The visual "Good-Bye!" created by Sidney Sime for Lord Dunsany’s collection of stories, assists in depicting the pleasure-horror dichotomy in the broader genre of weird fantasy as well as horror. Sime’s image depicts a drowning man grasped by a strange figure overlaid by heavenly elements such as birds, clouds and a glowing light, he has an expression of peace rather than fright despite his circumstance. Arthur Machen makes use of the same pleasure-horror dichotomy in order to play on Victorian taboos surrounding sexuality and leverage fear. This is made evident in The Great God Pan in which Machen “Reveals Helen’s physicality as inextricable from the novellas invocation of sexuality [...].” (Lovatt 29). All of these elements play on Victorian fears surrounding sexuality, Sime’s illustration helps to visualize fears rooted in these conflicting elements and helps contextualize the works of authors like Machen.
Works Cited:
Sime, Sidney. “Good-Bye!” The Sword of Welleran, and Other Stories. With Illustrations by S.H. Sime, G. Allen, London, UK, 1908, p. 135.