que han alcanzado el más alto nivel artístico son pocos los que pueden compararse con Arthur Machen. Su poderosa producción de horror, a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, sigue siendo única en su clase y marca una época distinta en la historia de este género literario”.
En 1895, Arthur Machen publicó ‘Los tres impostores’, original libro compuesto por diversos relatos entrelazados. En esta novela corta, se nos presenta a Mr. Phillips y Mr. Dyson, donde este último se verá envuelto en un extraño suceso relacionado con un Tiberio de oro. A partir de aquí, estos dos caballeros ingleses se irán encontrando con los personajes más variopintos, cuyas vivencias pasarán a relatarles, siempre en torno a hechos sobrenaturales, misteriosos y macabros. Y lo más curioso es que todo parece girar en torno a un enigmático joven moreno con anteojos.
El lector, al igual que Dyson y Phillips, se convierte en un mero testigo de las historias que les son transmitidas, tal que si de un cómplice se tratara. A través de la prosa y de la atmósfera de misterio desplegadas por Machen, iremos avanzando, en un crescendo cada vez más macabro, hasta el desenlace final, que cerrará el bucle.
En 1895, Arthur Machen publicó ‘Los tres impostores’, original libro compuesto por diversos relatos entrelazados. En esta novela corta, se nos presenta a Mr. Phillips y Mr. Dyson, donde este último se verá envuelto en un extraño suceso relacionado con un Tiberio de oro. A partir de aquí, estos dos caballeros ingleses se irán encontrando con los personajes más variopintos, cuyas vivencias pasarán a relatarles, siempre en torno a hechos sobrenaturales, misteriosos y macabros. Y lo más curioso es que todo parece girar en torno a un enigmático joven moreno con anteojos.
El lector, al igual que Dyson y Phillips, se convierte en un mero testigo de las historias que les son transmitidas, tal que si de un cómplice se tratara. A través de la prosa y de la atmósfera de misterio desplegadas por Machen, iremos avanzando, en un crescendo cada vez más macabro, hasta el desenlace final, que cerrará el bucle.
August 1, 2020
This is my first Machen's book, and its been kind of a unique read. The opening passages setup up for a weird ride building up on composition of stories within stories. Main protagonist, certain Mr Dyson, happens to come across multiple characters, all somehow related to elusive "bespectacled man". Throughout, the narrative changed the gears often, shifting from leisurely regard to a sudden dash in space of few pages.
The second level tales can easily be stand alone short stories. These have served an inspiration for likes of Lovecraft, which is an attestation to the quality in its own right, with each one being disquieting and mysterious. "The Novel of the Black Seal" deals with ancient horror of forgotten lore and myth, "The Novel of the White Powder" has harrowing theme of decay, and "The Novel of the Black Seal" is about eerie melancholy making the very nature sound oppressive.
Its a disappointment then about the purpose of these smaller contained tales towards main arc feel disconcerted. And the overlying story itself while mysterious and gory, might be the weakest link in the book. Despite it all not coming together as a tightly bound parts of a single novel, the ending itself was quite jarring.
The eeriness creates bizarre after-impressions that lingered in recessions of mind late into the night.
https://maniactalkies.wordpress.com/2...
The second level tales can easily be stand alone short stories. These have served an inspiration for likes of Lovecraft, which is an attestation to the quality in its own right, with each one being disquieting and mysterious. "The Novel of the Black Seal" deals with ancient horror of forgotten lore and myth, "The Novel of the White Powder" has harrowing theme of decay, and "The Novel of the Black Seal" is about eerie melancholy making the very nature sound oppressive.
Its a disappointment then about the purpose of these smaller contained tales towards main arc feel disconcerted. And the overlying story itself while mysterious and gory, might be the weakest link in the book. Despite it all not coming together as a tightly bound parts of a single novel, the ending itself was quite jarring.
The eeriness creates bizarre after-impressions that lingered in recessions of mind late into the night.
https://maniactalkies.wordpress.com/2...
January 6, 2023
All hail Arthur Machen - King of Mystery and a Welshman who loved London.
"I see you can find the picturesque in London; to me this great town is as I see it is to you- the study and the love of life."
Busted creepy hands, eerie stories about occult rituals and the fae, confusion, lies, trickery- an excellent example of embedded narrative, but Machen bravely takes on at least five layers of intense, atmospheric stories within stories - a densely nested plotline that requires one's entire attention to separate possible facts from improbable realities - either that or one is left at the mercy of the author - an author whose idea of mercy is mystical madness.
"Still, you must be aware that living men do not possess dead hands."
Since this was published in 1895, it's easy to trace Machen's influence on Literature; from Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood to Lord Dunsany, Tolkien and Borges, even Rowling and GRR Martin. Yet Machen somehow manages to stay more modern than the modernists. Commendable, not a writer to be taken lightly.
"I yield to fantasy. I cannot withstand the influence of the grotesque. Here, where all is falling into dimness and dissolution, and we walk in cedarn gloom, and the very air of heaven goes mouldering to the lungs, I cannot remain commonplace. I look at that deep glow on the panes, and the house lies all enchanted; that very room, I tell you, is within all blood and fire."
"I see you can find the picturesque in London; to me this great town is as I see it is to you- the study and the love of life."
Busted creepy hands, eerie stories about occult rituals and the fae, confusion, lies, trickery- an excellent example of embedded narrative, but Machen bravely takes on at least five layers of intense, atmospheric stories within stories - a densely nested plotline that requires one's entire attention to separate possible facts from improbable realities - either that or one is left at the mercy of the author - an author whose idea of mercy is mystical madness.
"Still, you must be aware that living men do not possess dead hands."
Since this was published in 1895, it's easy to trace Machen's influence on Literature; from Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood to Lord Dunsany, Tolkien and Borges, even Rowling and GRR Martin. Yet Machen somehow manages to stay more modern than the modernists. Commendable, not a writer to be taken lightly.
"I yield to fantasy. I cannot withstand the influence of the grotesque. Here, where all is falling into dimness and dissolution, and we walk in cedarn gloom, and the very air of heaven goes mouldering to the lungs, I cannot remain commonplace. I look at that deep glow on the panes, and the house lies all enchanted; that very room, I tell you, is within all blood and fire."
March 21, 2020
"This history, if it chance to fall into good hands, may, perhaps, be of service in warning young men of the dangers and pitfalls that most surely must accompany any deviation from the ways of rectitude.
Arthur Machen was admired by both Jorge Luis Borges and H. P. Lovecraft. In one of his letters to Frank Belknap Long, the latter said that "Machen is a titan, perhaps the greatest living author, and I must read everything of his". On the other hand, Aleister Crowley was also a fan of Machen and believed that his works contained 'magical truth'.
A masterpiece of the Decadent movement, The Three Impostors constitutes a series of interrelated horror stories centered on a 'young man with spectacles' and a rare coin: the Gold Tiberius. The opening chapter makes sense, and becomes utterly horrifying, after one has read through the entire novel. Only after finishing the whole book one understands what it is all about.
Several parts of the The Three Impostors can be read and enjoyed on their own. In fact, both the Novel of the Black Seal and the Novel of the White Powder are anthologized as independent stories, since they can be read as autonomous works. Incidentally, both of these exerted an enormous influence on Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror is, in a way, a remake of the Novel of the White Powder.
The protagonist of The Three Impostors, if there is one, is a literary dilettante called Dyson. Dyson, who moonlights as a private detective of sorts, has much of Doyle's Holmes and Poe's Auguste Dupin, although he's not nearly as fleshed out as Sherlock Holmes. Throughout the book, Dyson has several encounters with the impostors, but only at the end he realizes who they are and the macabre role the play in the events of the novel.
It is a pity that Arthur Machen is not more widely read. His works are exquisitely written and contain much occult lore; but, as is the case with most great artists, he is obscured by amateurish and mediocre authors who earn millions and receive much undeserved praise.
Arthur Machen was admired by both Jorge Luis Borges and H. P. Lovecraft. In one of his letters to Frank Belknap Long, the latter said that "Machen is a titan, perhaps the greatest living author, and I must read everything of his". On the other hand, Aleister Crowley was also a fan of Machen and believed that his works contained 'magical truth'.
A masterpiece of the Decadent movement, The Three Impostors constitutes a series of interrelated horror stories centered on a 'young man with spectacles' and a rare coin: the Gold Tiberius. The opening chapter makes sense, and becomes utterly horrifying, after one has read through the entire novel. Only after finishing the whole book one understands what it is all about.
Several parts of the The Three Impostors can be read and enjoyed on their own. In fact, both the Novel of the Black Seal and the Novel of the White Powder are anthologized as independent stories, since they can be read as autonomous works. Incidentally, both of these exerted an enormous influence on Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror is, in a way, a remake of the Novel of the White Powder.
The protagonist of The Three Impostors, if there is one, is a literary dilettante called Dyson. Dyson, who moonlights as a private detective of sorts, has much of Doyle's Holmes and Poe's Auguste Dupin, although he's not nearly as fleshed out as Sherlock Holmes. Throughout the book, Dyson has several encounters with the impostors, but only at the end he realizes who they are and the macabre role the play in the events of the novel.
It is a pity that Arthur Machen is not more widely read. His works are exquisitely written and contain much occult lore; but, as is the case with most great artists, he is obscured by amateurish and mediocre authors who earn millions and receive much undeserved praise.
Read
March 12, 2019Alacakaranlık sisler ardında, her an her şeyin olabileceği (hatta olmasının beklendiği) kirli bir Londra atmosferinde içimize zerk edilecek olan hikâyelerin kahramanları Dyson ve Phillips. Hâli vakti yerinde, dünyevi dertlerle işi olmayan bu iki centilmen, İngiliz burjuvazisinin de üyeleri. Kitabın giriş hikâyesinin son paragrafında Dyson’ın söylediği şu sözler nasıl bir hikâyeler zinciriyle karşı karşıya kalacağımızı ve Arthur Machen dünyasını göstermesi açısından önemli nitelikte:
“Fanteziye kaçıyorum, groteskin intibaını kaldıramıyorum. Her şeyin loşluk ve yokluğa gömüldüğü bu yerde sedirden bir kasvet içinde yürüyoruz, gök ciğerlerimize çürüyen bir hava üflüyor, beylik sözler söyleyemem, bunu yapamam. Camların derin parıltısına bakıyorum, ev düpedüz büyülü; seni temin ederim ki şu oda kan ve ateş içinde.”
- Aynur Kulak
İncelemenin tamamı için: https://kayiprihtim.com/haberler/edeb...
“Fanteziye kaçıyorum, groteskin intibaını kaldıramıyorum. Her şeyin loşluk ve yokluğa gömüldüğü bu yerde sedirden bir kasvet içinde yürüyoruz, gök ciğerlerimize çürüyen bir hava üflüyor, beylik sözler söyleyemem, bunu yapamam. Camların derin parıltısına bakıyorum, ev düpedüz büyülü; seni temin ederim ki şu oda kan ve ateş içinde.”
- Aynur Kulak
İncelemenin tamamı için: https://kayiprihtim.com/haberler/edeb...
April 29, 2023
Meh. Not horrible but not my favorite Machen. I did enjoy the stories that the impostors told, but these tales really didn't contribute anything to the main plot. And Machen, like many other writers of his era, liked to use lots of words. All of the words. I mean, why use one word when eight will suffice? I have to confess that I skimmed over a few lengthy philosophical ramblings.
But, still, I found parts of this book to be entertaining and you definitely have to give Machen points for creativity. Three stars.
But, still, I found parts of this book to be entertaining and you definitely have to give Machen points for creativity. Three stars.
January 19, 2016
I thought this was great, and enjoyed it a lot more than the more well known Great God Pan. This isn't really a novel but a group of interconnected shorts. The ways in which they are connected are strange and not always apparent, but there is a subtle thread weaving through everything that becomes somewhat clear by the gruesome end of the book. The tone of the episodes varies from the somewhat whimsical to the quick and punchily horrid to the deep and mysterious.
"The Novel of the Black Seal" was a real revelation because I noticed some things that must have influenced some later horror films and books. it is a really creepy story that connects Machen's obsession with ancient malevolent fairy-like beings into the bizarre world of the Impostors. "The Novel of the White Powder" seems to be very allegorical, and like The Great God Pan, comes across as being a bit stiff and proper if you know what I mean. I'm not sure what the white powder really symbolizes but Machen is linking it here with the idea of sin and the fall of man. Of course when I think "white powder" cocaine is the first thing that comes to mind, but the substance ingested by the poor bloke in this story is ...something altogether more deadly and catastrophically destructive. There's a cold and lonely tale about a traveler on the American frontier who encounters a town doing mysterious dealings with a wily devil-like figure. There are impersonations and half-truths, and many hints that the narrators of these various stories are not entirely reliable. It's all very potent with that heavy weirdness that attracts certain readers; I think you know who you are. Fans of The King in yellow will probably like this, but Machen is probably a better writer than Chambers.
"The Novel of the Black Seal" was a real revelation because I noticed some things that must have influenced some later horror films and books. it is a really creepy story that connects Machen's obsession with ancient malevolent fairy-like beings into the bizarre world of the Impostors. "The Novel of the White Powder" seems to be very allegorical, and like The Great God Pan, comes across as being a bit stiff and proper if you know what I mean. I'm not sure what the white powder really symbolizes but Machen is linking it here with the idea of sin and the fall of man. Of course when I think "white powder" cocaine is the first thing that comes to mind, but the substance ingested by the poor bloke in this story is ...something altogether more deadly and catastrophically destructive. There's a cold and lonely tale about a traveler on the American frontier who encounters a town doing mysterious dealings with a wily devil-like figure. There are impersonations and half-truths, and many hints that the narrators of these various stories are not entirely reliable. It's all very potent with that heavy weirdness that attracts certain readers; I think you know who you are. Fans of The King in yellow will probably like this, but Machen is probably a better writer than Chambers.
January 30, 2016
It was bit boring and slow-paced, but it is excellent novel, full of imagination and creativity.
October 29, 2018
5/5
“Aquí, donde todo se hunde en la oscuridad y el decaimiento, mientras caminamos a la sombra de los cedros y hasta el aire que nos entra en los pulmones parece gastado, no puedo mantenerme ecuánime. Veo ese resplandor profundo en las ventanas y la casa entera queda encantada; esa habitación, se lo digo yo, está llena por dentro de sangre y de fuego”.
Nunca imaginé que una humilde librería de lance en un barrio de Valencia pudiera ocultar semejante portento literario. Tampoco puedo ignorar el hecho de que la experiencia literaria se ha visto enriquecida por mi copia de la novela, repleta de anotaciones y subrayados de un antiguo propietario. Además, se puede decir encontré el libro en circunstancias algo… peculiares. Pues cuando entré a la tiendecita no vi el ejemplar, y tratándose de Machen sé que hubiera llamado mi atención. Sin embargo, al pasar de nuevo frente a la sección de terror el libro estaba en la primera fila. Sabía perfectamente que el dependiente no se había movido de la caja y solo había tres personas en la tienda: mi amiga, una chica que estaba hablando con el dependiente y yo.
¿Qué razones tendría el antiguo propietario de la novela para deshacerse de ella? Las mejores partes de "Los tres impostores" están subrayadas y llenas de sus comentarios entusiastas. La verdad, siento que solo la muerte podría haber separado este libro de un lector tan apasionado. ¿Será este el sexto relato de “Los tres impostores”?
Los tres impostores (1895) muestra una estructura algo atípica para la época, y especialmente en la novela victoriana de terror, la cual Machen pone patas arriba en tan solo 178 páginas. Cada relato contiene un texto que se puede leer de forma independiente, una historia o novela paralela a la trama. Bicheando por la red he visto que aparecen sueltas algunas de estas “novelas” en antologías de terror, como "El polvo blanco" en la renombrada antología de "Los Mitos de Cthulhu". No obstante, lo que yo sugiero es leer "Los tres impostores" a modo de novela y, tras terminarla, releer el primer capítulo. Recomiendo encarecidamente hacer esto último. Por otra parte, el hilo narrativo principal lo llevan conjuntamente el señor Dyson y el señor Phillips, dos caballeros de bolsillo holgado, gustos extraños y vida bohemia, que filosofan constantemente sobre la realidad, la fantasía, la materia, la superstición y otras cuestiones del estilo. En las vidas de ambos aparecen personajes extraños que los interpelan con historias macabras.
No quiero desvelar mucho más sobre la trama en mi reseña porque siento que es una novela a la que hay que acudir virgen, al menos en este aspecto. Pero brevemente comentaré que mis novelas favoritas fueron “Novela del Sello negro”, por su ambientación en ignotos bosques escoceses y la “Novela del Valle Oscuro”, ambientada en el Estados Unidos más profundo. Por supuesto, mención especial para la “Novela del Polvo Blanco” o “Vinum Sabbati”, incluida en los antecedentes de Los Mitos y claro precedente de la novella H. P. Lovecraft, “El caso de Charles Dexter Ward”.
“Me encontraba en medio de una inmensidad que me hacía pensar en las tinieblas exteriores del universo; pasaba de lo desconocido a lo desconocido por un camino señalado por faroles como por estrellas, y a ambos lados se extendía una región misteriosa, en la que habitaban y dormían miríadas de seres humanos”.
Para mí la maestría de Machen no radica tanto en la trama de sus historias como en su prosa. Tengo la seria certeza de que adoraría cualquier historia de terror si la escribiera él. ¿Por qué? Porque su prosa, tan bella y tan cuidada, no solo tiene la finalidad de deleitar. Su ambición es que las ideas y sensaciones sugeridas taladren la cabeza del lector y que el icor macheniano corrompa nuestro subconsciente. Porque su prosa no es belleza por belleza, es un acto funcional envuelto en unas elegantes vestiduras. Machen logra que Lovecraft descienda a un plano terrenal. Y mientras las historias del autor galés me parecen cubo indescifrable, la narrativa lovecraftiana es como una inmensa biblioteca repleta de libros en un idioma que llegado a comprender más que a mi propia alma. Lovecraft odiaba sus historias. Y pregunto yo: ¿quién no tildaría sus creaciones de profundamente prosaicas después de leer a Machen? No creo que jamás existir un autor que pueda superar en el género de terror al galés. Simplemente, es imposible.
Las ambientaciones góticas, la naturaleza primigenia corrompida, la constante sensación de que no conocemos absolutamente nada de lo que nos rodea, los ojos de Helen y el hombre de las lentes son los ingredientes de un cóctel delicioso e inolvidable.
“Me imagino que esta casa resuena toda la noche con cien voces, las voces de la materia que asume lenta y seguramente otras formas, la voz del gusano que roe al fin el corazón del mismo roble, y la voz de la piedra que tritura la piedra, y la voz de la conquista del Tiempo”.
May 6, 2023
This was an entertaining book and while I've only read the one book by Arthur Machen I can see his influence on Lovecraft. Machen's offers similar macabre thrills that the later Lovecraft wrote but with non of the poetic flair.
November 5, 2022
An episodic horror story.
CONTENTS:
PROLOGUE
ADVENTURE OF THE GOLD TIBERIUS
THE ENCOUNTER OF THE PAVEMENT
NOVEL OF THE DARK VALLEY
ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING BROTHER
NOVEL OF THE BLACK SEAL
INCIDENT OF THE PRIVATE BAR
THE DECORATIVE IMAGINATION
NOVEL OF THE IRON MAID
THE RECLUSE OF BAYSWATER
NOVEL OF THE WHITE POWDER
STRANGE OCCURENCE IN CLERKENWELL
HISTORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH SPECTACLES
ADVENTURE OF THE DESERTED RESIDENCE
CONTENTS:
PROLOGUE
ADVENTURE OF THE GOLD TIBERIUS
THE ENCOUNTER OF THE PAVEMENT
NOVEL OF THE DARK VALLEY
ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING BROTHER
NOVEL OF THE BLACK SEAL
INCIDENT OF THE PRIVATE BAR
THE DECORATIVE IMAGINATION
NOVEL OF THE IRON MAID
THE RECLUSE OF BAYSWATER
NOVEL OF THE WHITE POWDER
STRANGE OCCURENCE IN CLERKENWELL
HISTORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH SPECTACLES
ADVENTURE OF THE DESERTED RESIDENCE
October 11, 2020
5/10. Leído en enero de 2011.
Le he puesto un 5 raspadillo en las calificaciones. Explico tan baja nota, siempre para mi gusto muy particular.
El lenguaje utilizado es muy rebuscado. Hay muchas oraciones largas, largas, con multitud de oraciones subordinadas que entorpecen la lectura. Varias de dichas oraciones las tuve que leer dos veces para aclararme.
Si hubiese estudiado letras diría que en varios párrafos las comas y puntos están mal colocados. Como abandoné las letras hace ya mucho me contento con decir que el estilo al puntuar me ha parecido raro.
La historia o historias : no se como decirlo, una mezcla entre “no me han atraído” y “¿esto es terror?”. En la narración, por ejemplo en el pasaje de la cabaña en el monte, la institutriz se siente aterrada. ¿Y por qué, si el lugar era idílico y no había pasado nada malo?. Bueno, que no se bien como expresarlo, pero el caso es que los personajes no me han parecido atrayentes, el estilo de escritura tampoco y la historia en sí es lo que ha salvado el naufragio absoluto y la ha dado el 5 que le aprueba justito.
Le he puesto un 5 raspadillo en las calificaciones. Explico tan baja nota, siempre para mi gusto muy particular.
El lenguaje utilizado es muy rebuscado. Hay muchas oraciones largas, largas, con multitud de oraciones subordinadas que entorpecen la lectura. Varias de dichas oraciones las tuve que leer dos veces para aclararme.
Si hubiese estudiado letras diría que en varios párrafos las comas y puntos están mal colocados. Como abandoné las letras hace ya mucho me contento con decir que el estilo al puntuar me ha parecido raro.
La historia o historias : no se como decirlo, una mezcla entre “no me han atraído” y “¿esto es terror?”. En la narración, por ejemplo en el pasaje de la cabaña en el monte, la institutriz se siente aterrada. ¿Y por qué, si el lugar era idílico y no había pasado nada malo?. Bueno, que no se bien como expresarlo, pero el caso es que los personajes no me han parecido atrayentes, el estilo de escritura tampoco y la historia en sí es lo que ha salvado el naufragio absoluto y la ha dado el 5 que le aprueba justito.
September 27, 2024
The Three Imposter by Author Machen is listed in Ballantine adult fantasy series. For this reason, this is why I read it and was enchanted by the stories in The Three Imposters. As the title, the three imposters are the narrators in the book; they tell their stories without very grounded knowledges to the stories which they told to each others. It’s hard to detect that which stories that they told are fabricate or actually happened ?
I think the structures in The Three Imposters that were told by the three unreliable narrators, stories within stories that which add the gothic vibe to it. Myths, folklores, legend are weaved together into a horror book. The reading experience is quite good for me. Even though the story would get confusing when the story progress in the middle. Often time somethings that doesn’t tell is the clue of understanding what was actually happening to the story. Not a typical horror book to readers to read.
Personal rating: for me at least 7.5 out of 10 stars.
I think the structures in The Three Imposters that were told by the three unreliable narrators, stories within stories that which add the gothic vibe to it. Myths, folklores, legend are weaved together into a horror book. The reading experience is quite good for me. Even though the story would get confusing when the story progress in the middle. Often time somethings that doesn’t tell is the clue of understanding what was actually happening to the story. Not a typical horror book to readers to read.
Personal rating: for me at least 7.5 out of 10 stars.
July 10, 2019
Lo magnífico de esta novela es su estructura. Desde un principio sabes que todo cuanto se va a contar en ella es una farsa orquestada por tres impostores que irán relatando una serie de historias truculentas a los dos personajes principales que se irán adentrando, conducidos por esos tres farsantes, en una trama en la que no se sabe muy bien cuál es su papel. Al final resulta que no es más que un ejercicio narrativo para engarzar varios relatos fantásticos, de desigual intensidad pero de poderoso influjo imaginativo, que demuestran que Machen es uno de los padres de la narrativa "de terror" escrita en el siglo XX.
Lovecraft no hubiese sido nadie sin Machen.
Sin embargo con este tipo de narrativa siempre tengo la sensación de que no acaba de ser redonda... quizás sea porque, al menos en narrativa, el horror nunca debe ser descrito.
Lovecraft no hubiese sido nadie sin Machen.
Sin embargo con este tipo de narrativa siempre tengo la sensación de que no acaba de ser redonda... quizás sea porque, al menos en narrativa, el horror nunca debe ser descrito.
July 1, 2012
The Three Impostors reminds me of a nineteenth century Pulp Fiction with its collection of little narratives with their intriguing titles - The Gold Tiberius, The Novel of the White Powder and so on. It is a tale of coincidence, perhaps supernaturally arranged, that embroils itself around two young friends Dyson, the cynical writer, and Phillips, the fanciful scientist, after they find a coin of legendary value. For fans of the Victorian Gothic, Machen is essential and The Three Impostors is a great example - decadent, heathen and genuinely creepy.
January 1, 2012
While the Chaosium version (not an edition) is superior, with a scholarly essay by J. T. Joshi, there's a great deal of charm in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy. The essay by Lin Carter, "Bagdad-on-the-Thames" is singularly remarkable because it is the first essay by Carter that I've read where he plays it straight and reveals a literary and well-read side to his character. Unfortunately it also comes off as less than rigorous, because he makes some statements leading me to think that he didn't understand Machen's writings.
June 10, 2018
A manic, purposely convoluted and bizarre narrative nevertheless operates on a clear internal logic of mood and comes together for an oddly disquieting ending. Contains noted classics of supernatural horror literature Novel of the Black Seal and Novel of the White Powder, and while the rest of the book isn't quite as perfect, the work as a whole succeeds in painting London as a mysterious set of convolutions in which anything could happen.
Love it. Classic Machen.
Love it. Classic Machen.
July 1, 2016
About midway through this novel I was exhilarated with unabashed excitement. I thought this would be one of the greatest, most brilliant things ever. But my excitement soon turned to ashes coming nearer and nearer to the final stretches once I realized far too many topics had been introduced to resolve it all in the end. I was correct in this assumption but at the same time I found it an immensely rewarding read. After I read it the first time I skimmed through the entire book and hunted for those clues that would help me understand what the fuck I had just read better. Once I was finished with this, once I found the missing links then I had a haha moment and I came to realize what Arthur Machen was doing with this work. By doing this I was able to step back from the story and focus on the bigger picture, not just the little details and I came to realize that the complexity of this novel is almost entirely illusionary. To my chagrin the thin thread this book has for a plot is actually quite simple. Almost everything is smoke and mirrors. Below I’ve enclosed a totally spoiler filled review. So let this review be your guide weary reader!
Keep in mind when reading it that much of what occurs is irrelevant. There are only four things you need to pay attention to: the prologue, the characters Davies and Phillipps, a gold Tiberius, and the man with spectacles. Particularly with the prologue pay attention to the three characters that show up therein, two men and a woman. All three of them show up later and they tell stories but under assumed names and the woman shows up twice but each time under a different disguise (she talks of her brother both times but the stories are completely different of course). These stories they tell are short stories with some common threads interconnecting all of them, although that link is a little too tenuous in my view. The stories they tell constitute most of the book. To discern which character in the prologue is who later on you can see clues in similarities of description. This is the reason this novel is called Three Impostors. Also in the prologue you hear them say goodbye to different names that at the time you are unfamiliar with but are the names they used later on. This is symbolic of the imposters shedding these false identities since they don’t need them anymore, having triumphed. Again pay close attention to this.
The premise of the novel merely involves a spectacled man who joins some occult organization – the impostors are a part of this organization – and helps them steal a gold Tiberius. Once he realizes how bad these people are he runs away with the gold Tiberius and flees from them. So during the novel you have these three impostors looking for the man with spectacles. Caught in the middle of this are two intellectual characters named Davies and Phillipps who I believe are really the heart of this stories. In the early parts of the novel Davies and Phillipps have intellectual arguments about literature, both philosophically very different from each other on the subject. Phillipps is very much a realist, believing it is the manner that a story is told in that is what truly matters, more so than the subject because a true master can make even the most mundane tale compelling. Davies on the other hand believes in the fantastical, that the great writer would be wasting his time to spend it on mundane trifles.
Early in the story Davies – who we follow for most of the novel – finds the gold Tiberius by chance when he sees two running past, one chasing after the other – one of these undoubtedly the man with spectacles - and when the gold Tiberius is dropped he ends up embroiled in this whole predicament by pure bad luck on his part. While looking for the man with spectacles the three impostors run into Davies at different times and locations and so tell their stories to him. These stories are stories of the weird and macabre. Many interesting concepts are introduced but very few of them are explored fully including lore about fairies which I must say was the most fascinating aspect of the novel for me. Like I said before you see some common threads running through these stories but in the end none of it is significant, only the gold Tiberius, the three impostors, and the man with the spectacles matter. I get the sense that all of the stories these impostors were telling were bullshit, that they told these stories only to try and get the person who they were telling it to, to give them information on the whereabouts of the man with spectacles and in most cases that was obviously Davies.
There is no doubt that Machen was a visionary and the father of weird fiction but there are some serious flaws with his work. While his prose is highly imaginative and elegant the voices of his characters are hard to differentiate and like I said, he has some fascinating concepts that aren’t explored fully. It would have taken a much longer novel to fully explore these concepts, or maybe it would have been better to just write a compilation of linked short stories instead of presenting this mishmash of ideas as a novel when in reality the threads linking the short stories are far too ambiguous to call it so. I think you could literally make a novel based on most of the stories contained within here. There is definitely enough concepts to explore to do that. So it is fitting that each story is called the “novel of” something….like “the Novel of the White Power” for example or the “Novel of the Iron Maid.” The fact that the content of these stories was plot wise irrelevant to the main thread of the story beggars the question, what is the point? Well for me the whole point seemed to be that these characters telling these novels were impostors and they being imposters were lying to you the reader. These stories drew away from the focus of what the novel is really supposed about, the stuff introduced at the beginning – again the gold Tiberius and the man with spectacles – and so as a reader I concentrated far too hard on the stories that the impostors told not realizing they were irrelevant and so in this way I lost focus on what the story was really about.
So my advice to future readers would be to not focus too much in what the impostors are telling you. I was weary of these characters when I read it as they weren’t to be trusted but still I thought what they were telling our main characters would be more relevant. I guess I was wrong though. Don’t get me wrong though. I immensely enjoyed this book. Individually the short stories that compose the novel are great but as a coherent whole they are sourly lacking. You often hear people say a novel is greater than the sum of its parts. Well here it’s just the opposite. The parts are far greater than the whole.
Keep in mind when reading it that much of what occurs is irrelevant. There are only four things you need to pay attention to: the prologue, the characters Davies and Phillipps, a gold Tiberius, and the man with spectacles. Particularly with the prologue pay attention to the three characters that show up therein, two men and a woman. All three of them show up later and they tell stories but under assumed names and the woman shows up twice but each time under a different disguise (she talks of her brother both times but the stories are completely different of course). These stories they tell are short stories with some common threads interconnecting all of them, although that link is a little too tenuous in my view. The stories they tell constitute most of the book. To discern which character in the prologue is who later on you can see clues in similarities of description. This is the reason this novel is called Three Impostors. Also in the prologue you hear them say goodbye to different names that at the time you are unfamiliar with but are the names they used later on. This is symbolic of the imposters shedding these false identities since they don’t need them anymore, having triumphed. Again pay close attention to this.
The premise of the novel merely involves a spectacled man who joins some occult organization – the impostors are a part of this organization – and helps them steal a gold Tiberius. Once he realizes how bad these people are he runs away with the gold Tiberius and flees from them. So during the novel you have these three impostors looking for the man with spectacles. Caught in the middle of this are two intellectual characters named Davies and Phillipps who I believe are really the heart of this stories. In the early parts of the novel Davies and Phillipps have intellectual arguments about literature, both philosophically very different from each other on the subject. Phillipps is very much a realist, believing it is the manner that a story is told in that is what truly matters, more so than the subject because a true master can make even the most mundane tale compelling. Davies on the other hand believes in the fantastical, that the great writer would be wasting his time to spend it on mundane trifles.
Early in the story Davies – who we follow for most of the novel – finds the gold Tiberius by chance when he sees two running past, one chasing after the other – one of these undoubtedly the man with spectacles - and when the gold Tiberius is dropped he ends up embroiled in this whole predicament by pure bad luck on his part. While looking for the man with spectacles the three impostors run into Davies at different times and locations and so tell their stories to him. These stories are stories of the weird and macabre. Many interesting concepts are introduced but very few of them are explored fully including lore about fairies which I must say was the most fascinating aspect of the novel for me. Like I said before you see some common threads running through these stories but in the end none of it is significant, only the gold Tiberius, the three impostors, and the man with the spectacles matter. I get the sense that all of the stories these impostors were telling were bullshit, that they told these stories only to try and get the person who they were telling it to, to give them information on the whereabouts of the man with spectacles and in most cases that was obviously Davies.
There is no doubt that Machen was a visionary and the father of weird fiction but there are some serious flaws with his work. While his prose is highly imaginative and elegant the voices of his characters are hard to differentiate and like I said, he has some fascinating concepts that aren’t explored fully. It would have taken a much longer novel to fully explore these concepts, or maybe it would have been better to just write a compilation of linked short stories instead of presenting this mishmash of ideas as a novel when in reality the threads linking the short stories are far too ambiguous to call it so. I think you could literally make a novel based on most of the stories contained within here. There is definitely enough concepts to explore to do that. So it is fitting that each story is called the “novel of” something….like “the Novel of the White Power” for example or the “Novel of the Iron Maid.” The fact that the content of these stories was plot wise irrelevant to the main thread of the story beggars the question, what is the point? Well for me the whole point seemed to be that these characters telling these novels were impostors and they being imposters were lying to you the reader. These stories drew away from the focus of what the novel is really supposed about, the stuff introduced at the beginning – again the gold Tiberius and the man with spectacles – and so as a reader I concentrated far too hard on the stories that the impostors told not realizing they were irrelevant and so in this way I lost focus on what the story was really about.
So my advice to future readers would be to not focus too much in what the impostors are telling you. I was weary of these characters when I read it as they weren’t to be trusted but still I thought what they were telling our main characters would be more relevant. I guess I was wrong though. Don’t get me wrong though. I immensely enjoyed this book. Individually the short stories that compose the novel are great but as a coherent whole they are sourly lacking. You often hear people say a novel is greater than the sum of its parts. Well here it’s just the opposite. The parts are far greater than the whole.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2020
I love this book and can't believe that I hadn't read it before. It stands as prominently for me in the WEIRD as The Willows or Call of Cthulhu. Genuinely unsettling and fascinatingly creepy, The Three Imposters is the genuine deal.
December 23, 2021
Well, I had no idea until I suddenly came across it that one of my favorite writers of weird fiction had experimented with one of my favorite forms, the novel-in-frames. Thus I found The Three Imposters delightful--delightfully macabre, that is. While it's not as complex, original, or quite as entertaining as Apuleius's Metamorphoses or even Potacki's pseudo-Gothic The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, this Victorian jigsaw puzzle, with its London streets, literary gentleman characters, allusions to Yeats and Crowley, secret society, Roman (rather than medieval) Gothic terrors, Little People, antiquarianism, and at least one scene of unadulterated horror (at the end), is wholly satisfying to those of us who love Sherlock Holmes, Victorian Gothic, and Lovecraft (who stole egregiously from this novel). It's not really a five star novel, I guess, in terms of being a classic--but it clicks too many of my guilty pleasure boxes not to be so honored.
June 9, 2022
Such late-Victorian blabbering I've never seen!
March 13, 2019
Söz konusu Gotik edebiyatı olduğunda kafamda bir ayrım oluşuyor: Dil ve kurgu! Gotik ve korku edebiyatında dil bakımından biraz daha standart sayılabilecek eserlere rastlarken bu eserlerin kurgu açısından muazzam özgün olduğunu rahatlıkla söyleyebilirim. Burada tabi ki Poe’yu büyük bir istisna olarak görüyorum. Fakat Arthur Machen’in Üç Sahtekar kitabı, bu ayrımı ortadan kaldırabilecek kadar güçlü bir dile ve kurguya sahip oluşuyla beni çok iyi yakaladı.
Kitap, olaylar zincirinin hangi halkasında olduğumuzu tam anlayamadığımız fakat sonuç bölümü olduğu aşikar bir açılış bölümüyle karşılıyor. Peşinden de bu ilk bölümün finalinde tanıştığımız Dyson karakterinin altın bir sikke bulmasıyla başlayan olaylar ve karakterlerin birbirlerine anlattıkları karanlık hikayeler takip ediyor.
Kitabın hikayesi Okült ve grotesk ögelere dayansa da Arthur Machen yaratmak istediği duyguyu bilinmezlik üzerinden vermeyi tercih etmiş. Örneğin kitabın bölümlerinde de rastlanan canavar, dönüşüm vb. gibi olayların kendisinin yani o yaşam formunun korktuculuğu değil, neden-sonuç ilişkisinin bilinmemesi var ve bu gerilim son sayfaya kadar kendisini çok iyi koruyor. Bir diğer mesele ise Machen’in güçlü dilini ve haikyenin temelindeki bilinmezliği, katmanlı ve bir o kadar dolambaçlı bir kurgu etrafında örmesi. Kitabın bölümlerinde bir hikayeye dahil olurkenbazen bir sonraki paragrafta bazen de bir alt bölüm içerisinde anlatan kişinin veya hikayenin bambaşka bir hal aldığı başka bir katmana giriş yapıyorsunuz. Machen bunu o kadar ustaca yapıyor ki kendinizi bir an kitapta da tema olarak işlenen dönemin Londra’sı gibi karanlık, ürkütücü ve karmaşık sokaklarda kaybolmuş gibi hissediyorsunuz. Kim kimdi diye karıştırayazdığınızda olabilir. Hatta olayların çözüme ulaştığı final bölümünde eksik bir şeyler kaldığı hissi kaplıyor sizi. Gözden kaçmış bir şeyler daha var diye. Bu yönden kitabın Gotik türüne ait olduğu kadar polisiye türüne de ait olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Kitabın dehşet veren bir görüntüyle son noktaya koymasının yanında tüm gizemin kendini hala koruyor oluşu ise kitap bitse de kafanızda bir süre daha yaşamaya devam etmesine neden oluyor. Bu türde uzun süredir bu kadar doyurucu bir eser okumamıştım.
Kitap, olaylar zincirinin hangi halkasında olduğumuzu tam anlayamadığımız fakat sonuç bölümü olduğu aşikar bir açılış bölümüyle karşılıyor. Peşinden de bu ilk bölümün finalinde tanıştığımız Dyson karakterinin altın bir sikke bulmasıyla başlayan olaylar ve karakterlerin birbirlerine anlattıkları karanlık hikayeler takip ediyor.
Kitabın hikayesi Okült ve grotesk ögelere dayansa da Arthur Machen yaratmak istediği duyguyu bilinmezlik üzerinden vermeyi tercih etmiş. Örneğin kitabın bölümlerinde de rastlanan canavar, dönüşüm vb. gibi olayların kendisinin yani o yaşam formunun korktuculuğu değil, neden-sonuç ilişkisinin bilinmemesi var ve bu gerilim son sayfaya kadar kendisini çok iyi koruyor. Bir diğer mesele ise Machen’in güçlü dilini ve haikyenin temelindeki bilinmezliği, katmanlı ve bir o kadar dolambaçlı bir kurgu etrafında örmesi. Kitabın bölümlerinde bir hikayeye dahil olurkenbazen bir sonraki paragrafta bazen de bir alt bölüm içerisinde anlatan kişinin veya hikayenin bambaşka bir hal aldığı başka bir katmana giriş yapıyorsunuz. Machen bunu o kadar ustaca yapıyor ki kendinizi bir an kitapta da tema olarak işlenen dönemin Londra’sı gibi karanlık, ürkütücü ve karmaşık sokaklarda kaybolmuş gibi hissediyorsunuz. Kim kimdi diye karıştırayazdığınızda olabilir. Hatta olayların çözüme ulaştığı final bölümünde eksik bir şeyler kaldığı hissi kaplıyor sizi. Gözden kaçmış bir şeyler daha var diye. Bu yönden kitabın Gotik türüne ait olduğu kadar polisiye türüne de ait olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Kitabın dehşet veren bir görüntüyle son noktaya koymasının yanında tüm gizemin kendini hala koruyor oluşu ise kitap bitse de kafanızda bir süre daha yaşamaya devam etmesine neden oluyor. Bu türde uzun süredir bu kadar doyurucu bir eser okumamıştım.
February 27, 2013
I had previously read The often anthologized 'The novel of the white powder' and 'The novel of the black seal' and was looking forward to experiencing this collection of short stories in its entirety.
The book consist of several short horror stories (woven into a frame story) told to Phillips and Byron, the one a determined rationalist and the other somewhat a dreamer. Thematically the stories revolve around the decay of moral and the arts, somehow connected to a secret society possibly worshipping sloth roman emperor Tiberius and the decadent creature of mythology, Pan (My own point would be that the real devil behind the flattening of culture, moral decay etc. is a much more well known character: Plain Stupidity).
The frame story seems too constructed at times, strained even; a good example is the build up to 'The novel of the black seal': 'My brother is missing, and oh, on a completely different note, here's a story about a professor of ethnology and some secret snakelike subspecies of humanity'.
But when all that is said, 'The three impostors' is still a strong work of fiction. The two aforementioned short stories are classics within the genre and the lesser known 'The novel of the dark valley' also deserves mention.
The book consist of several short horror stories (woven into a frame story) told to Phillips and Byron, the one a determined rationalist and the other somewhat a dreamer. Thematically the stories revolve around the decay of moral and the arts, somehow connected to a secret society possibly worshipping sloth roman emperor Tiberius and the decadent creature of mythology, Pan (My own point would be that the real devil behind the flattening of culture, moral decay etc. is a much more well known character: Plain Stupidity).
The frame story seems too constructed at times, strained even; a good example is the build up to 'The novel of the black seal': 'My brother is missing, and oh, on a completely different note, here's a story about a professor of ethnology and some secret snakelike subspecies of humanity'.
But when all that is said, 'The three impostors' is still a strong work of fiction. The two aforementioned short stories are classics within the genre and the lesser known 'The novel of the dark valley' also deserves mention.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews