Algernon Blackwood: An Extraordinary Life

by Mike Ashley

Not only one of the twentieth century’s most inventive writers of supernatural fiction and author of such masterpieces as The Willows and The Wendigo, Algernon Blackwood was also an indefatigable traveler, an extremely popular storyteller on radio and television (he appeared on the first British television program ever), and a secret agent during the First World War. Added to that, it was Algernon Blackwood, not Andrew Lloyd Webber, who originated the Starlight Express. A Buddhist and theosophist as well as a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, Blackwood consorted with mystics and magicians, who knew him as Pan, while those who delighted in his rich storyteller’s voice and lively humor affectionately called him Uncle Paul. Some saw him as an ancient child, others as an accomplished athlete. He found time meanwhile to hobnob with the literary establishment—with the likes of Hilaire Belloc, P. G. Wodehouse, Compton Mackenzie, and H. G. Wells—and his work inspired writers as diverse as Henry Miller and Carlos Casteneda. Yet the story of this fascinating, charming, elusive, and enigmatic man’s life has never before been told. More than twenty years of research and countless interviews with friends and colleagues of the extraordinary Algernon Blackwood, as well as a close examination of his unpublished papers, stand behind this first full-length biography of a writer who, according to The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, “delivered a greater number of magisterial shudders than more refined writers in the genre ever attempted.”

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 9, 1987

About the author

Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.

Reviews

[Delphine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you haven't heard of Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) before, you're missing out on something.

He was one of the greatest, most creative writers of supernatural fiction (stories such as 'The man whom the trees loved', 'The willows' and 'The wendigo' are unmatched).

Blackwood was also an indefatigable traveller: after his junior years as a journalist in New York, he divided his time between London and Switzerland, where he spent the winters skiing (even in his eighties). He was fascinated by the Egyptian desert, the Caucasus and Spain, always bronzed by the sun, listening to Nature's call.

In his later years, Blackwood became a wellknown storyteller on the BBC radio (and very first television programme). Edward Elgar put his children's play The starlight express to music, though it never made the stage.

He was also (be it only briefly) a member of the spiritualist cult The order of the Golden Dawn (along with W.B. Yeats) and he operated as a secret agent during the first World War.

The man was a 20th century Hercules.

To put his life into words is not an easy task, but Mike Ashley manages to construct a very comprehensive overview of his life and works. Too many details (namedropping) hinder the reading pace, however, and I missed some rather important information (on Blackwood's love life for instance. Ashley states there was no such thing, which I find hard to believe).

Even after reading this biography, Blackwood remains a mystery to me, which is totally fine and in line with his brilliant fiction.

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't even pretend to be objective about this one. Algernon Blackwood was indirectly responsible for the writing of my first novel, Cold Front, since an illustration in Eerie magazine (the companion magazine to Creepy) of The Wendigo is what inspired that novel and their illustration was based on his story of the same name. I have an intense interest in anything to do with Blackwood. This is one of the first major studies of his life since he is notoriously hard to research: he didn't believe in acquiring possessions and most of his papers and archives were lost in the London blitz when the house he and his nephew were staying in took a direct hit. Mike Ashley did a tremendous job of uncovering what can be known about his life and career. There are are number of weird coincidences between his life and that of Arthur Machen (another major influence on me). They were both members of The Order of The Golden Dawn (the occult society that Aleister Crowley broke away from). They both were involved with powdered milk: Machen wrote many tales for a magazine sponsored by Horlicks, the malted milk magnates, and Blackwood managed a powdered milk company for a while. He was also a man with a deep philosophic background to his work. He wrote tales for children as well and had traits in common with Lewis Carroll. Unlike many writers of weird fiction, Blackwood was a very sociable person and knew a tremendous number of people and other artistic and literary figures like Rainer Maria Rilke, Sir Edward Elgar, G.K. Chesterton, Lord Dunsany, Georgei Gurdjieff, Henry Ainley, J.B. Priestley, Vita Sackville-West and Y.B. Yeats. Little known today, he was also a pioneer in radio and television broadcasting. This is a first rate look at his life and work and we're lucky to have it. - BH.

[Madalena Feliciano Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very complete biography. Wow. The tea?? Loved it.

[Andre Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though many lump Blackwood alongside Lovecraft their fruits are extremely different. Some 20 years age difference. I have read much of Lovecraft, now much more Blackwood. I would put Lovecraft at horror and Blackwood at supernatural. Where Lovecraft creates an atmosphere of grandeur Blackwood borrows from confinement. A difference of macro to micro!
For a fan of Blackwood this book is very much worth a read or three, a very adventurous life indeed!

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In his day, Algernon Blackwood was among the best known writers in the horror field. Today he’s less known except to devotees of that genre.

But Blackwood didn’t consider himself a horror writer. He said all his stories were based on personal experiences or those of close friends and, though he found the strange in the most ordinary of those experiences, he was most concerned with expanding consciousness for a greater understanding of life and nature.

Ashley's writing is rather pedestrian but he has done a marvelous job of rooting out information on Blackwood who left only fragmentary details on his activities.

What Ashley unveils is a creative person who was not only an untiring writer (he was still penning stories in his late eighties) but also a world traveler, an undercover agent in World War 1 and a storyteller on radio and TV. His attitude toward life was that one is never to old to try new things. An admirable attitude.