In a Glass Darkly collects together five short stories from gothic horror and mystery writer Sheridan Le Fanu. The book, published in 1872 a year before Le Fanu's death, is named from a passage in Corinthians which speaks of humankind perceiving the world "through a glass darkly." The stories are told from the posthumous writings of an occult detective named Dr Martin Hesselius. In Green Tea a clergyman is being driven mad by an evil demon that takes the ephemeral form of a monkey, but is unseen by others as it burdens the victim's mind with psychological torment. In The Familiar, revised from Le Fanu's The Watcher of 1851, a sea captain is stalked by a dwarf, "The Watcher." Is this strange character from captain's past? In Mr Justice Harbottle a merciless court judge is attacked by vengeful spirits, dreaming he is sentenced to death by a horrific version of himself. The story was revised from 1853's An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street. In The Room in the Dragon Volant, a notable mystery which includes a premature burial theme, an innocent young Englishman in France tries to rescue a mysterious countess from her unbearable situation. Lastly, Carmilla tells the tale of a lesbian vampire. It was a huge influence on Bram Stoker's writing of Dracula and the basis for the films Vampyr in 1932 and The Vampire Lovers in 1970.
In a Glass Darkly collects together five short stories from gothic horror and mystery writer Sheridan Le Fanu. The book, published in 1872 a year before Le Fanu's death, is named from a passage in Corinthians which speaks of humankind perceiving the world "through a glass darkly." The stories are told from the posthumous writings of an occult detective named Dr Martin Hesselius. In Green Tea a clergyman is being driven mad by an evil demon that takes the ephemeral form of a monkey, but is unseen by others as it burdens the victim's mind with psychological torment. In The Familiar, revised from Le Fanu's The Watcher of 1851, a sea captain is stalked by a dwarf, "The Watcher." Is this strange character from captain's past? In Mr Justice Harbottle a merciless court judge is attacked by vengeful spirits, dreaming he is sentenced to death by a horrific version of himself. The story was revised from 1853's An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street. In The Room in the Dragon Volant, a notable mystery which includes a premature burial theme, an innocent young Englishman in France tries to rescue a mysterious countess from her unbearable situation. Lastly, Carmilla tells the tale of a lesbian vampire. It was a huge influence on Bram Stoker's writing of Dracula and the basis for the films Vampyr in 1932 and The Vampire Lovers in 1970.
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2 books in catalog
Victorian Gothic fiction and mystery writing were shaped profoundly by nineteenth-century ghost stories that blended psychological tension with macabre mystery. Irish author Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu emerged as a central figure in this genre, crafting intricate tales of terror and suspense that redefined supernatural literature. Best known for his chilling vampire novella Carmilla and his celebrated mystery novel Uncle Silas, his works established psychological realism within horror, earning him enduring acclaim including praise from M.R. James, who placed him absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories.
Born in Dublin in 1814 to a family of Huguenot extraction connected to the Anglican Ascendancy, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu developed his literary talent early alongside notable familial connections, such as his playwright grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1833 to train as a lawyer, but soon shifted his career toward journalism and creative writing. Joining the staff of the Dublin University Magazine in 1837, Le Fanu went on to become its editor and proprietor, while also acquiring ownership of several newspapers. His early creative output featured popular Irish ballads including Phaudhrig Croohore and Shamus O'Brien, yet his primary legacy rested on his ghost stories, macabre poetry, and sensation novels written throughout his life in Dublin until his death in 1873.
Le Fanu's writing style is characterized by atmospheric eerie settings, locked-room mysteries, and subtle psychological horror rather than simple physical shock. His stories frequently explore themes of guilt, haunted inheritances, and the invasion of the supernatural into everyday domestic spaces. Rather than relying on overt monsters, he pioneered a narrative technique where uncanny phenomena mirror the internal anxiety and psychological instability of his characters. This approach turned macabre supernatural tales into sophisticated psychological studies, exerting a major influence on subsequent Victorian and Edwardian writers of terror and speculative fiction.
2 books in catalog
Victorian Gothic fiction and mystery writing were shaped profoundly by nineteenth-century ghost stories that blended psychological tension with macabre mystery. Irish author Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu emerged as a central figure in this genre, crafting intricate tales of terror and suspense that redefined supernatural literature. Best known for his chilling vampire novella Carmilla and his celebrated mystery novel Uncle Silas, his works established psychological realism within horror, earning him enduring acclaim including praise from M.R. James, who placed him absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories.
Born in Dublin in 1814 to a family of Huguenot extraction connected to the Anglican Ascendancy, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu developed his literary talent early alongside notable familial connections, such as his playwright grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1833 to train as a lawyer, but soon shifted his career toward journalism and creative writing. Joining the staff of the Dublin University Magazine in 1837, Le Fanu went on to become its editor and proprietor, while also acquiring ownership of several newspapers. His early creative output featured popular Irish ballads including Phaudhrig Croohore and Shamus O'Brien, yet his primary legacy rested on his ghost stories, macabre poetry, and sensation novels written throughout his life in Dublin until his death in 1873.
Le Fanu's writing style is characterized by atmospheric eerie settings, locked-room mysteries, and subtle psychological horror rather than simple physical shock. His stories frequently explore themes of guilt, haunted inheritances, and the invasion of the supernatural into everyday domestic spaces. Rather than relying on overt monsters, he pioneered a narrative technique where uncanny phenomena mirror the internal anxiety and psychological instability of his characters. This approach turned macabre supernatural tales into sophisticated psychological studies, exerting a major influence on subsequent Victorian and Edwardian writers of terror and speculative fiction.
