Clever ideas marred by plodding plotting
In classic horror literature, English author Algernon Blackwood is a name often mentioned in the revered company of writers like Edgar Allen Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. If Blackwood’s 1908 book John Silence is any indication, however, his writing is neither as macabre as the former nor as morbid as the latter. The stories included in John Silence are more reminiscent of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s supernatural tales, such as the novel The Parasite or the short stories in Tales of Terror and Mystery. In fact, the character of Dr. John Silence, a physician and philanthropist who aids people plagued by paranormal phenomena, is like a Sherlock Holmes of the supernatural, so much so that one has to think that Blackwood deliberately patterned his hero after Conan Doyle’s detective. Two of the Silence stories are narrated by a Mr. Hubbard, a Watsonesque figure who serves as the doctor’s “confidential secretary.” Unlike Watson, however, Hubbard has no personality; he merely serves as the eyes and ears of the reader. Silence himself is an underdeveloped character who sometimes barely appears in his own stories.While Blackwood builds these stories around interesting paranormal premises, the reader’s enthusiasm is soon dulled considerably by long-winded storytelling and lethargic plotting. These are not short stories; these are novella-length works that should have been short stories. The plots are overly drawn out and padded with needless description. Instead of suspense, this engenders boredom, and often the climax is not an adequate reward for the long wait. The first two stories are prime examples of this, “Case I: A Psychical Invasion” and “Case II: Ancient Sorceries” both waste much of their length on minute descriptions of dog and cat behavior, down to each and every arching of back or wag of tail. Silence’s confrontation of the supernatural entity in the first story is brief and anticlimactic. In the second case, he isn’t even present for most of the story and only shows up at the end to explain what happened.
Hubbard is introduced as narrator in “Case III: The Nemesis of Fire.” An old soldier inherits his family estate after his brother is murdered. Mysterious lights in a nearby wood lead him to contact John Silence. Towards the end this one develops some interesting plot elements, but it is still too protracted and its conclusions to vague. The best story in the book is “Case IV: Secret Worship.” A British silk merchant returning from a business trip decides to visit his old childhood boarding school, a secluded and strictly religious institution in Germany. He is welcomed with open arms by the monks who run the school, but he gradually begins to feel like he is their prisoner. John Silence is absent from the narrative until the very end. Again, this is probably twice as long as it needed to be, but at least it’s a good horror story. “Case V: The Camp of the Dog” is a trying exercise in patience. The reader has it all figured out from the beginning, sees exactly where the story is headed, and then has to wait for the characters to catch up.
When originally published in 1908, the collection entitled John Silence contained five stories. Some later editions, however, include “Case VI: A Victim of Higher Space.” This one is actually a short story, not a novella, so it’s not as painfully slow as the others. John Silence is an active participant in this one, and it contains some fun ideas about other dimensions beyond the third dimension we perceive with our senses. Cases IV and VI are really the only ones worth reading. Despite my interest in genre fiction of this period, this book was a disappointment. Blackwood’s prodigious reputation in horror fiction must be founded on better books than this.
Stories in this collection
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