T.E. W. (terez93) reviewed Three Supernatural Classics: "The Willows," "The Wendigo" and "The Listener" on + 273 more book reviews
This one is definitely NOT one you want to read alone in a creepy, dark place! To me, the most unsettling supernatural fiction is that which sparks your imagination. The psychological effects of something *unknown* is often far more terrifying. This isn't a terribly long and detailed review, but it's also a fairly short book, and I don't want to simply re-hash the plots of the three stories contained herein.
This volume features three of his most-well-known stories, "The Willows," considered one of the finest supernatural stories in the English language, "The Wendigo," a tale from Native American Algonquin myth, and a more traditional "ghost story," "The Listener," a proper English ghost tale about a young writer who moves into a haunted apartment.
I've been reading a fair bit of "Gothic" horror and suspense recently, including the likes of M.R. James (my favorite, I think), H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood, who had his own share of personal tragedy, which shaped his writings. There is definitely a bit of personal history in each of his stories: from a young age, he became fascinated with the supernatural and traditional tales of other cultures, Eastern philosophy and spiritualism, somewhat to the chagrin of his rather conservative-Christian, Calvinist parents and family. He met with several personal failures, in business and in other ventures, which involved a stint in New York City, but he returned to London later in life, where he enjoyed a much more fruitful and successful literary career.
His method is to build and then maintain the suspense and anxiety of readers, as I stated previously, by leaving much to the imagination. In a word, his stories are simply "unsettling," reminiscent of popular horror writers in the modern day, such as Stephen King, who manages to make the urbane and familiar terrifying, when things are revealed to be not what they seem. In a similar manner, Blackwood turns everyday events, such as a supposed-relaxing camping trip and a hunting party, into terrifying odysseys where the characters are fortunate to escape with their lives. I look forward to reading many more of his stories, and to other readers, these three fairly short yarns were a great introduction into his fairly ample body of work.
This volume features three of his most-well-known stories, "The Willows," considered one of the finest supernatural stories in the English language, "The Wendigo," a tale from Native American Algonquin myth, and a more traditional "ghost story," "The Listener," a proper English ghost tale about a young writer who moves into a haunted apartment.
I've been reading a fair bit of "Gothic" horror and suspense recently, including the likes of M.R. James (my favorite, I think), H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood, who had his own share of personal tragedy, which shaped his writings. There is definitely a bit of personal history in each of his stories: from a young age, he became fascinated with the supernatural and traditional tales of other cultures, Eastern philosophy and spiritualism, somewhat to the chagrin of his rather conservative-Christian, Calvinist parents and family. He met with several personal failures, in business and in other ventures, which involved a stint in New York City, but he returned to London later in life, where he enjoyed a much more fruitful and successful literary career.
His method is to build and then maintain the suspense and anxiety of readers, as I stated previously, by leaving much to the imagination. In a word, his stories are simply "unsettling," reminiscent of popular horror writers in the modern day, such as Stephen King, who manages to make the urbane and familiar terrifying, when things are revealed to be not what they seem. In a similar manner, Blackwood turns everyday events, such as a supposed-relaxing camping trip and a hunting party, into terrifying odysseys where the characters are fortunate to escape with their lives. I look forward to reading many more of his stories, and to other readers, these three fairly short yarns were a great introduction into his fairly ample body of work.
