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Sheridan Le Fanu
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Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era.
Biography
Sheridan Le Fanu was born at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family of Huguenot origins. Both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights.
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Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era.
Biography
Sheridan Le Fanu was born at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family of Huguenot origins. Both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights. His niece Rhoda Broughton would become a very successful novelist. Within a year of his birth his family moved to the Royal Hibernian Military School in the Phoenix Park, where his father, a Church of Ireland clergyman, was appointed to the chaplaincy of the establishment. The Phoenix Park and the adjacent village and parish church of Chapelizod were to feature in Le Fanu's later stories.
In 1826 the family moved to Abington in County Limerick, where Le Fanu's father Thomas became rector - this was his second rectorship in the south of Ireland. Although he had a tutor, Le Fanu also availed of his father's library to educate himself. His father was a stern Protestant churchman and imbued his family with a sense of religion bordering on Calvinism.
In 1832 the locality was affected by the disorders caused by the Tithe War. There were about six thousand Catholics in the parish of Abington, and only a few dozen Church of Ireland members. In bad weather the Dean cancelled Sunday services, as few if any parishioners would turn up. However, the poverty-stricken Catholics were compelled to pay tithes for the upkeep of the church of this tiny minority. The following year the family moved back temporarily to Dublin, to Williamstown Avenue in a southern suburb, where Thomas was to work on a Government commission.
Although the Le Fanu's father Thomas made efforts to keep up the facade of a comfortably-off family, they were constantly beset by financial problems. The reason that Thomas took the rectorships in the south of Ireland was financial, as they provided a decent living through tithes. However, from 1830, as the result of agitation against the tithes, this income began to decrease, and ceased entirely two years later. In 1838 the government instituted a scheme of paying rectors a fixed sum, but in the intervening period the Dean had little besides rent on some small properties he had inherited. In 1833 Thomas, who was broke, had to borrow £100 from his cousin Captain Dobbins (who himself ended up in the debtors' prison a few years later) to visit his dying sister in Bath, who was also deeply in debt due her medical bills. At his death Thomas had practically nothing to leave to his sons and his library had to be sold to pay off some of his debts. His widow went to stay with the younger son William.
Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin, where he was elected Auditor of the College Historical Society. Under a system peculiar to Ireland he did not have to live in Dublin to attend lectures, but was allowed to study at home and take examinations at the university when necessary. He was called to the bar in 1839, but he never practiced and soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine, including his first ghost story, entitled "The Ghost and the Bone-Setter" (1838). He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder.
On 18 December 1844 Le Fanu married Susanna Bennett, the daughter of a leading Dublin barrister. Isaac Butt was a witness. They then travelled to his parents' home in Abington for Christmas. They took a house in Warrington Place near the Grand Canal in Dublin. Their first child, Eleanor, was born in 1845, then came Emma in 1846, Thomas, in 1847 and George in 1854.
In 1847 he supported John Mitchell and Thomas Meagher in their campaign against the indifference of the Government to the Irish Famine. Among others involved in this initiative were Samuel Ferguson and Isaac Butt. Butt contributed a forty-page analysis of the national disaster to the Dublin University Magazine in 1847. His support cost him the nomination as Tory MP for County Carlow in 1852.
In 1856 the family moved from Warrington Place to Susanne's parents' house at 18 Merrion Square (now number 70, office of the Irish Arts Council). Her parents retired to live in England. Joseph never owned the house, but rented it from his brother-in-law for £22 per annum (which he still didn't manage to keep paid-up).
His personal life also became difficult at this time, as his wife suffered from increasing neurotic symptoms. She had a crisis of faith and tended to attend religious services at the nearby St. Stephen's Church and discuss religion with William, Joseph's younger brother, as Joseph apparently had stopped attending religious services. She suffered from anxiety after the deaths of several close relatives, including her father two years before, which may have led to marital problems.
In April 1858 she suffered a "hysterical attack" and died the following day in unclear circumstances. She was buried in the Bennett family vault in Mount Jerome Cemetery along with her father and brothers. Anguished excerpts from Le Fanu's diaries suggest that he felt guilt as well as loss. From then on he did not write any fiction until after the death of his mother in 1861. He turned to his cousin Lady Gifford for advice and encouragement - she remained a close correspondent until her death at the end of the decade.
In 1861 he became the editor and proprietor of the Dublin University Magazine and he began exploiting double exposure: serializing in the Dublin University Magazine and then revising for the English market. The House by the Churchyard and Wylder's Hand were both published in this way. After the lukewarm reviews of the former novel, set in the Phoenix Park area of Dublin, Le Fanu signed a contract with Richard Bentley, his London publisher, which specified that future novels be stories "of an English subject and of modern times", a step Bentley thought necessary in order for Le Fanu to satisfy the English audience. Le Fanu succeeded in this aim in 1864, with the publication of Uncle Silas, which he set in Derbyshire. In his very last short stories, however, Le Fanu returned to Irish folklore as an inspiration and encouraged his friend Patrick Kennedy to contribute folklore to the D.U.M. Le Fanu died in his native Dublin on 7 February 1873. Today there is a road in Ballyfermot, near his childhood home in south-west Dublin, named after him.
Work
Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction. He was a meticulous craftsman, with a penchant for frequently reworking plots and ideas from his earlier writing in subsequent pieces of writing. (Many of his novels are expansions and refinements of earlier short stories). He specialised in tone and effect rather than "shock horror", often following a mystery format. Key to his style was the avoidance of overt supernatural effects: in most of his major works, the supernatural is strongly implied but a possible "natural" explanation is left (barely) openfor instance, the demonic monkey in "Green Tea" could be a delusion of the story's protagonist, who is the only person to see it; in "The Familiar", Captain Barton's death seems to be of supernatural causes, but is not actually witnessed, and the ghostly owl may just be a real bird. This approach has proven important for later horror writers and also for other media (it is surely an antecedent to the film producer Val Lewton's principle of indirect horror). Though other writers have since chosen blunter approaches to supernatural fiction, Le Fanu's best tales, such as the vampire novella "Carmilla", remain some of the most chilling examples of the genre. He had enormous influence on the 20th century's most important ghost story writer, M. R. James. Although his work fell out of favour in the early part of the 20th century, towards the end of the century interest in his work increased and still remains comparatively strong.
The Purcell Papers
His earliest twelve short stories, written between 1838 and 1840 purport to be the literary remains of an 18th-century Catholic priest called Father Purcell. They were published in the Dublin University Magazine and were later collected as The Purcell Papers (1880). They are mostly set in Ireland and include some classic stories of gothic horror, featuring gloomy castles, supernatural visitations from beyond the grave, madness and suicide. Also apparent is an elegiac political dimension concerning the dispossession of the former Catholic aristocracy of Ireland, whose ruined castles stand as mute witness to this history. The stories include some widely anthologised pieces:
- "The Ghost and the Bonesetter" (1838), his first published story, in a jocular vein.
- "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" (1838), an enigmatic story involving a Faustian pact, set in the gothic surroundings of a castle in rural Ireland.
- "The Last Heir of Castle Connor" (1838), a non-supernatural tale, symbolic of the decline and expropriation of the ancient Catholic gentry of Ireland under the Protestant Ascendancy.
- "The Drunkard's Dream" (1838), of Hell.
- "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" (1839), a disturbing story of a revenant coming back from beyond the grave to claim his bride: the old folkloric motif of the demon lover. This tale takes its inspiration from the atmospheric candlelit scenes of the 17th-century Dutch painter Godfried Schalcken, who is the hero of the story. It was adapted and broadcast for television by the BBC for Christmas 1979..
- "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" (1839), an early version of his later novel Uncle Silas.
- "A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family" (1839), which may have influenced Charlotte Brontė's Jane Eyre. This story was later reworked and expanded by Le Fanu as The Wyvern Mystery (1869).
Revised versions of "Irish Countess" and "Schalken" were reprinted in Le Fanu's first collection of short stories, the very rare Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery (1851).
Spalatro
An anonymous novella Spalatro: from the notes of Fra Giacomo published in the Dublin University Magazine in 1843 was added to the Le Fanu canon as late as 1980, being recognised as being by Le Fanu by W.J. McCormack in his biography of that year. Spalatro has a typically Gothic period Italian setting, featuring a bandit as hero, in the mode of Ann Radcliffe (whose 1797 novel The Italian includes a repentant minor villain of the same name). More disturbing, however, is the hero Spalatro's necrophiliac passion for an undead blood-drinking beauty, who seems to be a predecessor of Le Fanu's later female vampire Carmilla. Like Carmilla this undead femme fatale is not portrayed in an entirely negative light and attempts, but fails, to save the hero Spalatro from the eternal damnation which seems to be his destiny.
Le Fanu wrote this story after the death of his elder sister Catherine in March 1841. She had been ailing for about ten years, and her death came as a great shock to him.
Historical fiction
Le Fanu's first novels were historical, in the mode of Sir Walter Scott, though with an Irish background. Like Scott, Le Fanu gave a sympathetic account of the old Jacobite cause:
- The Cock and Anchor (1845), a story of old Dublin. It was reissued with slight alterations as Morley Court in 1873.
- The Fortunes of Colonel Torlogh O'Brien (1847).
- The House by the Churchyard (1863), the last of Le Fanu's novels to be set in the past and, as mentioned above, the last with an Irish setting. It is noteworthy that here Le Fanu's historical mode is blended with his later Gothic mode, influenced by his reading of the classic writers of that genre, such as Ann Radcliffe. This novel was later an important source for Joyce's Finnegans Wake and is set in Chapelizod, where Le Fanu lived in his youth.
Sensation novels
Le Fanu published many novels in the contemporary sensation fiction mode of Wilkie Collins and others:
- Wylder's Hand (1864).
- Guy Deverell (1865).
- All in the Dark (1866), satirising Spiritualism.
- The Tenants of Malory (1867).
- A Lost Name (1868).
- Haunted Lives (1868).
- The Wyvern Mystery (1869).
- Checkmate (1871).
- The Rose and the Key (1871), which describes the horrors of the private lunatic asylum, a classic gothic trope.
- Willing to Die (1872).
Major works
His best-known works, still widely read today, are:
- Uncle Silas (1864), a macabre mystery novel and classic of gothic horror. It is a much extended adaptation of his earlier short story "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess", with the locale switched from Ireland to England. A film version of the same name was made by Gainsborough Studios in 1947, and a remake entitled The Dark Angel, starring Peter O'Toole as the title character, was made in 1987.
- In a Glass Darkly (1872), a collection of five short stories in the horror and mystery genres, presented as the posthumous papers of the occult detective Dr Hesselius:
- "Green Tea"
- "The Familiar"
- "Mr Justice Harbottle" (perhaps better known in its earlier, very different version, "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street")
- "The Room in the Dragon Volant", not a ghost story but a notable mystery story that includes the theme of premature burial
- "Carmilla", a compelling tale of a lesbian vampire, set in darkest central Europe. This story was to greatly influence Bram Stoker in the writing of Dracula. It also served as the basis for several films, including Hammer's The Vampire Lovers (1970), Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960), and Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr (1932).
Other short-story collections
- Chronicles of Golden Friars (1871), a collection of short stories set in the imaginary English village of Golden Friars, including:
- "A Strange Adventure in the Life of Miss Laura Mildmay", within which is incorporated the story "Madam Crowl's Ghost".
- "The Haunted Baronet", a novella.
- "The Bird of Passage".
- The Watcher and Other Weird Stories (1894), another collection of short stories, published posthumously.
- Madam Crowl's Ghost and Other Tales of Mystery (1923), uncollected short stories gathered from their original magazine publications and edited by M. R. James:
- "Madam Crowl's Ghost", from All the Year Round, December 1870.
- "Squire Toby's Will", from Temple Bar, January 1868.
- "Dickon the Devil", from London Society, Christmas Number, 1872.
- "The Child That Went with the Fairies", from All the Year Round, February 1870.
- "The White Cat of Drumgunniol", from All the Year Round, April 1870.
- "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street", from the Dublin University Magazine, January 1851.
- "Ghost Stories of Chapelizod", from the Dublin University Magazine, January 1851.
- "Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling", from the Dublin University Magazine, April 1864.
- "Sir Dominick's Bargain", from All the Year Round, July 1872.
- "Ultor de Lacy", from the Dublin University Magazine, December 1861.
- "The Vision of Tom Chuff", from All the Year Round, October 1870.
- "Stories of Lough Guir", from All the Year Round, April 1870.
- The publication of this book, which has often been reprinted, led to the revival in interest in Le Fanu, which has continued to this day.
Further reading
There is an extensive critical analysis of Le Fanu's supernatural stories (particularly "Green Tea", "Schalken the Painter" and "Carmilla") in Jack Sullivan's book Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story From Le Fanu to Blackwood (1978). Other books on Le Fanu include Wilkie Collins, Le Fanu and Others (1931) by S. M. Ellis, Sheridan Le Fanu (1951) by Nelson Browne, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1971) by Michael H. Begnal, Sheridan Le Fanu (third edition, 1997) by W. J. McCormack and Vision and Vacancy: The Fictions of J. S. Le Fanu (2007) by James Walton. Le Fanu, his works, and his family background are explored in Gavin Selerie's mixed prose/verse text Le Fanu's Ghost (2006). Jim Rockhill's introductions to the three volumes of the Ash-Tree Press edition of Le Fanu's short supernatural fiction (Schalken the Painter and Others [2002], The Haunted Baronet and Others [2003], Mr Justice Harbottle and Others [2005]) provide a perceptive account of Le Fanu's life and work.
See also
External links
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