THE DEEP ONES: "Running Wolf" by Algernon Blackwood

"Running Wolf" by Algernon Blackwood

Discussion begins January 29.

First published in the August 1920 edition of Century Magazine.



ONLINE VERSIONS

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38310/38310-h/38310-h.htm#Page_52
http://tinyurl.com/md7hqwn

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?63826

SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS

The Best Supernatural Tales of Algernon Blackwood
Ghosts and Things
The Literary Werewolf
Who Knocks?

MISCELLANY

http://weirdfictionreview.com/2013/01/wfrs-101-weird-writers-19-algernon-blackwo...
http://www.litgothic.com/Authors/blackwood.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Blackwood
http://www.gwthomas.org/victorianww.htm
http://writervsworld.com/tag/algernon-blackwood/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_fiction

Love that 1951 portrait by Norman Parkinson. I'll be reading from Ghosts and Things.

I will be delving into The First Algernon Blackwood Megapack: 36 Classic Tales of the Supernatural.

That's a fantastic portrait!

I'll skip to the end of my Centipede Press Masters of the Weird Tale: Algernon Blackwood.

Well, finding another Blackwood story set in the Canadian wilderness was a treat. I think his classic "The Wendigo" has more than whetted my appetite for a return to that particular mise-en-scène. That this tale turned out to be so benign was a bit of a letdown as far as expectations for an out-and-out horror story go, but I rather liked this unusual werewolf tale. It's always nice to have North American Indian folklore melded into the plot. The "don't set up camp on the wrong side of the lake" warnings and the narrator's feeling of being watched at the beginning really do set up a feeling of malaise, and are really well written, easily avoiding cliche.

The completely harmless nature of the creature was striking. The more common "needs a proper burial" cliche is one where the spirit is malicious and the burial is part of stopping it. Here the creature / spirit just shows up and asks for help - although the setting and situation make it seem much more menacing.

I agree that this story, while weird, was surprisingly nice.

Blackwood's usual way with wilderness description was satisfying, of course.

Do you suppose the wolf was supposed to be the genius of the place or of the dead man? Or something else?

>7 paradoxosalpha:

Good question. The lycanthropic wolf was specifically the cursed spirit of Running Wolf. Shouldn't a genius loci be a less personalized entity? The wolf also seemed to be wandering (or haunting) the area rather than protecting it.

The image of the wolf sitting menacingly just out of range of the fire reminded me a lot of the recent film The Grey (2011) which I highly recommend to anyone here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRWF4cepn8U

On the subject of Blackwood, Weird Fiction Review #4 from Centipede Press has an excellent article called "The Haunted Wood: Algernon Blackwood's Canadian Stories". http://www.centipedepress.com/anthologies/wfreview4.html

8 > One might think Running Wolf took being cursed surprisingly well.

I might have prefered the explanatory legend at the end omited. The previous action implied something much like it - I'm not sure making explicit added anything.

My impression on reading this one was much the same as everyone else's. It had the sense of place of Blackwood's other fiction, but replaced fear as the dominant feeling evoked, with a oneness with nature.

The story, of an indian curse lifted, seemed slight, almost trivial.

I thought I might be missing something though, so I looked on Google for any criticism, professional or amateur, that might give my thoughts a nudge.

I did find a blog that discussed this story along with several others. The thing is, the insights - based on this story being the culmination of Blackwood's wilderness writings, and his formative experiences in the Canadian wilderness, and then his subsequent experiences in New York, give a lot more depth to the story - but they are all things I'd totally missed and, rather than stimulating my own thoughts, replaced them. On top of that, the blogger, Zbigniew Tycienski (tychy) gives a warning to plagiarists at the top of his blog.

So, here's a link to the relevant post on tychy's blog. There's little point in my trying to précis it.

http://tychy.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/a-portrait-of-algernon-blackwood-36-in-the...

Writing to August Derleth in 1927, HPL notes that "Blackwood's unevenness is really astonishing, & alienates many of his less patient readers. Often I wonder how anyone can write such drivel - ("The Extra Day", "The Wave", etc) & then I come across something like "The Listener", "The Willows", or "The Wendigo"& take it all back. But certainly he has no style at all. Whenever he is powerful it is by sheer accident - or from the intrinsic force of his theme".

When his theme is man vs. nature at its most primeval, Blackwood's "non-style" takes on a truly awesome force. Style is almost unnecessary in the face of the tale's intensity. "Running Wolf" might not be of the same caliber as "The Wendigo", but that intensity is still presented in the first half or so.

Finally got around to reading this one last night.

>8 gwendetenebre: and >10 housefulofpaper: I think I'll look them up. (One of the local bookstores carries Weird Fiction Review.)

What struck me most about the story was the sudden sense of isolation that Hyde feels and how unnerving it is.

>7 paradoxosalpha: Yes, it is an unexpectedly gentle story. It's no frothing at the mouth wolf. It's a Lassie-like critter in its prodding. The hundred years of exile have made Running Wolf patient.