Continuing with the theme of latter-day sequels to weird classics, today’s entry looks at Rosanne Rabinovitch’s Helen’s Story, which takes as its central conceit the fact that Helen Vaughn did not succumb to the fate ascribed to her in Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan, instead picking up her tale in modern London where she seeks union with the strange, mystical realm which birthed her. Thematically, then, Helen’s Story is somewhat removed from its antecedent: whilst horror isn’t entirely absent, this is more a recapitulation of the Machen who evokes a sensuous mysticism than the Machen whose principle concern is with lurid-yet-numinous terrors; Rabinovitch also calls forth shades of the strange, archaic and outre landscapes of The White People, which are fleeting glimpsed in the denouement of Helen’s Story as the everyday gives way to an intimation of another, intoxicating realm beyond.
This is beautifully and lyrically written, and sharply observed, deserving far more attention than it has thusfar received - presumably because it is written by a woman, and subverts the implicit misogyny of the original. Rosanne Rabinovitch’s Helen’s Story is still available to purchase in electronic format here, and in hardcopy here
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