Maciek's Reviews > The Willows

The Willows is Algernon Blackwood's most famous story, and one which H.P. Lovecraft listed as his personal favorite of all weird tales.

Two men - the unnamed narrator and his friend, known only as "The Swede" - travel on a canoe across the Danube. The river begins somewhere in the German Black Forest and stretches across the continent, before finally emptying into the Black Sea. The two adventurous men plan to traverse through its whole length, following the steps of the ancient Roman emperors, but their plans go awry; somewhere at the end of Austria the river floods, and the current carries them deep into Hungary, to uninhabited wilderness. They decide to not risk further travel across the bursting river, and outwait the flood on a small, sandy island. There's nothing and no one to be seen anywhere, except for acres and acres of willow bushes - the sheer amount of which strikes the narrator as sinister. Both the narrator and the Swede see a strange otter-like creature floating down the river, turning over and over; shortly afterwards they see what looks like a boat being carried down the river at enormous speed, with a man inside who seems to be shouting at them and making the sign of the cross. The narrator becomes more and more disquieted as he observes the willows all around him; he senses them closing in, as if organizes as a unknown, hostile force.

It's not difficult to see why Lovecraft would pick this particular story as his favorite - the theme that he would later explore in his fiction is right here: the sense of something infinitely strange just beyond the border of our comprehension, and its hostility towards us. Borders between these worlds, and we might stumble upon them by accident and be sucked in. Characters in The Willows have no idea what is affecting them, as all they see are the endless willow bushes - and therefore have no way of effectively resisting the terror, something which they perceive to be truly out of this world.

This is a classic story and a must read for anyone interested in the development of horror and weird-fiction. Although it's considered by many to be Blackwood's best and is easily his most known, if I had to choose I'd pick his other important story - The Wendigo, purely because of my personal preference. The two stories are short, and both can be read in a single sitting - and like The Wendigo, The Willows is in public domain and available via legal download. Grab an excellent copy from Feedbooks and indulge:

http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1065/th...