Cover of The Centaur

The Centaur

  • Free to read
  • 6 hours to read
  • 46 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"The Centaur" by Algernon Blackwood is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story revolves around Terence O'Malley, a complex and contemplative man grappling with his place in a modern world that he finds stifling and disconnected from nature. As the narrative unfolds, O'Malley's longing for both wilderness and authentic connection leads him to encounter a mysterious father and son on a ship, who evoke a deep sense of understanding and emotion within him. At the start of the book, the protagonist, O'Malley, observes the phenomenon of profound personalities that captivate interest and inspire curiosity in those around them. Upon encountering a large man and his son aboard a steamer heading for the Levant, O'Malley feels an instantaneous connection marked by a shared sense of unfamiliarity and a yearning for escape from modern civilization's constraints. This poignant opening delves into O'Malley’s introspection about the loneliness that exists in modern life and hints at a deeper, spiritual connection with the natural world, setting the stage for further exploration of identity, intuition, and the search for belonging throughout the novel.

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  • Supernatural
  • Paranormal fiction

Read the opening

Chapter I

"We may be in the Universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all."

—WILLIAM JAMES, A Pluralistic Universe

"... A man's vision is the great fact about him. Who cares for Carlyle's reasons, or Schopenhauer's, or Spencer's? A philosophy is the expression of a man's intimate character, and all definitions of the Universe are but the deliberately adopted reactions of human characters upon it."

—Ibid

"There are certain persons who, independently of sex or comeliness, arouse an instant curiosity concerning themselves. The tribe is small, but its members unmistakable. They may possess neither fortune, good looks, nor that adroitness of advance-vision which the stupid name good luck; yet there is about them this inciting quality which proclaims that they have overtaken Fate, set a harness about its neck of violence, and hold bit and bridle in steady hands.

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Contents

Show all 46 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII
  24. Chapter XXIV
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter XXVII
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX
  31. Chapter XXXI
  32. Chapter XXXII
  33. Chapter XXXIII
  34. Chapter XXXIV
  35. Chapter XXXV
  36. Chapter XXXVI
  37. Chapter XXXVII
  38. Chapter XXXVIII
  39. Chapter XXXIX
  40. Chapter XL
  41. Chapter XLI
  42. Chapter XLII
  43. Chapter XLIII
  44. Chapter XLIV
  45. Chapter XLV
  46. Chapter XLVI

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About this edition

This free edition of The Centaur by Algernon Blackwood comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #9964, released 2006-02-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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