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The Garden of Survival
"The Garden of Survival" is a novel written by Algernon Blackwood, a British author known for his supernatural and horror stories. The book tells the story of a young man named David who inherits a large estate from his uncle, including a garden that is said to have magical properties. The garden is filled with unusual plants and animals, and David soon discovers that it has the power to heal and rejuvenate those who enter it. However, the garden also has a dark side, and David must navigate its dangers while trying to uncover the truth about his uncle's mysterious past. Along the way, he encounters a cast of eccentric characters, including a group of scientists who are studying the garden's secrets and a beautiful woman who may hold the key to its hidden powers. As David delves deeper into the garden's mysteries, he begins to question his own sanity and must fight to survive in a world where reality and fantasy blur together.
"The Garden of Survival" is a haunting and atmospheric tale that explores themes of nature, spirituality, and the human psyche.
"The Garden of Survival" is a haunting and atmospheric tale that explores themes of nature, spirituality, and the human psyche.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1918
53 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Algernon Blackwood
1,345 books1,177 followersAlgernon Henry Blackwood (1869–1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".
Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.
H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.
Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books.
Blackwood was born in Shooter's Hill (today part of south-east London, but then part of northwest Kent) and educated at Wellington College. His father was a Post Office administrator who, according to Peter Penzoldt, "though not devoid of genuine good-heartedness, had appallingly narrow religious ideas." Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, as a newspaper reporter in New York City, and, throughout his adult life, an occasional essayist for various periodicals. In his late thirties, he moved back to England and started to write stories of the supernatural. He was very successful, writing at least ten original collections of short stories and eventually appearing on both radio and television to tell them. He also wrote fourteen novels, several children's books, and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid lover of nature and the outdoors, and many of his stories reflect this.
H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.
Among his thirty-odd books, Blackwood wrote a series of stories and short novels published as John Silence, Physician Extraordinary (1908), which featured a "psychic detective" who combined the skills of a Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium. Blackwood also wrote light fantasy and juvenile books.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 9, 2015
The Garden of Survival, written in 1918, began in Blackwood’s usual polished and expressive style. His protagonist, Richard, a former military man now making a living as a foreign diplomat in Africa, details in epistolary format his musings of life and love. We are informed of his having been married for a very short time --his wife, a vision of beauty and possessing a special talent to bewitch admirers by playing her alluring harp for them is Je ne se quoi personified, it seems. And given the short duration of the marriage, as well as a few well-placed ominous descriptions of her penchant for attracting the opposite sex, the reader soon gets the idea that this woman is most definitely not what she seems.
In fact, even long after her death, Blackwood spends a good third of the book recounting for us the extent to which Richard truly believes his soul has been positively vanquished and seduced by his wife. Personally, I was expecting her to be revealed as a succubus put on earth for the sole purpose of ensnaring men and dragging them back to Hell with her. But then Blackwood segues from idealizing Richard's dead wife to sentimentalizing his frail, elderly mother living alone on her estate in England with her fading memories of having raised her sons, and, then back to his angelically described twin brother again which we eventually determine is also dead. The last third of the book seemed to me like I was reading a eulogy of sorts.
The story is both enticing and ethereal. The description of Richard’s childhood garden is vaguely remniscent of the biblical Garden of Eden. And while we don't really connect the title of this story to the plot, the tale beguiles the reader, nonetheless, to press on with the expectation that something Big and Sinister is about to transpire if we will just be patient. And therein, I suppose, lies the rub. Richard’s deceased wife does not actually turn out to be anything but a catalyst for a rather elegant epiphany which concludes that as much as we may imagine/obsess about loved ones who have since passed into the Hereafter visiting us --whether it is in our dreams or while we are walking down a misty, water-colored path in the garden of our imaginations-- the fact is, they do not. They, instead, only seem to come back each time we remember the effect they had on us while they were alive. It’s a beautiful story, but not the ending I had envisaged.
In fact, even long after her death, Blackwood spends a good third of the book recounting for us the extent to which Richard truly believes his soul has been positively vanquished and seduced by his wife. Personally, I was expecting her to be revealed as a succubus put on earth for the sole purpose of ensnaring men and dragging them back to Hell with her. But then Blackwood segues from idealizing Richard's dead wife to sentimentalizing his frail, elderly mother living alone on her estate in England with her fading memories of having raised her sons, and, then back to his angelically described twin brother again which we eventually determine is also dead. The last third of the book seemed to me like I was reading a eulogy of sorts.
Come to me instead—or, rather, stay, since you have never left—be with me still in the wonder of dawn and twilight, in the yearning desire of inarticulate black night, in the wind, the sunshine, and the rain. It is then that I am nearest to you and to your beneficent activity, for the same elemental rhythm of Beauty includes us both.
The story is both enticing and ethereal. The description of Richard’s childhood garden is vaguely remniscent of the biblical Garden of Eden. And while we don't really connect the title of this story to the plot, the tale beguiles the reader, nonetheless, to press on with the expectation that something Big and Sinister is about to transpire if we will just be patient. And therein, I suppose, lies the rub. Richard’s deceased wife does not actually turn out to be anything but a catalyst for a rather elegant epiphany which concludes that as much as we may imagine/obsess about loved ones who have since passed into the Hereafter visiting us --whether it is in our dreams or while we are walking down a misty, water-colored path in the garden of our imaginations-- the fact is, they do not. They, instead, only seem to come back each time we remember the effect they had on us while they were alive. It’s a beautiful story, but not the ending I had envisaged.
March 18, 2023
[E. P. Dutton & Company] (1918). HB. 1/1. 168 Pages. Purchased from Rodney O’Connor.
A dreamy, elegiac reflection upon disconnection, decay, regret and unification through nature.
A dreamy, elegiac reflection upon disconnection, decay, regret and unification through nature.
April 24, 2024
“This was the love of the body only. My soul was silent.”
A story of unrequited love that reads like the most beautiful poetry. Blackwood is my comfort author.
“And someone was pleased.”
A story of unrequited love that reads like the most beautiful poetry. Blackwood is my comfort author.
“And someone was pleased.”
September 17, 2020
Algernon Blackwood is a master of the ghost story, with his best work lifting the reader into a metaphysical world hypnotically from the beauty of his prose. His novels however are not his best work, and "The Garden of Survival" -- one of his shortest novels -- is typical. Virtually no plot, the story is comprised of a narrative written to the protagonist's twin brother looking back on his short marriage to an artistically-creative young woman who was his short-lived wife and can be seen as signifying both a mesmerizing beauty embodying true love as well as possibly a dark force of seduction. The narrative mainly documents the protagonist's spiritual development through the years following his short marriage and the effect her embodiment still has on him, either through memory or ghostly presence.
While prosy and overwritten, it conveys beautiful language but only Blackwood aficionados will probably find this rewarding. Definitely not a good introduction to this inimitable master of the supernatural; much better to first read his best tales (e.g., "The Willows", "The Wendigo", "The Glamour of the Snow", "The Valley of Beasts" and others), although this story is not without interest.
While prosy and overwritten, it conveys beautiful language but only Blackwood aficionados will probably find this rewarding. Definitely not a good introduction to this inimitable master of the supernatural; much better to first read his best tales (e.g., "The Willows", "The Wendigo", "The Glamour of the Snow", "The Valley of Beasts" and others), although this story is not without interest.
January 21, 2015
Ever since I finished the book I have been trying to collect my thoughts on it and have had the damnedest time doing so. At first I was bored with it, then intensely drawn and it ended almost treading water. It seems like he is actually touching on several things in this novel, almost to many things, reincarnation, fall of man from the garden of Eden, and knowing God, just to name a few. Probably worth a rereading in a few years.
March 31, 2022
Entertaining listening 🎶☺
Another will written British romantic relationship adventure thriller short story by Algernon Blackwood about about love 💘 marriage and death. The husband goes on to have a great military career. I would recommend this novella to readers looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of eye issues and damage from nerve damage caused by shingles. 🏡🔰👒😆 2022
Another will written British romantic relationship adventure thriller short story by Algernon Blackwood about about love 💘 marriage and death. The husband goes on to have a great military career. I would recommend this novella to readers looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of eye issues and damage from nerve damage caused by shingles. 🏡🔰👒😆 2022
March 15, 2020
I usually adore Algernon Blackwood, but I just wasn't feeling this one. It was boring.
May 13, 2020
libro regular
August 7, 2021
Starts out as if it might become a ghost story, but then it becomes a tale about spiritual experience and belief in an afterlife. Interesting and well-written.
February 11, 2016
This novella is terrible. There's nothing I could say here that I haven't already said in my reviews of his other novels, because this has the exact same pitfalls as every other Blackwood novel (and many of his short stories): no plot or discernible story, neither action nor buildup, no tension, no purpose, and an overwhelming blanketing of Blackwood's spiteful disdain for reason, evidence, and rationality thrown in anywhere he could put it, regardless of how unnecessary it was for the story.
So happy is the main character (who, as it turns out, has very little "character" to him of any kind) to wallow in his own ignorance that he at one point says he doesn't need any "so-called evidence" to believe he's right. Seriously? He's like a poster boy for willful ignorance and close-minded true believers in BS.
So happy is the main character (who, as it turns out, has very little "character" to him of any kind) to wallow in his own ignorance that he at one point says he doesn't need any "so-called evidence" to believe he's right. Seriously? He's like a poster boy for willful ignorance and close-minded true believers in BS.
July 6, 2016
A narrative told in the first person in the way of a letter from Richard to his twin brother. This book is not only about the wondrous tales of his life, career and travels, but moreover of the finding in a personal and conscience way the true meaning of beauty and of love. “The solution of this problem of unrequited loved lay at last within her grasp; of a love that only asked to give of its unquenched and unquenchable store, undismayed by the total absence of response.” As Blackwood writes this story with his well-known articulation for all things beautiful and even grotesque, he adds a plot twist that is gut wrenching; which afterward you cannot stop reading until the end——if only to be certain.
May 9, 2018
The wife of a man she captured with her beauty but whom he never loved dies within a month of their marriage. The widower is haunted by her final, unfinished words:
"I have failed, but I shall try again..."
Written in the form of a letter to his twin brother (a wasted device in my opinion, nothing was made of it) the narrative is a confession about the vague notions of past lives and a 'posthumous communication' which subsequently aided and enriched the widower's life.
Blackwood was the master of wafty verbiage about the supernatural or uncanny, a writer I have found to be perfectly enjoyable over the brief length of a short story, perfectly insufferable over the full duration of a novel
At novella length the effect was something in-between.
"I have failed, but I shall try again..."
Written in the form of a letter to his twin brother (a wasted device in my opinion, nothing was made of it) the narrative is a confession about the vague notions of past lives and a 'posthumous communication' which subsequently aided and enriched the widower's life.
Blackwood was the master of wafty verbiage about the supernatural or uncanny, a writer I have found to be perfectly enjoyable over the brief length of a short story, perfectly insufferable over the full duration of a novel
At novella length the effect was something in-between.
January 20, 2014
This is a story of a military man's man who was inspired by a presence outside of himself that slowly led him to a great epiphany in his life regarding love, beauty, truth, death and eternity. Obviously God plays a major role here. The story takes the form of a letter from one twin brother to the other. I found it very moving, and Blackwood gets extra points in many of his stories for understanding those secret pangs of the human heart. I'm not sure how he does it, but usually he hits the nail on the head. With this story, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but those out searching will find something to think about here.
July 30, 2011
Blackwood is one of those authors that is either hit or miss. This story was a total miss. He rambled on and on in overly romantic fashion without ever delivering a real story.
read-by-matt
May 26, 2019Disappointing
This author is supposed to write scary and spooky ghost stories. While I like the underlying premise and message... A feel-good epistle about love manifesting isn't what I was expecting and wanting. This isn't a scary ghost story. If you sort of squint, it may be a little spooky. But mostly it's a cliched confection. It's a very GOOD saccharine cliche, but as previously noted, that isn't what I was after.
This author is supposed to write scary and spooky ghost stories. While I like the underlying premise and message... A feel-good epistle about love manifesting isn't what I was expecting and wanting. This isn't a scary ghost story. If you sort of squint, it may be a little spooky. But mostly it's a cliched confection. It's a very GOOD saccharine cliche, but as previously noted, that isn't what I was after.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews