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Episode 451 - The Novel of the White Powder (Patreon)

Published:
2019-05-11 21:22:43
Edited:
2019-05-22 00:27:25
Imported:
2021-07

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Content

Melt with us into the grandeur of The Novel of the White Powder by Arthur Machen!

Special thanks to our reader, Rachel Lackey!

Next up: The Desrick on Yandro

Comments

Anonymous

The young spectacled man has actually come up elsewhere on this podcast--Ken Hite brought him up during "The Events at Poroth Farm" because Jeremy was being watched by a young man in red spectacles in the wrap-around narrative of him recording his story in a scorching hotel room. As per the tale itself, you mean to tell me it isn't even true within its own fictional universe? Thank goodness! I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but outside of "The White People," I just can NOT seem to stand Machen's fiction; so the idea that this vapid, overwrought tale of some vague and puritanical concept of "sin" overcoming an Innocent And Good British Aristocrat Whom We Are Absolutely Meant To Automatically Sympathize With is ACTUALLY just hot-air being spouted as part of a con tickles me a little. If only most of Machen's meandering output ended that way--or with the affluent, haughty British protagonists getting plugged by a mobster, to quote what Chad said during coverage of "The Great God Pan" when you got to the bit where the fully grown protagonist CHOOSES not to dress himself in the morning. But my bitterness aside, I was finally able to extract at least SOME indirect enjoyment from this tale through your coverage of it. You guys are doing Nyarlathotep's work. Keep it up.

Anonymous

And this, boys and girls, is why we check the expiration dates on our medications.

The Screaming Moist

If people want to prep for the Manly story next week they can watch the entirety of “The Legend of Hillbilly John” on youtube. I can’t really say whether it was good or bad because it was a bit incomprehensible, but I CAN say I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Richard Horsman

That black spot on Francis' hand is such a perfect touch from Machen. It's this quick unwholesome moment, where a human body is shown to be as susceptible to corruption as a banana. It's so subtle and gross.

Anonymous

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a book called New Arabian Nights featuring nested tales in the manner of the Arabian Nights. Machen's book The Three Imposters has the same structure (a series of tales told by unreliable narrators), and this was probably the Stevenson influence Lovecraft was referring to. Not that this story doesn't have similarities to Jekyll and Hyde of course, but it is just one story out of the entire book. In the Lovecraft quote you cited, he said the work "as a whole" was hurt by imitating "the jaunty Stevenson manner", while "certain tales" within it were some of Machen's best horror tales. In other words, his problem was with the overall book rather than specific stories. "Jaunty" would also be an odd word choice if Lovecraft had the Jekyll and Hyde similarities in mind. Most likely "the jaunty Stevenson manner" refers to the various melodramatic touches Machen included in the frame narrative, again an influence of New Arabian Nights. I imagine the Jekyll and Hyde similarities themselves would probably have appealed to Lovecraft; like you said, a guy taking a substance that turns him into goo sounds right up his street.

Anonymous
>>22638095

Also the presence of a black spot that portends doom reminded me of Treasure Island.

Steve

"We've heard this many times before" - possibly, but this is perhaps one of the earliest occurrences of this. I think you're being a little unfair on Machen, given that you've already read the stories which source from Machen. It's very much a Christian version of what HPL later uses, the inheritance of ancient contamination. And Machen made much of the inability of humans to bear the sublime in The Great God Pan, and in later stories such as The White People. It is a bit wordy but that's what you got in 1895.

Mark Brett
>>22634826

I love that flick. Trippy low-budget early-70s hippie filmmaking at its (relative) best, like Ed Wood meets Jodorowski by way of Appalachia. Featuring Denver Pyle in a supporting role! Here's the trailer, just to give you a taste before you decide whether or not to dive in for the full thing... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhqczAmN1Qk

Anonymous

This must have been that episode of Paper Chase that I always missed. More seriously, I've always liked this story a lot without ever having read the entirety of the Three Imposters. I can't say it's a favorite but it is delightfully ghoulishy good. Having become deeply addicted to the Expanse, I can't help but see Francis' ending as protomolecule goo. A different kind of glub glub.

Anonymous

I'm fine with the story, but I think it would have been better served by having no explanation - or multiple and contradictory explanations. If we're going to stick with the drug, then have the courage of your convictions and make it a clear allegory for opium use. The rich fellow who needs a break from his studies, takes some white powder, learns to party and have a good time . . . such a good time that he breaks down into goo.

Anonymous

I sat down to read this on my phone this morning and remembered I had bought a hardback copy of The Great God Pan and Other Horror stories some time last year. I dug it out, made myself a pot of coffee and put on John Carpenter's Lost Themes II while I read it. It's a great story, with that slow build of terror and weird that Machen does so well. The only real issue I had with it was the overly flowery explanation in the letter from the chemist at the end, but that's Machen for you, so I'll take it.

Anonymous

I've been thinking that the underlying concept in Machen might be how easy our slide into corruption/destruction can be. One wrong move and you're doomed....even if it's not your move that dooms you. Very Victorian/Edwardian.

Anonymous
>>22646244

He's scared of sex and drugs as twin roads to physical/spiritual ruin. he's also scared, in a more abstract way, that sex and debauchery are used by a sentient force embedded in the very fabric of the universe that's deeply antagonistic to our higher natures. He just stumbles at conveying the juncture of the two. He's very good at physical horror--that goo that glops down from the ceiling or the corrupted, gelatinous mass that tries to speak and rise. He's not so good at conveying the abstract behind it all.

Anonymous

Man takes an out-of-date medicine and turns into a blob. It just doesn’t work for me.

Anonymous

I think The Three Impostors works much more effectively when seen as a whole. The individual stories are of uneven quality and are more interesting when you see them all as cover stories by the Impostors while narrowing down their search for the man with the spectacles.

Jeff C. Carter

I agree that the long winded explanation deflates the horror. I would have preferred if it was left as the wrong drug, possibly by way of some old alchemical compound. Also, the brother should have been doing more than just hiding in his room.

Darth Pseudonym

I think you misunderstood the explanation a bit. The way I read it, the intended use of this drug was for one person at the witches' sabbath to take just a tiny amount, a few grains, which would unleash their inner evil for the duration of the event. That was seen as a re-creation of eating from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". (i.e., to know good, you must also know evil) The whole melting thing was an overdose situation; not just a few grains one time for a special occasion held a few times a year, but taking a large dose every day.

Anonymous

I honestly never knew the origin of Michael Knight.

Anonymous
>>22660925

I very much agree. I enjoyed most of "The Three Imposters" until The End. The end was delivered with a clarity and precision I could admire; but it nauseated me and gave me an image of mundane evil that lingered for days (still). You learn that the stories are supposedly lies, although it's an odd set of lies to use in that sort of situation. The jaunty tone of some of them, even the uneven quality of the stories, lull you into a receptive state so you can be whalloped.

Jason Thompson

Shoutout to Stephen King’s “Gray Matter” which has almost the exact same plot! That story TERRIFIED me as a kid. There’s something about Stephen King’s early short stories that is just so good...

Anonymous
>>22667883

We only have the sister's viewpoint, so, he's in his room. We have hints though he's out and about being corrupted and corrupting.

Anonymous

They probably wanted the coin to commemorate their orgies. Seems completely reasonable.

Anonymous
>>22673458

The scary part for me is how it's all part of a chain--the breakdown/aging of the chemist, the medicine, the other doctors (that should be protecting society from the chemist). Could he be trying to show the effects of an malicious evil will spreading out from a corrupting core that is manifesting in all these mundane ways?

Anonymous
>>22648533

I related it to cocaine...because of the mindless activity, or maybe meth. Actually it was neither because it was Maguffin™

Anonymous
>>22648144

Protomolecule goo is intentional I think, as our protagonist is reverting to life before the uplift from God. But also, he's an outward sign of an inward corruption created by a larger force. Bwah. Hah. Hah.

Anonymous
>>22649382

Now I'm thinking that another underlying concept is how the the expression of evil is mundane and horrific.

Anonymous
>>22684207

As Patton so appropriately put it on a previous episode, "'The Novel of the White Powder' caused by a six pack of beer. *Finger-Kiss Noise*"

Anonymous

On the other hand, couldn‘t this just be read as the 19th century version of good ole Nancy Reagan’s war on drugs? Hey kids this is your transmogrifying flesh on the devil’s dandruff! I mean every other change Francis is going through is not that far removed from actual coke use, from becoming more energetic, more interested in other things, staying out later and later and eventually excluding others from his actions to locking himself away denying entry to all and then just becoming a big mess that his sister has to clean up. Boy, maybe if they had based those Reefer Madness movies on Lovecraft and co’s works, who knows how successful they might have been.

Anonymous

I'm really happy to hear you're going back to Silver John! Chad, I hope you're reading again -- I really enjoyed your reading of The Ugly Bird way back. What I love about the MWW Silver John stories is that it takes the weird (or at least supernatural) story out of the city and into the back woods. John reminds me of a hillbilly Moses Asch (Smithsonian Folkways) -- traveling around, collecting stories and, often, the spooky/strange stories that inspired the song to begin with. We have a rich folkloric history in the US (Appalachia especially) and Manly Wade Wellman does a great job of sharing that with us through these stories while also contributing something new to the art form.

Anonymous

This story reminds me of the real life affair of that man who had a spike driven into his brain during a work accident. He survived fine, but while he had been responsible and temperate before, he then became an irresponsible drinker afterwards, as his brain had seemingly been changed. We like to think we are masters of our fates, but sometimes, something physical can come along and change the very workings of the mind, like chemical imbalances etc. A story like this perhaps speaks to fears of such a development. Of course, jokes aside, some stories of the period do include cocaine abuse, such as in The Sign of Four ending with Holmes mentioning his sad use of it.

Anonymous

I listened to this on youtube and it was a solid tale until that "explanation". Usually wordy text is easier to listen to than read, but the last few minutes of that story seemed to last FOREVER. I don't think the witches Sabbath explanation really worked at all, it was just too confusing and clunky.

Anonymous
>>22722681

Phineas Gage, the obligatory opener of every neuroscience 101 course ;)

Anonymous
>>22705511

Also a dark spot on the hand is a classic symptom of clubbing.

Anonymous

“Cocaine is a hell of a drug” -Rick James

Anonymous

I wonder if the pagan orgy cult was disappointed when the coin’s secret message was ‘be sure to drink your Ovaltine’?

Anonymous

The link to the next story in the show notes returns a 403, but Wierd Tales has it up on their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/weirdtalesmagazineonline/posts/the-desrick-on-yandro-manly-wade-wellman-the-folks-at-the-party-clapped-me-such-/10152410430335934/

Anonymous

No one has broached the esoteric Genesis stuff yet? Let me take a swing at this one... Gnostic interpretations of the Genesis fall are usually positive, the awakening of humanity from slavery to the Demiurge. They often contain a bit of a twist though, the fall is brought about not by disobedience and the eating of a fruit, but by sex, sex between the woman and the serpent and then between the woman and the man. For the Hermetic mage, or the Gnostic this is sinful as the seminal fluid is the source of life essence, and its expulsion for any reason is "fornication". On the other hand for the Victorian, just being exposed to the hermetic or gnostic versions of these stories the horror lies in the sex, specifically the beastiality. This is further re-enforced by Freudian psychology being passed around at the time. Machen, Howard, Lovecraft and many others reference these ideas which were being presented in works by Francis Fraser, Margaret Murry, Helena Blavatsky, Manly Hall, and others. This is your missing link for serpent people, if you payed attention of either Ethinology or mysticism at the time you would definitely have come across these ideas.

Anonymous

I’m surprised Chris didn’t mention the similarities to the Star Trek TNG episode Skin of Evil.

Anonymous
>>22893295

Interesting one Steven. You're right. There are similarities there and if not for Haberden going all postal on poor Francis’ remaining human ocular vestiges, who knows what he might have become, maybe even a vicious, almost great character murdering prick. But I think it was more of a Colour out of Space or The Expanse protomolecule scenario. Francis’ more or less innocent descent into blobhood as a result of stupidity (ask your pharmacist about expiration dates or even better avoid apothecaries that are probably also selling mogwai) rather than any diabolical act of rejection (as in Skin of Evil) though I know many here have commented on the deeper philosophical and religious meanings which I don't deny. I've just always found it more of a creepy tale of how anything (even medicine that's just supposed to help you) can get you.

Anonymous
>>22675232

I knew long ago but had forgotten, so this was a much-needed reminder.

Anonymous

At Pompeii and elsewhere have been found "spintriae," Roman coins about the size of a quarter depicting sexual acts and numbered I to XVI. These, it has been argued, were used as payment in brothels--I guess like arcade tokens or food and drink tickets at the Ren Faire, to make sure you spend a minimum amount? Or else in the cosmopolitan Roman empire, you might have prostitute/client interactions with a language barrier, so as client you could easily make it clear that you had paid for a number VII. There’s even a theory based on a case mentioned by the historian Cassius Dio that it was seen as treasonous to carry regular Roman coins bearing the likeness of the emperor into a brothel. But apparently the killjoy majority of scholars point out that the numbering and sexual positions are not consistent and think these tokens were used as game pieces or “locker tokens” at bath houses where they are most often found, rather than at actual brothels. And yes, you can see plenty of NSFW examples with a Google search. I’m sure this all clears up the orgy coin thing somehow.

Anonymous

I can’t believe you guys left out the scene where the pharmacist/chemist lays all of the blame for the snafu on his delivery boy, and he just starts bi*ch-slapping George Bailey’s bad ear!!

Anonymous

I honestly laughed out load when Dr. Joe beat the man puddle to death. No pause, basically just called in the sister to witness. You knew he had been wanting to kill the brother after that initial meeting in the room.

Anonymous

Thanks for reminding me how great is Alien! Chilling premise, great acting and direction, awesome esthetics. But I have a tiny nit to pick with Chad: when you say that Alien is the perfect illustration of Blake Snyder's Save The Cat books, isn't it because Snyder based his system on the film? Which of course is 25 years older. Anyway, thanks, and keep up the good work.