Books with author Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

This Gothic novella tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. Carmilla predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 25 years, and has been adapted many times for cinema. Although Carmilla is a lesser known and far shorter Gothic vampire story than the generally-considered master work of that genre, Dracula, the latter is heavily influenced by Le Fanu's short story.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This Gothic novella tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. Carmilla predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 25 years, and has been adapted many times for cinema. Although Carmilla is a lesser known and far shorter Gothic vampire story than the generally-considered master work of that genre, Dracula, the latter is heavily influenced by Le Fanu's short story.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was a leading ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M. R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are Uncle Silas, Carmilla and The House by the Churchyard.

"Uncle Silas" is J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic gothic novel narrated by the teenage character Maud Ruthyn who lives with her reclusive father Austyn Ruthyn in their mansion at Knowl. From her father Maud comes to learn of her Uncle Silas, an infamous rake and gambler and the suspicious suicide of a man to whom Silas owes an enormous gambling death. Mystery surrounds this suicide as the man is found dead in a locked room. While Austyn is convinced of his brother's innocence Maud is not and when her father unexpectedly dies, she must go to live with her Uncle. As Maud suspects that Uncle Silas has designs on her inheritance she finds herself in a dreadful situation in which she fears for her life. "Uncle Silas" is a chilling psychological thriller that is considered by many as Le Fanu's best and most popular work.

Perhaps no other writer in the history of English fiction so completely mastered the technique of creating an atmosphere of unrelieved suspense and terror as Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73). This is surely evident in all of his supernatural fiction: such superb examples of the English ghost story as "Carmilla," "The Haunted Baronet," "Squire Toby's Will," and others (many available in Dover's Best Ghost Stories of J. S. Le Fanu). But nowhere is Le Fanu's success as great as in Uncle Silas.Death prowls the 400-odd pages of this book — in Maud Ruthyn, her father Austin, the grotesque Madame de la Rougierre, in the shadowy suspicion that surrounds Uncle Silas, in the chilly atmosphere at Knowl and the even more haunting terror pervading Bartram-Haugh, in the gloomy night thoughts and somber reflections about death that occur and reoccur. With consummate skill, Le Fanu has truly captured the secret fears and dreads that grip us all.One of a half dozen or so nineteenth-century novels still read for pleasure rather than as a school exercise, Uncle Silas is the Victorian mystery story par excellence, displaying both Le Fanu's considerable narrative ability and his emotional power. It has remained in print since its first appearance in 1864, has been translated into several languages, and has been filmed in England as The Inheritor. Its longevity and perennial appeal are both well established and well deserved, for as Frederick Shroyer says in his Introduction, "It is one of the most effective, gripping novels of terror … ever written. Today, as in the past, Uncle Silas continues to serve diabolically well to chill the reader's psychic bones."Despite its continuous popularity, Uncle Silas has of late been virtually unobtainable in America. Now republished by Dover, this chilling Victorian novel will be a welcome treat for all Le Fanu admirers, mystery fans, English majors, and every reader who enjoys a well-told tale.