“My fundamental interest, I suppose, is
signs and proofs of other powers that lie hidden in us all; the extension, in
other words, of human faculty. So many of my stories, therefore, deal with
extension of consciousness; speculative and imaginative treatment of
possibilities outside our normal range of consciousness.”
Blackwood, despite being a major
influence on HPL and his writing, has been relatively poorly served by the fans
of the Mythos. Most aficionados know him as the creator of the Great Old One
Ithaqua, the “Wind Walker”, also known as the “Wendigo”; however, his
contribution has been so much more subtle than simply inventing the beastie
that Brian Lumley let loose on a rampage in later years.
Those who have read Blackwood’s short
story “The Wendigo” will know that it
is a tale of intense psychological horror. The story finds its focus in the
emphatic solitude of the Canadian back woods, the complete sense of isolation
that workers in that terrain feel. It is the completely alien force of the
wilderness that is personified in Blackwood’s tale. HPL most likely tapped into
this idea of the numinously uncaring power of that which is completely inhuman
from reading this tale and adapted its strength for his own work.
Algernon Henry Blackwood was born in the
south of London in 1869, making him 144 this year. In his early life he moved
to Canada where he worked as a dairy farmer. He then embarked on a plethora of
other careers including a stint as a reporter in New York, a hotel manager,
bartender, model and violin teacher amongst other things. He returned to London
in his late thirties and began to write supernatural stories.
Like Lord Dunsany and Arthur Machen, he
was fascinated by the supernatural and spiritual movements going on around him
at the time. Blackwood’s commonly recurring theme is the spiritual potential of
the human mind and those instances where the known and comfortable aspects of
ordinary human existence break down in the face of an external and unknowable
presence or force. He joined the Ghost
Club and was a member of the Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn, much like Machen and W.B. Yeats. His interest in
these gatherings however, seems to have sprung from an intensely inquisitive
perspective, a desire to get to the bottom of all the supernatural forces which
surrounded him.
Naturally, the things he learnt at these
assemblies informed his writing: The
Human Chord for example is a novel woven around the mechanics of the
Cabbala.
Much of Blackwood’s work seeks not to
horrify its audience; rather he mostly seeks instil a sense of wonder at the
revelations which he conjures on paper. Some have stated that, along with the
stories of Machen and Dunsany, nothing climactic seems to take place at the end
of a Blackwood tale; however, this only underscores how subtle these stories
are. It’s often not a jangling crescendo that is felt by Blackwood’s
characters; that being said, fundamental and critical changes occur in their
psyches that have ongoing, but perhaps not immediately obvious effects. The
reader is often left to imagine the lives of the characters after this
catalytic event.
Blackwood suffered several strokes
towards the end of his life and finally died as a result of one on the 10th
of December in 1951. He was unmarried and content to be so, remembered by all
those who knew him best as an intense researcher that balanced his bookish ways
with extreme outdoor adventure, including mountain climbing and skiing. His
body of work is a textbook guide to the fundamentals of weird fiction and is a
must for fans of the Mythos, proving that he did more than just invent an evil
snowman!
Bibliography
Algernon Blackwood wrote across many
genres and was a fervent essayist (none of which are listed here). As well, he
was often called upon by newspapers and other journals to “come up with” a
spooky tale at a minute’s notice, with the result that - despite the copious
volumes of ghost, fantasy, weird and horror tales that abound - the final
reckoning as to how many he wrote has not been tallied!
Novels
Jimbo: A
Fantasy (1909)
The
Education of Uncle Paul (1909)
The Human
Chord (1910)
The Centaur (1911)
A Prisoner
in Fairyland (1913);
sequel to The Education of Uncle Paul
The Extra
Day (1915)
Julius
LeVallon (1916)
The Wave (1916)
The Promise
of Air (1918)
The Garden
of Survival (1918)
The Bright
Messenger (1921); sequel to Julius
LeVallon
Sambo and
Snitch (1927)
Dudley &
Gilderoy: A Nonsense (1929)
The Fruit Stoners: Being the Adventures of Maria
Among the Fruit Stoners (1934)
Plays
“The Starlight Express” (1915), with Violet Pearn; incidental music by
Edward Elgar; based on Blackwood's 1913 novel A Prisoner in Fairyland
“Karma” (1918), with Violet Pearn
“The
Crossing” (1920), with Bertram Forsyth,
based on Blackwood's 1913 short story, "Transition"
“Through the
Crack” (1920), with Violet Pearn; based
on Blackwood's 1909 novel, The Education of Uncle Paul and his 1915
novel, The Extra Day
“White
Magic” (1921), with Bertram Forsyth
“The Halfway
House” (1921), with Elaine Ainley
“Max Hensig” (1929),
with Frederick Kinsey Peile; based on Blackwood's 1907 short story, "Max Hensig — Bacteriologist and
Murderer"
Short Story
Collections
The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories (1906)
The Listener and Other Stories (1907)
John Silence (1908); reprinted
1942
The Lost Valley and Other Stories (1910)
Pan's Garden: a Volume of Nature Stories (1912)
Ten Minute Stories (1914)
Incredible Adventures (1914)
Day and Night Stories (1917)
Wolves of God, and Other Fey Stories (1921), with Wilfred Wilson
Tongues of Fire and Other Sketches (1924)
Ancient Sorceries and Other Tales (1927)
The Dance of Death and Other Tales (1927); reprinted as The Dance of Death and Other Stories in 1963
Strange Stories (1929)
Short Stories of To-Day & Yesterday (1930)
The Willows and Other Queer Tales (1932)
Shocks (1935)
The Tales of Algernon Blackwood (1938)
Selected Tales of Algernon Blackwood (1942)
Selected Short Stories of Algernon Blackwood (1945)
The Doll and One Other (1946)
Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural (1949)
In the Realm of Terror (1957)
Selected Tales of Algernon Blackwood (1964)
Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre (1967)
Ancient Sorceries and Other Stories (1968)
Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood (1973), selected and introduced by Everett F. Bleiler
The Best Supernatural Tales of Algernon Blackwood (1973), selected and introduced by Felix Morrow
Tales of Terror and Darkness (1977)
Tales of the Supernatural (1983), selected and introduced by Mike Ashley
The Magic Mirror (1989),
selected, introduced, and with notes by Mike Ashley
The Complete John Silence Stories (1997), selected and introduced by S. T. Joshi
Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories (2002), selected, introduced, and with notes by S. T. Joshi
Algernon Blackwood's Canadian Tales of Terror (2004), selected, introduced, with notes by John Robert Colombo
Autobiography
Episodes Before Thirty (1923)
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