Dandies Blog: Unemployment in Arthur Machen's Work

In the hubbub of other weird fiction developments, I somehow overlooked this excellent post from the Dandies and New Women blog. "Arthur Machen's Horror of Unemployment" is a thought provoking article that illuminates economic horror in the Welsh author's work. Clearly, it's also one that hits close to home in today's post-meltdown order. As blogger Marc Dipaolo notes, Machen himself experienced a grim period of austerity when he was just starting his writing career. This may have contributed to his dour portrayal of joblessness long after his literary star began to rise.

One wonders if the stricken economy will generate new lenses for weird fiction interpretations that wouldn't otherwise be available. The economic imprint on other authors' work may become clearer as the minds of scholars are unable to wrench themselves away from today's crises.

-Grim Blogger