THE DEEP ONES: "The Heath Fire" by Algernon Blackwood
Talk The Weird Tradition
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1gwendetenebre
"The Heath Fire" by Algernon Blackwood
Discussion begins January 10, 2024.
First published in Pan's Garden (1912).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?481161
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre
Pan's Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories
ONLINE VERSIONS
No online versions found to date.
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
No online audio versions found to date.
MISCELLANY
https://algernonblackwood.org/
https://lithub.com/how-algernon-blackwood-turned-nature-into-sublime-horror/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Blackwood
http://tinyurl.com/h98zx5fw
Discussion begins January 10, 2024.
First published in Pan's Garden (1912).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?481161
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre
Pan's Garden: A Volume of Nature Stories
ONLINE VERSIONS
No online versions found to date.
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
No online audio versions found to date.
MISCELLANY
https://algernonblackwood.org/
https://lithub.com/how-algernon-blackwood-turned-nature-into-sublime-horror/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Blackwood
http://tinyurl.com/h98zx5fw
4RandyStafford
It's was Blackwood operating in his mystical mode with a bit of Buddhist type philosophy with O'Hara's unity of fire above, below, and within.
5paradoxosalpha
I liked the metaphysical ambiguity. There was plenty of room for O'Hara's mystical ideation to be a byproduct of his "Black Sea fever." ("He brought it with him from Batoum.") But would that matter to the artist? I was reminded of some of Machen's better moments.
But the story was admittedly slight. The character sketches and setup at the luncheon stopped just in time to avoid irritating me.
But the story was admittedly slight. The character sketches and setup at the luncheon stopped just in time to avoid irritating me.
6elenchus
>2 AndreasJ:
Many thanks for the online link!
To what is Blackwood referring here?
Rather would it be the equivalent of that still, small voice that once had inspired an entire nation. . . .
I could only come up with Gandhi, but that doesn't seem right given the story itself. Why refer to Gandhi?
>5 paradoxosalpha: The character sketches and setup at the luncheon stopped just in time to avoid irritating me.
I was itching to get onto the Weirdness behind the heath fires, sure, but did appreciate Blackwood's character sketches, caricature though they were.
This slight sort of tale puts me in mind of Dunsany's various tales of wonder, such as we read last week. Those certainly are satisfying, even without knowing their origin in Sime's illustrations. This does much the same for me, though I can't link to anything as explicit as a Sime image. It's almost as though Blackwood heard a specific quote, perhaps something as mundane as "All energy on earth ultimately derives from the sun" -- and mulling over the implications of that, comes up with this story.
If he was going for some sense of dread or horror, though, it didn't work on me.
Many thanks for the online link!
To what is Blackwood referring here?
Rather would it be the equivalent of that still, small voice that once had inspired an entire nation. . . .
I could only come up with Gandhi, but that doesn't seem right given the story itself. Why refer to Gandhi?
>5 paradoxosalpha: The character sketches and setup at the luncheon stopped just in time to avoid irritating me.
I was itching to get onto the Weirdness behind the heath fires, sure, but did appreciate Blackwood's character sketches, caricature though they were.
This slight sort of tale puts me in mind of Dunsany's various tales of wonder, such as we read last week. Those certainly are satisfying, even without knowing their origin in Sime's illustrations. This does much the same for me, though I can't link to anything as explicit as a Sime image. It's almost as though Blackwood heard a specific quote, perhaps something as mundane as "All energy on earth ultimately derives from the sun" -- and mulling over the implications of that, comes up with this story.
If he was going for some sense of dread or horror, though, it didn't work on me.
7paradoxosalpha
The "still, small voice" is certainly from 1 Kings 19:11-13, and the "inspired nation" is thus Israel.
But even in antiquity, that phrasing was taken up by various others for its numinosity. In particular, the Chaldean Oracles instruct "And, when after all the phantasms are vanished, thou shalt see that holy and Formless Fire, that Fire which darts and flashes though the hidden depths of the Universe, hear thou the Voice of the Fire" (199). This quote was used in ceremony by the 19th-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and has passed in various forms into the currency of modern occult magic.
Blackwood joined the Golden Dawn on 14 March 1869.
But even in antiquity, that phrasing was taken up by various others for its numinosity. In particular, the Chaldean Oracles instruct "And, when after all the phantasms are vanished, thou shalt see that holy and Formless Fire, that Fire which darts and flashes though the hidden depths of the Universe, hear thou the Voice of the Fire" (199). This quote was used in ceremony by the 19th-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and has passed in various forms into the currency of modern occult magic.
Blackwood joined the Golden Dawn on 14 March 1869.
8elenchus
>7 paradoxosalpha:
Thanks for that: Sometimes I'm totally off base in fixating on a phrase or scene, other times I'm onto something with little capacity for honing in on it. This seems to come up semi-regularly in my Weird reading and you've bailed me out on more than one occasion!
Thanks for that: Sometimes I'm totally off base in fixating on a phrase or scene, other times I'm onto something with little capacity for honing in on it. This seems to come up semi-regularly in my Weird reading and you've bailed me out on more than one occasion!
9paradoxosalpha
I just updated my Chaldean Oracles touchstone to a better one for purposes of the current conversation.
>8 elenchus:
An eye for allusive diction is one of the chief tools of a sophisticated reader!
>8 elenchus:
An eye for allusive diction is one of the chief tools of a sophisticated reader!
10elenchus
>9 paradoxosalpha:
Aw shucks! But seriously, it's also a sign that I'm reading sophisticated texts. I appreciate that Weird fiction, perhaps especially the older stuff but certainly not exclusively, shows up in that regard despite the popular perception of being mere genre fiction.
Aw shucks! But seriously, it's also a sign that I'm reading sophisticated texts. I appreciate that Weird fiction, perhaps especially the older stuff but certainly not exclusively, shows up in that regard despite the popular perception of being mere genre fiction.
11housefulofpaper
I hadn't quite cottoned onto the fact that Blackwood was a genuine believer in the supernatural,despite it's being in all the bios and introductions to short story collections and so forth, until I read some of his non-fiction last year (in The Lure of the Unknown and The Unknown: Weird Writings, 1900-1937). As I've just noted over in the Gothic Literature group, a good proportion of Blackwood's fiction isn't actually horror but, rather, describes (or fictionalises) spiritual or mystical experiences, or are even romances (involving soul mates reincarnated across the centuries, and things like that).
All that being said, I did stlll struggle to get in sympathy with the story, to "tune in", given that its premise is so far from what modern science's explanation of the sun, the formation of the solar system, heat...the further background information in >7 paradoxosalpha: is very much appreciated and I do feel I understand what's underlying the surface narrative a little better.
All that being said, I did stlll struggle to get in sympathy with the story, to "tune in", given that its premise is so far from what modern science's explanation of the sun, the formation of the solar system, heat...the further background information in >7 paradoxosalpha: is very much appreciated and I do feel I understand what's underlying the surface narrative a little better.
