Review: The Wendigo

The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: THE WENDIGO by Algernon Blackwood

Lately much has been made of the bigotry of H. P. Lovecraft: whether it was ingrained, or an externalisation of his rampant fear of the unknown, and whether modern readers should overlook it or eschew his writing entirely. Here in this short piece by Algernon Blackwood, a similar bigotry arises, perhaps even more clearly defined. The omniscient narrator downs African-Americans, North American Indians (the next thing to wild animals, it seems), and even a Quebec-born French Canadian! The civilized members of the hunting party in the Canadian wilderness are clearly and specifically delineated as "white men," who are out of touch with the wilderness and its paranormal elements, while the Indian cook, by nature of being "almost animal," is attuned, and he and the French Canadian are aware of danger in a certain region; though the Indian, of course, is the most aware.

The prose is glorious and the spooky element is frightening, but the bigotry is jarring. I give high praise to the story for its content and excellence in prose. Yet the author sounds that tired ethnic bigotry again at the end. (I must admit that he levels condescension against Scotsmen as well.)

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