PENGUIN CLASSICS

THE WHITE PEOPLE AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES

ARTHUR MACHEN (Arthur Llewelyn Jones), a Welsh author of supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction, was born on March 3, 1863. He grew up in Caerleon, Monmouthshire, and attended boarding school at Hereford Cathedral School. Due to financial constraints, he could not continue his education at university. He moved to London in 1881 and worked as a journalist, children’s tutor, and publisher’s clerk, finding time to write at night. In 1887, he married Amelia Hogg and met writer and occultist A. E. Waite, who had a profound influence on his writing and philosophy. In that same year, an inheritance he received following the death of his father gave him the freedom to spend more time on his writing. By 1894, Machen had his first major success. “The Great God Pan” was published by John Lane and despite widespread criticism for its sexual and horrific content it sold well and went into a second edition. Following this success, he published The Three Impostors (1895), Hieroglyphics: A Note upon Ecstasy in Literature (1902), “The White People” (1904), and The Hill of Dreams (1907). After his first wife’s tragic death, Machen took up acting, becoming a member of Frank Benson’s company. He also pursued his interest in Celtic Christianity and the Holy Grail at this time. He married Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston in 1903. From 1910 to 1921, he accepted a position at the London Evening News, though he disliked his job and only kept at it for a steady paycheck. In the 1920s Machen’s work became immensely popular in the United States, but Machen experienced increasing poverty; he was saved in 1931 by receiving a Civil List pension from the British government. Among his later works are The Green Round (1933), The Cosy Room (1936), and The Children of the Pool (1936). Arthur Machen died on March 30, 1947.

 

S . T. JOSHI (born 1958) is the author of such critical studies as The Weird Tale (1990), H. P. Lovecraft: The Decline of the West (1990), and The Modern Weird Tale (2001). He has prepared corrected editions of H. P. Lovecraft’s work for Arkham House and annotated editions of the weird tales of Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, and M. R. James for Penguin Classics, as well as the anthology American Supernatural Tales (2007). His exhaustive biography, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (1996), won the British Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association; an unabridged and updated edition has appeared as I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft (2010). He has also edited works by Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, and other writers, and has written on religion, politics, and race relations. He is at work on a comprehensive history of supernatural fiction.

 

GUILLERMO DEL TORO (born 1964) is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, and designer. He cofounded the Guadalajara International Film Festival, and formed his own production company—the Tequila Gang. However, he is most recognized for his Academy Award–winning film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Hellboy film franchise. He has received the Nebula, Hugo, and Bram Stoker awards and is an avid collecter and student of arcane memorabilia and weird fiction.