Pan's garden: a volume of nature stories

About this book

"Pan's garden" by Algernon Blackwood is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. The tales center on nature’s mysterious, often supernatural presence and its effect on human lives. The opening story follows retired forester David Bittacy, his devout wife Sophia, and a tree-obsessed painter, Sanderson, as the living force of the woods presses upon their Hampshire home.

The opening of the collection presents Sanderson’s uncanny gift for capturing a tree’s “personality,” which resonates with David’s lifelong intimacy with forests and alarms Sophia’s pious caution. Long twilight talks about plant consciousness and a vast, collective forest “being” unsettle the household; a strange wave-like motion across the lawn and the wind “roaring further out” suggest the woods are aware—and held at bay only by their cedar. David later sleepwalks, murmuring that the forest has “sent for” him. After Sanderson leaves, storms break limbs from the cedar, the family builds a barrier along the garden’s edge, and David’s identification with the trees intensifies: he abandons their annual trip abroad, spends his days and nights in the Forest, and grows exultant while Sophia’s dread and protective vigilance deepen. The section closes with her failed attempts to medicalize the change and his invitation to visit a solitary beech at night, as the pressure of the woods steadily mounts.