Philophobia : re-evaluating desire within horror through Algernon Blackwood's love

Abstract

English writer Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) has lived multiple lives from being a broadcasting narrator to writing short stories on fantasy and horror. What is most interesting about his horror fiction, however, is his priority in reproducing emotions induced by beauty, rather than centering his works on the familiar fear and dread of the horror narrative. Inspired by Blackwood’s pursuit to encapsulate the positive affects of beauty in the space of the horror narrative, this project is interested in the possible nuances that finding beauty within the Blackwoodian narrative could add to the experience of reading horror fiction. What this project achieves in pursuing beauty in the Blackwoodian narrative is not as simple as re-evaluating the reader’s aesthetic judgement of the Blackwoodian horror fiction. Studying four of Algernon Blackwood’s novellas, this project argues for the purposiveness of beauty in re-formulating the perception of the Blackwoodian horror narrative as fiction that pits the human protagonist against the supernatural antagonist. Instead, the beauty that can be found in the Blackwoodian narrative is a moral endeavour –– an endeavour that not only decentres the human character as the “hero” of the horror narrative, but considers that the original placement of the supernatural entity was at the centre of the narrative all along.