The Human Chord: Volume 51

When Robert Spinrobin, drifting through life in a daydream, answers a newspaper ad asking for an imaginative tenor with a grasp of ancient languages, he soon finds himself travelling to rural Wales and the home of ex-clergyman, Philip Skale. Here Skale, the housekeeper Mrs. Mawle and her niece, Miriam, have been pursuing a new science, harnessing sound to discover the true names of people - and recording the uncanny phenomena and transformations that this naming ritual brings in the subject. With possibilities of mind-melding and sublime spiritual awakenings already documented, it is not long before Skale pivots towards a grander master plan to intone a forbidden name beyond the preserve of humanity - while a gathering storm of disastrous cosmic consequences threatens to break. First published in 1910 but lost for most of the 20th century, Blackwood's tour-de-force novel is long overdue rediscovery. Featuring a new, incisive introduction from one of the foremost experts on Blackwood, Mike Ashley.

Author: Algernon Blackwood
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: British Library
Published: 07/01/2025
Series: Tales of the Weird
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.48lbs
Size: 7.60h x 6.40w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780712355414