Book Description
Contains the following stories. Schalken The Painter (1851) An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungier Street (1853)The Murdered Cousin An Authentic Narrative Of A Haunted House (1862) Ultor De Lacy: A Legend Of Cappercullen (1861) The Haunted Baronet (1871) The Drunkard's Dream (1838) The Ghost and the Bone-setter (1838) The Mysterious Lodger (1850)Laura Silver Bell (1872) Wicked Captain Walshawe, Of Wauling (1869) The Child That Went With The Fairies (1870) Stories Of Lough Guir (1870)The Vision Of Tom Chuff (1870)Dickon The Devil (1872) ... Read more

Book Description
Included in this volume are the classic Le Fanu tales, "Green Tea," "The Familiar," "Mr. Justice Harbottle," "The Room in the Dragon Volant," and "Carmilla." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

LeFanu's Masterpiece

"Horrific.""Superb.""Dark.""Masterful.""Gothic.""Brilliant."All these words and more spring to mind when attempting to describe In a Glass Darkly.This volume contains five tales ranging in length from thirty to seventy pages which purport to record a few of the many cases of the learned psychic investigator Doctor Martin Hesselius.
The first tale, "Green Tea," is perhaps the best ever written by LeFanu.It is narrated by the Doctor himself and records the case of a young man who believes he has awakened a demonic creature bent on his destruction.Hesselius urbanely dismisses this and claims to effect a cure with nothing more than a change in diet.It is obvious that he has gravely underestimated the force assaulting his client, as the shocking conclusion shows only too well.The story is brilliantly carried out and is one of the most frightening stories I have ever read.It is widely anthologized and many readers may be familiar with it but ignorant of the majority of the tales in this book.This is a great pity as they were meant to be read together, and although each of the stories can be read on its own with great pleasure, the cumulative effect should not be missed.
After "Green Tea" there appear two traditional ghost stories, "The Familiar" and "Mister Justice Harbottle."They lack the originality of "Green Tea," but both are quite chilling in their own right.Both stories handle the theme of the vengeful ghost with marvelous skill.
The fourth tale to appear is "The Room in the Dragon Volant."I do not wish to prejudice readers against it and so will refrain from discussing this narrative.It need merely be stated that here LeFanu gives in to his weakness of adding humor to his stories.Unfortunately for us, his comedic skill was rather meager.
The last story in the book is "Carmilla," the mother of all vampire stories.The horror of this novella can hardly be overemphasized.The description of Carmilla's nocturnal visits to her victim rank among the most grisly in all literature.There is only one trifling flaw in the entire narrative.This is the bizarre stupidity of the narrator, the young woman preyed upon.But this is more than made up for by the fascinating complexity of Carmilla herself.In this story, unlike most vampire tales of the period, Carmilla becomes a character instead of a mere monster.
In conclusion, it seems fit to remark upon the interesting form in which LeFanu chose to convey his tales.They are novellas, which seem to work particularly well for the kind of story that he told.More detail is given than in regular short stories, but the book is free from the constraints of the novel.The result is a work of genius.

Super Reader
Perhaps the origin of the 'psychic detective' or ghostbuster genre,
with the use of Doctor Heselius as a framing character for these
stories as being part of his history of cases. Carmilla is a fine, fine
tale, with a disturbing female monster. Le Fanu is well worth
investigating for horror fans that have not done so in the past.

In A Glass Darkly
WARNING!My Oxford World's Classics paperback copy had pages of Thoreau's "Walden"inserted after p.158 of the story "The Room in the Dragon Volant."Missing are approx. 50 pages of the LeFanu story, so it's not like it's a bonus.I'm letting Amazon know about it, but check your copy on receipt!! Very disappointing to not know what happens, kind of like watching a thriller on TV and then the power goes out, but the broadcast stays on so you miss the middle.

I do rate LeFanu's stories 4-5 stars though.Really well-written page turners!

Eerie but doesn't stand the test of time
During a recent (first) visit to Dublin, my wonderful guide showed me Sheridan LeFanu's lovely Georgian home and turned me on to the creepy classics which the late author wrote and helped to create an entire genre of cliched horror staples we still enjoy today.

This book, however, is a collection of tedious stories...overwritten to satisfy perhaps Le Fanu's contemporary readers, but not those of today.It is unfortunate that we fans of haunted houses and chill-inducing ghost stories have become jaded with the over saturation in the medium.If you can get past comparing it with other examples and want to take your time with this slow (sadly unsuspenseful) read, you may find a few gossebumps along the way.

Great stories!
I disagree with the previous reviewer. I thought "The Room at the Dragon Volant" was one of the better stories. It was a little longer than it could have been, and yes, you figured out very quickly what was going on, but that didn't negate my enjoyment of it. (In fact, in most of the stories you have an idea of what's going to happen before it happens--like the end of "The Watcher.") You can enjoy it if you put yourself in the place of the (admittedly dorky) protagonist and read it as straight adventure.

"Carmilla" is a classic. I'd be amazed if it didn't provoke an outcry for its frank lesbian content. It must have been shocking at that time. ... Read more

Book Description
From "Green Tea":

"The evil spirits associated with man are, indeed from the hells, but when with man they are not then in hell, but are taken out thence. The place where they then are, is in the midst between heaven and hell, and is called the world of spirits -- when the evil spirits who are with man, are in that world, they are not in any infernal torment, but in every thought and affection of man, and so, in all that the man himself enjoys. But when they are remitted into their hell, they return to their former state. . . ."

"If evil spirits could perceive that they were associated with man, and yet that they were spirits separate from him, and if they could flow in into the things of his body, they would attempt by a thousand means to destroy him; for they hate man with a deadly hatred. . . ."

"Knowing, therefore, that I was a man in the body, they were continually striving to destroy me, not as to the body only, but especially as to the soul; for to destroy any man or spirit is the very delight of the life of all who are in hell; but I have been continually protected by the Lord. Hence it appears how dangerous it is for man to be in a living consort with spirits, unless he be in the good of faith. . . ."

"Nothing is more carefully guarded from the knowledge of associate spirits than their being thus conjoint with a man, for if they knew it they would speak to him, with the intention to destroy him. . . ."

*

Also included in this volume are "Mr. Justice Harbottle," "Madam Crowl's Ghost," and "The Dead Sexton." ... Read more

Book Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) 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. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. 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. 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. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Book Description
Carmilla is the book that set the text for Dracula, that threw the light on our morbid fascination with the vampire legend. This is Carmilla, J. Sheridan LeFanu's classic novel of blood, terror -- and a love that dare not speak its name. ... Read more

Book Description
Included in this volume are "Schalken the Painter," "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street," "An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House," "Ultor De Lacy," and "The Haunted Baronet." ... Read more

Book Description
J. Sheridan LeFanu -- Irish author of such classics as the short vampire novel Carmella (reputed to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula) and A Chapter in the History of the Tyrone Family (said to be the tale that gave rise to Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights -- lived from 1814 until 1873. He wrote all sorts of tales, but he's best remembered as a writer of mysteries and horror.

Horrors like this one, The House by the Churchyard -- a thrilling, haunting tale that remains in the memory long after the lights go out. Set in Chapelizod in Dublin (where LeFanu lived for some time) it was an important source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (5)

No Wyvern - No Mystery - No Fun
Ah, these books one receives as Christmas presents, no doubt the benefactors mean well....How dearly I would have loved to have settled down to a mystery about that many-storied beast, the wyvern.And, since there is a very well-depicted wyvern on the cover, and the title rather leads one to expect it, surely I was not amiss in expecting such a lark.But, alas, no wyvern - just an old family who possess the surname.And alack, no mystery - the plot and characters are as stale as ergoted rye, but without even the supernatural or hallucinogenic to excite one.Wading through this mostly banal novel was rather like touching upon several poorly copied parts of Dickens' novels with a touch of the Brontes thrown in for good measure.

The only thing that surprised me, from time to time, was the discovery that Le Fanu could be a dashed good writer when he put his mind and heart into it.He is particularly good at detailed landscapes, human psychology and lines of poetic insight.Unfortunately, these passages are too few, too far between, too often over-the-top to redeem the novel.But, as an example, one occasionally comes across a passage like the following:

"Future-present-past. The future - mist, a tint, a shadow. The cloud on which fear and hope project their airy phantoms, living in imagination, and peopled by romance - a dream of dreams. The present only we possess, man's momentary dominion, plastic under his hand as the clay under the potter's - always a moment of the present in our absolute power - always that fleeting, plastic moment speeding into the past - immutable, eternal.The metal flows molten by, and then chills and fixes for ever."p.222

But such passages are rare indeed.They pop out - if I may be permitted the trope - like audacious wyverns amidst tired, overworked prosaic basset-hounds. Altogether, more than a letdown. ---Good title though.
.

NotLe Fanu's best
Poor Alice!Why is her new husband so secretive?Why is the housekeeper so cool toward her?What does her brother-in-law know that he isn't telling?And what is that strange scratching noise in her bedroom at midnight?

All good questions, but don't expect answers for a few hundred pages.Le Fanu is the master of dragged-out suspense, but he really drags it out in this one, then skips 12 years, then begins what appears to be a new plot needing another few hundred pages, until he recollects that he needs to finish the book and ends everything at breakneck speed in the last few pages.You wouldn't mind so much if you cared about Alice's problems, but she's the typical innocent and passive young heroine who needs squads of people on hand to help her while she's bedridden with grief.What makes this book enjoyable is not her but the other characters: there's old Squire Fairfield; he didn't like Alice's father, but when Alice was orphaned as a child, he raised her himself.His feelings toward her seem gruff but paternal.... or are they?Mildred the housekeeper has an endless supply of proverbs and sayings; she isn't loyal or even nice... or is she?Harry the brother-in-law seems to be a simple horse trader who's happy to let his elder brother inherit Wyvern, the family estate, but he may not be as simple as he seems.And what about the mysterious, tall, opium-smoking "Dutchwoman" ....?Le Fanu excels at ambiguous motivations, only in this book, the motives are especially nebulous. I would have appreciated an afterword explaining the laws of inheritance and primogeniture in a way that would make the baby plot a little clearer.

Good, but not Le Fanu's best
Unfortunately, I read Le Fanu's Uncle Silas before picking up The Wyvern Mystery. Although I enjoyed The Wyvern Mystery, I felt it was not as well written and plotted as Uncle Silas. At one point, you seem to reach the climax as 'the old soldier' becomes very nasty indeed; but then she all but disappears from the book. The ending was predictable - you could see it coming from a mile off. Overall, the book was entertaining, but I would recommend Uncle Silas over this story any day.

Good Introduction to Gothic Fiction
J. Sheridan LeFanu is not as difficult to get into as other Gothic fiction authors are.I would definitely recommend the 'Wyvern Mystery' to anyone looking at beginning to read Gothic fiction.I would recommend to anyone, however, as a very well-rounded book.The storyline takes many exciting twists and turns, though LeFanu's slow and detailed style may find little friendliness from modern readers.Those who appreciate detail will find his intricate portraits both refreshing and beautiful.Many times I found myself smiling at the believable and realistic depictions of emotion or character traits.LeFanu definitely shows that he is not an amatuer and demands attention from modern readers.He is widely unread, but his great talents at storytelling deserve attention.The 'mystery' of the Wyvern Mystery centers around a young couple's troubles due to elopement, financial problems, and the hero's dark past that comes back to haunt them both.All this and a happy ending.I implore you to resurrect this wonderful old mystery.

Must read Material for Gothic Mystery Fans
LeFanu's "Wyvern Mystery" is a classic example of a Gothic mystery. During the 1860's, Gothic mysteries and horror novels were popular. Although LeFanu is not as "up there " as such notable Gothic novelists as Bram Stroker or Mary Shelley, LeFanu creates a chilling and suspenseful thriller. The tale has the typical features one finds in Gothic novels- a beautiful heroine who is in danger, a mysterious family secret, a haunted mansion, prophetic dreams, appropriate dark atmosphere and as added bonus LeFanu created a "sub-human " character who has been damaged in her past and has now become a monster out for revenge. At time reminiscent of Jane Eyre, Wyvern mystery is a must have for mystery fans of the genre. PBS broadcasted a screen adaptation on their Mystery Series. Also I recommend all other LeFanu novels and also the Gothic mystery "Lady Audley's Secret ". Enjoy. ... Read more

Book Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) 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. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. 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. 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. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Book Description

A beautiful young heroine-A cruel and unfeeling mother-A one-eyed spy-A mesmerist-A lunatic asylum. These are the perfect components for a Victorian sensation novel, and in The Rose and the Key, J. Sheridan Le Fanu weaves them into a thrilling Gothic mystery.

The terror builds slowly, as young Maud Vernon and her old cousin Maximilla enjoy a sketching tour through Wales. Ominously, they find themselves shadowed by a sinister one-eyed man. And when they return to Roydon Hall, Maud's home, things become yet worse.Her mother, the imperious Lady Vernon, seems to loathe her, and there are other concerns as well-a mysterious will, an intimidating man clothed all in black, and the satanic mesmerist Doctor Antomarchi. Le Fanu slowly unfolds his plot, building the mystery and suspence until the shocking climax, where Maud escapes her cruel mother to visit the home of the great Lady Mardykes, only to find that she has escaped one hell, only to enter one far worse!

This edition is the first to follow the original text, as serialized in Charles Dickens's weekly All the Year Round in 1871. Featuring notes, the text of contemporary reviews, and contextual documents such as a letter from Dickens to Le Fanu, this is the first-ever scholarly edition of the novel.Highlighting this edition is a groundbreaking new introduction by Frances Chiu, which argues for consideration of The Rose and the Key as Le Fanu's statement on the troubled relations between England and Ireland and calls for a reevaluation of his ideology and politics. ... Read more

Book Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) 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. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. 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. 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. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more

Book Description
This volume contains two of LeFanu's stories: A Chapter in the History of the Tyrone Family (a story which may have been an inspiration for Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre) and The Murdered Cousin (the earliest "sealed room" mystery known.) Although not well known today, LeFanu was a favorite of writers like Bram Stoker and M.R. James, who considered LeFanu to be one of the best supernatural writers of the time. His prose is vivid and detailed and his horror relies on effect and mood, rather than on gore or shock value. Victorian hosts would often place a book of LeFanu's stories by their guests' bedsides, for their reading pleasure late at night. ... Read more

Book Description
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) 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. Le Fanu studied law at Trinity College in Dublin. He soon abandoned law for journalism. In 1838 he began contributing stories to the Dublin University Magazine. He became owner of several newspapers from 1840, including the Dublin Evening Mail and the Warder. 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. 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. Among his famous works are: The House by the Church-Yard (1863), Uncle Silas (1864), Carmilla (1872), The Purcell Papers (1880), and The Evil Guest (1895). ... Read more