Editing Sheridan Le Fanu (section)

==Work==
[[File:Sheridan Le Fanu 001.jpg|thumb|160px|Le Fanu {{circa|1870}}]]
Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his horror fiction. He was a meticulous craftsman and frequently reworked plots and ideas from his earlier writing in subsequent pieces. Many of his novels, for example, are expansions and refinements of earlier short stories. He specialised in tone and effect rather than "shock horror" and liked to leave important details unexplained and mysterious. He avoided overt supernatural effects: in most of his major works, the supernatural is strongly implied but a "natural" explanation is also possible. 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 supernatural but is not actually witnessed, and the ghostly owl may be a real bird. This technique influenced later horror artists, both in print and on film (see, for example, the film producer [[Val Lewton]]'s principle of "indirect horror").<ref name="js" /> Though other writers have since chosen less subtle techniques, Le Fanu's finest tales, such as the [[vampire]] novella ''[[Carmilla]]'' and the short story "Schalken the Painter", remain some of the most powerful in the genre. He had an enormous influence on one of the 20th century's most important ghost story writers, [[M. R. James]], and 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 remains comparatively strong.<ref name=ODNB />

===''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).<ref>''The Purcell Papers'' (1880) [https://books.google.com/books?id=FCM7tYvYrfAC Vol. 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=piVLAAAAIAAJ Vol. 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=QqUHAQAAIAAJ Vol. 3], Richard Bentley and Son, London</ref> They are mostly set in Ireland and include some classic stories of Gothic horror, with gloomy castles, supernatural visitations from beyond the grave, madness, and suicide. Also apparent are nostalgia and sadness for the dispossessed Catholic aristocracy of Ireland, whose ruined castles stand as a mute witness to this history. Some of the stories still often appear in [[anthology|anthologies]]:
# "The Ghost and the Bonesetter" (January 1838), his first-published, jocular story
# "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" (March 1838), an enigmatic story which partially involves a [[deal with the Devil|Faustian pact]] and is set in the Gothic [[wikt:ambiance|ambiance]] of a castle in rural Ireland
# "The Last Heir of Castle Connor" (June 1838), a non-supernatural tale, exploring the decline and expropriation of the ancient Catholic gentry of Ireland under the [[Protestant Ascendancy]]
# "The Drunkard's Dream" (August 1838), a haunting vision of [[Hell]]
# "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" (November 1838), an early version of his later novel ''Uncle Silas''
# "The Bridal of Carrigvarah" (April 1839)
# "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken {{sic}} the Painter" (May 1839), a disturbing version of the [[The Daemon Lover|demon lover]] motif. This tale was inspired by the atmospheric candlelit scenes of the 17th-century Dutch painter [[Godfried Schalcken]], who is the model for the story's protagonist. [[M. R. James]] stated that "{{-'}}Schalken' conforms more strictly to my own ideals. It is indeed one of the best of Le Fanu's good things."<ref>{{cite book |last1=James |first1=M. R. |author-link=M. R. James |editor-first=V. H. |editor-last=Collins|title=Ghosts and Marvels: A Selection of Uncanny Tales from Daniel Defoe to Algernon Blackwood |year=1924|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=London |chapter=Introduction}} Rpt. in {{cite book |last=James |first=M. R. |editor1-first=Christopher |editor1-last=Roden |editor2-first=Barbara |editor2-last=Roden |title=A Pleasing Terror: The Complete Supernatural Writings |year=2001 |publisher=Ash-Tree Press |location=Ashcroft, B.C. |isbn=1-55310-024-7 |page=488}}</ref> It was adapted and broadcast for television as ''[[Schalcken the Painter]]'' by the [[BBC]] for Christmas 1979, starring [[Jeremy Clyde]] and [[John Justin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1154981/index.html |title=Schalcken the Painter (1979) |last1=Angelini |first1=Sergio |website=BFI Screenonline |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=2 June 2013}}</ref>
# "Scraps of Hibernian Ballads" (June 1839)
# "Jim Sulivan's Adventures in the Great Snow" (July 1839)
# "A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family" (October 1839), which may have influenced [[Charlotte Brontë]]'s ''[[Jane Eyre]]''. This story was later reworked and expanded by Le Fanu as ''[[The Wyvern Mystery (novel)|The Wyvern Mystery]]'' (1869).
# "An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain" (February 1840)
# "The Quare Gander" (October 1840)

Revised versions of "Irish Countess" (as "The Murdered Cousin") and "Schalken" were reprinted in Le Fanu's first collection of short stories, the very rare ''Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery'' (1851).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/ghoststoriesand00fanugoog ''Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery''] (1851) With illustrations by "Phiz", James McGlashan, Dublin</ref>

===''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 Le Fanu's work by W. J. McCormack in his biography of that year. ''Spalatro'' has a typically Gothic Italian setting, featuring a bandit as the hero, as in [[Ann Radcliffe]] (whose 1797 novel ''[[The Italian (Radcliffe 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 way and attempts, but fails, to save the hero Spalatro from the eternal damnation that 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, but her death came as a great shock to him.<ref>McCormack 1997, p. 113.</ref>

===Historical fiction===
Le Fanu's first novels were historical, ''à la'' [[Sir Walter Scott]], though with an Irish setting. Like Scott, Le Fanu was sympathetic to the old [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] cause:
* ''[[The Cock and Anchor]]'' (1845),<ref>[https://archive.org/details/cockandanchorill00lefauoft  ''The Cock and Anchor''] (1895) Illustrated by Brinsley Le Fanu, Downey & Co., Covent Garden</ref> a story of old Dublin. It was reissued with slight alterations as ''Morley Court'' in 1873.
* ''[[The Fortunes of Colonel Torlogh O'Brien]]'' (1847)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/fortunescolonel00browgoog ''The Fortunes of Colonel Torlogh O'Brien''] (1847) James McGlashan, Dublin</ref>
* ''[[The House by the Churchyard]]'' (1863),<ref>''The House by the Churchyard'' (1863) [https://books.google.com/books?id=k-UBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=q-UBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=wOUBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 3], Tinsley Brothers, London</ref> 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 style is blended with his later Gothic style, influenced by his reading of the classic writers of that genre, such as [[Ann Radcliffe]]. This novel, later cited by [[James Joyce]] in ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'', is set in [[Chapelizod]], where Le Fanu lived in his youth.

===Sensation novels===
Le Fanu published many novels in the contemporary [[Sensation novel|sensation fiction]] style of [[Wilkie Collins]] and others:
* ''[[Wylder's Hand]]'' (1864)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/wyldershandanov00fanugoog ''Wylder's Hand''] (1865) Carleton, New York</ref>
* ''[[Guy Deverell]]'' (1865)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KjVWAAAAcAAJ ''Guy Deverell''] (1869) Chapman & Hall, London</ref>
* ''[[All in the Dark]]'' (1866), satirising [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Carver|first1=Stephen|title='Addicted to the Supernatural': Spiritualism and Self-Satire in Le Fanu's All in the Dark|url=https://ainsworthandfriends.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/addicted-to-the-supernatural-spiritualism-and-self-satire-in-le-fanus-all-in-the-dark/|website=Ainsworth & Friends: Essays on 19th Century Literature & the Gothic|date=13 February 2013 |publisher=Green Door DP (from an anthology from Hippocampus)|access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref>
* ''[[The Tenants of Malory]]'' (1867)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140430125959/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/l/lefanu/tenants-of-malory/contents.html ''The Tenants of Malory''] (1867) University of Adelaide, Australia</ref> 
* ''[[A Lost Name]]'' (1868),<ref>''A Lost Name'' (1868) [https://books.google.com/books?id=SdsBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=YNQBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=lNQBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 3], Richard Bentley, London</ref> an adaptation of ''The Evil Guest''<ref>Gary William Crawford <!--[http://www.lefanustudies.com/taletold.html URL has been usurped: no archived version is available] --> "A Tale Told Again: Le Fanu's 'Evil Guest' and ''A Lost Name''". ''Le Fanu Studies'' '''4''':1 (2009).</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=twhlSYNGaGIC ''The Evil Guest''] (1895) Downey & Co., London</ref>
* ''[[Haunted Lives]]'' (1868)
* ''[[The Wyvern Mystery (novel)|The Wyvern Mystery]]'' (1869)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/wyvernmysteryan00fanugoog ''The Wyvern Mystery''] (1889) Ward & Downey, London</ref>
* ''[[Checkmate (Le Fanu novel)|Checkmate]]'' (1871)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/checkmate00lefa ''Checkmate''] (1871) Evans, Stoddart & Co., Philadelphia</ref>
* ''[[The Rose and the Key]]'' (1871),<ref>''The Rose and the Key'' (1871) [https://books.google.com/books?id=cvQBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=i_QBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=sPQBAAAAQAAJ Vol. 3], Chapman and Hall, London</ref> which describes the horrors of the private lunatic asylum, a classic Gothic theme
* ''[[Willing to Die]]'' (1872)

===Major works===
His best-known works, still widely read today, are:[[Image:carmilla.jpg|thumb|right|The seductive vampire Carmilla attacks the sleeping Bertha Rheinfeldt.]]
* ''[[Uncle Silas]]'' (1864),<ref>[https://archive.org/details/unclesilasatale00goog ''Uncle Silas'', Vols. 1–2] (1865) Tauchnitz, Berlin</ref> 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 setting changed from Ireland to England. A film version under 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 1989.
* ''[[In a Glass Darkly]]'' (1872),<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0FLQAAAAMAAJ ''In a Glass Darkly''] (1886) Richard Bentley, London</ref> 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", a haunting narrative of a man plagued by a demonic monkey 
:*"The Familiar", a slightly revised version of Le Fanu's 1847 tale "The Watcher". M. R. James considered this to be the best ghost story ever written.<ref>M. R. James. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090914153742/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/mr/collect/appendix.html Some Remarks on Ghost Stories] (Bookman, 1929)</ref>
:*"Mr Justice Harbottle", another panorama of Hell and much loved by M. R. James
:*"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 female vampire, set in central Europe.  It has inspired several films, including [[Hammer Horror|Hammer's]] ''[[The Vampire Lovers]]'' (1970), [[Roger Vadim]]'s ''[[Blood and Roses]]'' (1960), and Danish director [[Carl Theodor Dreyer]]'s ''[[Vampyr]]'' (1932). Scholars like A. Asbjørn Jøn have also noted the important place that ''[[Carmilla]]'' holds in shifting the portrayal of vampires in modern fiction.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280805194|title = From Nosteratu to Von Carstein: shifts in the portrayal of vampires|last = Jøn|first = A. Asbjørn|date = 2001|journal = Australian Folklore: A Yearly Journal of Folklore Studies|access-date = 30 October 2015|issue = 16|pages = 97–106|publisher = University of New England}}</ref>

===Other short-story collections===
* ''Chronicles of Golden Friars'' (1871), a collection of three novellas set in the imaginary English village of Golden Friars:
:* "A Strange Adventure in the Life of Miss Laura Mildmay", incorporating the story "Madam Crowl's Ghost"
:* "The Haunted Baronet"
:* "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.