Algernon Blackwood
Discesa in Egitto

LA RECENSIONE

Algernon Blackwood is undoubtedly an innovator of the weird-tale genre: Lovecraft drew great inspiration from the English master, particularly from the concept "of the indifference" and "the hostility of supernatural forces towards man". His best work was produced between 1906 and 1917. Blackwood was a master at creating atmospheres and for this, he was esteemed, as mentioned, by H.P. Lovecraft who considered him, in the most intense moments, as the greatest weird writer. In his famous Supernatural Horror in Literature, an essay that, in its own way, has become a cornerstone, he dedicates an in-depth study to Algernon Blackwood and goes so far as to define The Willows as the best story in the history of supernatural literature. It's unfortunate that the admiration wasn't mutual: as Peter Penzoldt – author of The Supernatural In Fiction, an important essay on the supernatural unpublished in Italy where significant space is dedicated to him – reports, Blackwood was well acquainted with Lovecraft's work but was not very enthusiastic about it, as in his opinion, the writings of the reclusive Providence lacked the qualities of genuine "spiritual terror" that instead characterized his own work. Fruttero e Lucentini, in the classic anthology Ghost Stories, published by Einaudi in 1960, wrote while presenting his story The Empty House that Blackwood "had desperately aged." Perhaps an unfair judgment, especially considering that in Italy we know only part of his work. Besides, the fundamental novel The Centaur (1911) is still unpublished here.

Blackwood was also passionate about Egypt and its mysterious places (even Lovecraft exploited this theme in Imprisoned With The Pharaos, written in collaboration with Harry Houdini). The novella A Descent into Egypt, originally enclosed in the collection Incredible Adventures published in 1914 by Macmillan and recently appeared in Italy by Edizioni Hypnos, is a good example of this streak. The story narrates the events of George Isley, a solitary traveler who will come to find the dark side of his personality in the mystical and magical universe of deep Egypt. Accompanied by the Egyptologist Moleson, he will find his destiny in Thebes. Isley and his companion seem to have changed personalities: it is as if entities belonging to a dimension beyond time and space have possessed them. The story of George Isley is narrated to us from the viewpoint of a friend who has had the opportunity to notice his metamorphosis. In A Descent into Egypt it is the atmosphere that characterizes the story: thanks to the "magical words" of the English writer, we are able to relive the myths and rites of Ancient Egypt. The images evoked by his pen bring to light the cults of Amon-Ra and Anubis and speak to us of a transfigured reality dominated by the Pharaohs and the colossi of Memnon with all their burden of a millennia-old, mythical, and mythological history. It is like taking a sort of journey back in time into the forgotten secrets of a legendary culture: the effect created by Blackwood is hypnotic and phantasmagoric.

Algernon Blackwood – "A Descent into Egypt" 87 pages – Visioni Series number 6 – Euro 8,90 – 2017