Publishers Weekly
Blackwood (1869-1951) remains among the top tier of writers of supernatural fiction, best known now for such hallmark chillers as The Willows and The Wendigo. He also penned some lamentably forgotten fantasy novels, so a Blackwood revival is overdue. British editor and scholar Ashley, known for his many anthologies in the Mammoth series, has been researching him heroically for decades to assemble this first book-length account of an elusive but fascinating life. But this may not be the book to return Blackwood to the front burner. Ashley's jam-packed biography seems almost as fascinated by its subject's skiing vacation schedules as by the man himself. The introduction is most inviting, tantalizing readers with references to Blackwood's experiences as a British spy, nature mystic, footloose adventurer, popular broadcast personality and friend to the rich, the famous and the eccentric. But the subsequent exposition rarely brings these wonderments to life or reveals what makes his fiction so powerful. Of his dreamy, dissolute youth, when he underwent agonies and ecstasies worthy of a Hermann Hesse novel, complete with aristocratic, hyperreligious parents, Blackwood would much later write a poignant memoir, Episodes Before Thirty, with the sort of compelling narrative in too-short-supply in Ashley's account. By his 30s, Blackwood had emerged as an author of tension-filled short stories and spiritually imaginative novels, a man whose immense personal charm and bracing raconteurship won friends, hospitality and acclaim wherever he went, despite deep insecurities. Ashley has much to tell but doesn't connect enough dots to captivate the reader. The book fails to integrate the details into a sustained thematic focus. This groundbreaking study is a treasure trove for classic horror fans, but it will weary most others. (Jan.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Though he was noted for his prolific publication of short supernatural fiction, Blackwood led a life of astonishing variety from serving as a spy for the British during World War I to acting in the very first program on British television. In this first full-length biography, British author Ashley (The Merlin Chronicles) details Blackwood's productive life. Blackwood was born in 1869 of a distinguished family in Kent and at an early age gravitated to Eastern wisdom and theosophy, then to New York City, where he was hired as a reporter for the New York Times. After his stint as a secret agent, and with Switzerland as his home base, Blackwood threw himself into writing plays and children's stories as well as novels. In the Thirties, he made seven radio broadcasts for the BBC. His last years were spent entertaining listeners of both radio and TV with his weird fiction. This biography will be of interest to readers who still remember shivering, as children, over Blackwood's supernatural stories or readers who relish the style of late 19th-century English eccentricity. Recommended for libraries with holdings in early 20th-century English literature. Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
British Mammoth anthologist Ashley (The Mammoth Book of Fantasy, p. 1252, etc.) resurrects the wildly creative Algernon Blackwood, a master of dread and the spine-shudder. Now forgotten, Blackwood (1869-1952) was roundly hailed in his day as a genius of horror and supernatural fiction. Ashley brings him back to prominence by giving close and intelligent readings of his work, focusing on such classic stories as "The Wendigo," "The Willows," and "The Man Whom the Trees Loved." Much of that work was produced on the fly while Blackwood, an incessant traveler, was traipsing around Europe, America, and Canada. Ashley follows in his footsteps, exploring the gradual unfurling of Blackwood's communion with nature, his exploration of haunted houses, his fascination with esoteric beliefs. Blackwood's associates at any given time, Ashley suggests, had a fascinating impact on what he was writing. His sense of the wider world can be gleaned from his dealings with various theosophical societies and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a group intrigued by Western hermeticism, Hebrew magic, and the Kabbala, introduced to him by W.B. Yeats. Ashley also conveys Blackwood's perception of how his stories acted on the imagination with well-chosen quotes: "My idea," the author declared in 1915, "has been to describe the sense of Wonder which, beginning with Fancy, leads on to bigger wonder which is Spiritual; and, incidentally, to show the wonder of common things." Though his work was never a great success in the theater, radio and television were natural venues for Blackwood, whose bass voice worked wonders with the often macabre and always otherworldly nature of his stories. Blackwood comes across as abreath of fresh-if bizarre and spooky-air, an unfettered character that Ashley captures well but thankfully doesn't tether.
