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No survey of weird literature would be complete without mentioning Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951). As with all masters of the genre, Blackwood's take on the weird is singular: here, it isn't the cold reaches of outer space that elicit in us a nihilistic frisson, but the vast expanses of our own planet's wild places -- especially the northern woods. In his story "The Wendigo," Blackwood combines the beliefs of the Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands with the folktales of his native Britain to weave an ensorcelling story that perfectly captures the mood of the Canadian wilderness. In this conversation, JF and Phil discuss their own experience of that wilderness growing up in Ontario. The deeper they go, the spookier things get. An episode best enjoyed in solitude, by a campfire.

Header Image: "Highway 60 Passing Through the Boreal Forest in Algonquin Park" by Dimana Koralova, Wikimedia Commons

SHOW NOTES

Glenn Gould, The Idea of North
\nAlgernon Blackwood, "The Wendigo"
\nGame of Thrones (HBO series)
\nWeird Studies, Episode 29: On Lovecraft
\nH. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"
\nEdgar Allan Poe, "The Philosophy of Composition"
\nFritz Leiber, The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
\nRichard Wagner, Parsifal
\nDavid Lynch, Twin Peaks: The Return
\nPeter Heller, The River: A Novel
\nThe Killing of Tim McLean (July 30, 2008)
\nWeird Studies, Episode 3: Ecstasy, Sin, and "The White People"
\nMysterious Universe: Strange and Terrifying Encounters with Skinwalkers
\nJacques Vall\xe9e, Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds
\nGraham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy
\nArthur Machen, Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy