# I: The Rumour of the Marvellous explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Arthur Machen.

## What happens

The narrator reflects on how strange and marvellous events are often buried in obscure newspaper paragraphs, citing the transfiguration of the Tashai Lama and poltergeist disturbances as examples. He then focuses on a peculiar newspaper clipping about Llantrisant, a town in Arfonshire, which mentions 'remarkable occurrences' and 'lights' during a recent Revival. The narrator is drawn to this because of a prior visit to Llantrisant that left him with an odd feeling. He discusses his 'doctrine of the jigsaw puzzle'—that isolated oddities may fit together into a larger design. He then receives a letter from a friend reporting that the local church has taken to using incense, which contradicts the known Evangelical leanings of the old parson. Intrigued, the narrator decides to go to Arfon to investigate.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Urban Mystery

The narrator's investigation into the strange newspaper paragraph about Llantrisant and the 'remarkable occurrences' embodies the theme of uncovering hidden mysteries in seemingly ordinary places.

### Supernatural and the Divine

The chapter discusses the transfiguration of the Tashai Lama, poltergeist phenomena, and the miraculous healing of Olwen Phillips, all touching on the supernatural and divine.

### The Power of Storytelling and Art

The narrator reflects on how marvellous events are reported and then forgotten, and he proposes the 'doctrine of the jigsaw puzzle' as a method for piecing together disparate stories to reveal a larger design.

## Character check-ins

### Olwen Phillips

Mentioned as a case of miraculous healing from tuberculosis at Croeswen, Llantrisant, described as a 'kind of resurrection of the body' by reputable surgeons.

## Key lines

> His Holiness the Tashai Lama then ascended the Mountain and was transfigured. — Reuter

The Tashai Lama climbed a holy mountain and was transformed, according to a Reuter report.

_This quote illustrates the narrator's point about how extraordinary events are briefly reported and then forgotten without explanation._

> I hold what I call the doctrine of the jigsaw puzzle. That is: this remarkable occurrence, and that, and the other may be, and usually are, of no significance. ... it is when you get your set of odd shapes and find that they fit into one another, and at last that they are but parts of a large design; it is then that research grows interesting and indeed amazing

The narrator believes that isolated strange events may seem meaningless, but when connected, they reveal a larger, coherent pattern that makes investigation worthwhile.

_This passage introduces the narrator's methodological approach to understanding the marvellous._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/i-the-rumour-of-the-marvellous
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_6_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters