The Centaur
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About this ebook
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was an English journalist, novelist, and short story writer. Born in Shooter’s Hill, he developed an interest in Hinduism and Buddhism at a young age. After a youth spent travelling and taking odd jobs—Canadian dairy farmer, bartender, model, violin teacher—Blackwood returned to England and embarked on a career as a professional writer. Known for his connection to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Blackwood gained a reputation as a master of occult storytelling, publishing such popular horror stories as “The Willows” and “The Wendigo.” He also wrote several novels, including Jimbo: A Fantasy (1909) and The Centaur (1911). Throughout his life, Blackwood was a passionate outdoorsman, spending much of his time skiing and mountain climbing. Recognized as a pioneering writer of ghost stories, Blackwood influenced such figures as J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, and Henry Miller.
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Reviews for The Centaur
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- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blackwood, a writer active in the late 1800s and early 1900s was best known for his collections of horror short stories. In this novel, though, he is delving into a sort of ecological mysticism. The theme of this novel is that the Earth is a living entity and that early in the existence of Mankind there was an easy, if subconscious, communication between the Earth consciousness and humankind. Modern life, with its trappings of civilization, have long since severed this link, although there are some few people walking the planet who are still able to make this connection. Unfortunately, giving in to the call of the Earth consciousness, and experiencing a sort of ultimate beauty of existence, means risking losing your self-consciousness, something even the most enlightened modern man is loath to do. The book is about the journey of discovery taken by one such atuned man, as told by his friend who has heard only the protagonist's descriptions of events. Think, for example, of Marlow telling us about Lord Jim. The book is interesting as a period piece, an example of the mystical writing of the period. The problem is that the discussions and descriptions of the philosophy and the characters are quite repetitive. This novel, 260 pages in the modern reprint I read, could have been half the length. And Blackwood's writing is strewn rather too heavily with overwrought adverbs: things are done or perceived "amazingly" "incomprehensibly" "astoundingly" "insufferably" way too much. But some of the descriptions are quite good, including the protagonist's experiences once he has his brief run in with the great spiritual realm of the Earth consciousness. (I can barely believe I just typed that with a straight face, but there you have it.) Anyway, I found this interesting, but I can't say I'd recommend it to very many people.