Introduction RTHUR MACHEN, I am happy to say, still lives; wherefore, it is an impertinence for any lesser artist to introduce a collection of his writings. As I sit down to the task, it occurs to me that my predicament is much as would be that of, say, M. Maurice Leblanc, of "ARSENE LUPIN" celebrity, were he to attempt the introduction of a garner of tales by Anatole France; however well he might perform his labor of love, it would have the appearance of insolence. Yet, in the present instance, at least a word of explanation seems advisable, if only to absolve Mr. Machen from responsibility for the contents of this volume, as a volume. He is responsible for the tales and sketches and essays, now for the first time brought together, because he wrote them; but for their appearance in the permanence of covers I alone am to be held to account. This is not by any means to say that "THE SHINING PYRAMID" is a collection of negligible writings, which the author himself did not see fit to resurrect from their comfortable graves in old periodicals. The fact is, the volume contains, in my opinion, some of Mr. Machen's finest work; it goes back, for the most part, however, to a period long past; and such have been the author's excitements and vicissitudes since that time that neither opportunity nor desire has knocked upon his heart's door to bid him seek out and republish the scattered works of that earlier day. Discov |