Book Cover of The White People

The White People

by Arthur Machen

A discussion between two men on the nature of evil leads one of them to reveal a mysterious Green Book he possesses. It is a young girl's diary, in which she describes in ingenuous, evocative prose her strange impressions of the countryside in which she lives as well as conversations with her nurse, who initiates her into a secret world of folklore and black magic. Throughout, the girl makes cryptic allusions to such topics as "nymphs", "Dôls", "voolas," "white, green, and scarlet ceremonies", "Aklo letters", the "Xu" and "Chian" languages, "Mao games", and a game called "Troy Town". The girl's tale gradually develops a mounting atmosphere of suspense, with suggestions of witchcraft, only to break off abruptly just at the point where a supreme revelation seems imminent. In a return to the frame story, the diary's custodian reveals that the girl's body was later found dead near a seemingly pagan statue in the woods. He adds that she had "poisoned herself—in time", making the analogy of a child finding the key to a locked medicine cabinet.

Book Details

Language

English

Original Language

English

Published In

1890

Authors

Arthur Machen image

Arthur Machen

United Kingdom

Arthur Machen, pseudonym of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, Welsh novelist and essayist, a forerunner of 20th-century Gothic science fiction.    Machen’s work was deeply influenced b...

Books by Arthur Machen

Download eBooks

Unfortunately, no ebooks exist for this book, yet...

Listen/Download Audiobook

Read by:
00:00
Playback Speed 1.0
00:00
  • Select Speed

Related books

Two Thousand Miles Below Cover image

Two Thousand Miles Below by Charles Willard Diffin

Dean Rawson, a determined engineer, embarks on a daring mission to harness the untapped energy of a dormant volcano. He believes he's discovered a way...

The Thing in the Woods Cover image

The Thing in the Woods by Margery Williams

Dr. Haverill is asked to fill in as local physician for the skittish Dr. Lennox in a small Pennsylvania town. The locals seem to be a superstitious bu...

The Monk: A Romance Cover image

The Monk: A Romance by Matthew Gregory Lewis

In the shadowed halls of a Spanish monastery, virtue battles vice in a timeless struggle that will shatter all illusions. "The Monk: A Romance" by Mat...

The Little Room and Other Stories Cover image

The Little Room and Other Stories by Madeline Yale Wynne

Step into the enchanting world of Madeline Wynne's imagination with "The Little Room and Other Stories," where extraordinary tales await to captivate...

The Lair of the White Worm Cover image

The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker

The Lair of the White Worm is a horror novel by the Irish writer Bram Stoker. It was first published by Rider and Son of London in 1911 – the year bef...

Black Cat Vol. 02 No. 12 September 1897 Cover image

Black Cat Vol. 02 No. 12 September 1897 by Various

This volume of "The Black Cat" magazine features a collection of chilling short stories exploring themes of the uncanny, the supernatural, and the mac...

Conspiration des milliardaires Cover image

Conspiration des milliardaires by Gustave Guitton

In a world of industrial espionage and commercial warfare, a group of inventors grapple with the moral implications of their work and the pursuit of p...

Man Overboard Cover image

Man Overboard by Francis Marion Crawford

In 'Man Overboard,' a storm on the schooner Helen B. Jackson leaves a crewmember missing. The crew suspects one of the twin Benton brothers vanished...

Ornaments in Jade Cover image

Ornaments in Jade by Arthur Machen

Ornaments in Jade is a collection of short narrative experiments from Arthur Machen, with ten dreamlike tales that are equal parts enigmatic, sumptuou...

The Hill of Dreams  Cover image

The Hill of Dreams by Arthur Conan Doyle

The novel recounts the life of a young man, Lucian Taylor, focusing on his dreamy childhood in rural Wales, in a town based on Caerleon. The Hill of D...

Reviews for The White People

No reviews posted or approved, yet...