Critical Introduction

Typically considered a ghost tale writer, Algernon Blackwood (1869–1951) published “Ancient Sorceries” in 1908—and although the antagonists are cats, the supernatural still pervades the short story. As in the later “Shambleau,” by C. L. Moore, feline characteristics are closely associated with female characters and feminine desirability. With that sexual desirability comes a portion of power over the male protagonist: Vezin is almost incapable of resisting Ilse and the town. Indeed, European pagan practices—especially witches and their covens—tend to subvert the Christian patriarchal dynamic, putting women closer to the center of power than men. So it is no surprise that Ilse and her mother (and, of course, Vezin's two female relatives who were convicted as witches) are the lynchpins of the town's Satanic power and the avenue through which Vezin comes into contact with it.

Blackwood, however, complicates this by adding an internal desire for the pagan past: before Ilse stokes his desire for her, Vezin's soul has “tuned” itself to the town, as evidenced in his “purring” as he first enters it. Vezin, it seems, has the cat (the animal, the feminine) in him all along. And although Dr. Silence and the narrator attempt to explain the tale as a purely psychological event, the story leaves open the possibility that Vezin, Silence, the narrator, and the reader all have the monster inside us just waiting to come out.

Reading Questions

Blackwood uses the frame narrative in this text to create something akin to a detective story in which Dr. Silence and the narrator solve the mystery. In doing so, he sets up a dichotomy between rationalism and the mysterious supernatural. As you read the story, try to identify the rational and the supernatural aspects: where do they come into conflict with each other? Where does one or the other come out on top? Does the story itself seem to choose one side over the other or leave them hanging in balance?

The story makes mention of lycanthropy, so why do you think Blackwood chooses cats over dogs? Compare this story to Marie de France's Bisclavret or any number of werewolf movies (e.g. The Wolf-Man, 1941, or The Howling, 1981): how does the nature of the animal involved shape the narrative, the conflict, and monster itself?