The Hill of Dreams

De: Arthur Machen

Narrado por: Harry Shaw

Considered Machen’s most important and moving work, The Hill of Dreams tells the story of aspiring author Lucian Taylor and his fascination with a relic Roman fort near his hometown in Wales. The story follows Taylor’s real-life explorations, through dream-like memories, and finally obsession and fantasy that will lead to Taylor’s ultimate doom. Arthur Machen was a major influence on many early-20th Century fantasy and horror writers, including H. P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, and David Lindsay.

Public Domain (P)2014 Harry Shaw

Major work by Arthur Machen

If you could sum up The Hill of Dreams in three words, what would they be?

Dreamy, philosophical, poetic journey of a young writer in 1890's London. Machen's wonderful use of language as sensual, evocative experience is rewarding. Now I want to read other Machen writings. The narrator was excellent, and I hope that we will see other Machen audiobooks in the future.

Wonderfully atmospheric

In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, a young writer is haunted by the presence of a ruin near his rural home. Whenever he visits the ruin, it carries him off to ancient Rome. His visions are vibrant and sensual and all-encompassing. Years later, when he moves to London, the pressure to write something of literary merit and the isolation of being friendless in a metropolis takes their toll on him. He becomes drawn into a whirlpool of altered realities that threaten not only his sanity but his life. The Hill of Dreams is a marvelously atmospheric novel that has influenced writers from Lord Dunsany to Henry Miller.