Algernon Blackwood Review: Imagination

As I was reading, I thought, “this is a different direction for Lord Dunsany.” It would have been if it wasn’t written by Algernon Blackwood.

In the story, a writer struggled with an excess of imagination. He decided to write about the modern human condition using a centaur as a symbol. Just then he was interrupted at the door by a strange visitor who seemed to grow and distort until the arrival of his boring brother brought him back to the mundane world.

Was that another it-was-only-a-dream ending?

Not exactly but dangerously close. Blackwood definitely knew how to write a satisfying ending but the challenge of a short narrative might have led him astray.

I was impressed by how Blackwood gave the impression that the visitor at the door was actually a centaur. He doesn’t explicitly transform but it’s the impression the artist had that he was growing and his reference to Chiron.

I’m not sure if readers today or in 1914 would have a greater name recognition of Chiron. He’s featured in modern fantasy, especially the Percy Jackson novels, and I rarely check Facebook without seeing someone posted that “centaur for disease control” meme.

Still Blackwood was secure with a single name-drop to assume his readers would get the reference. I don’t know if readers are dumber today but we treat them that way.

“Imagination” is a short, simple story that most likely won’t make anyone’s Top Blackwood list but won’t make the Worst list either. I wish the ending was different but for a ten-minute story, it’s solid.