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Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (/ˈlɛfən.juː/; 28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873), popularly known as J. S. Le Fanu, was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He is considered by literary critics to be among the greatest ghost story writers of the Victorian era, as several of his works were central to the development of the genre. Le Fanu was the author of novels such as Uncle Silas (1864) and the collection of stories In a Glass Darkly (1872), which includes the novella Carmilla (1872), a foundational work of vampire literature.
Born into a family of writers, Le Fanu began writing poetry at the age of fifteen, using his father's personal library to educate himself. Due to severe financial constraints, his family were forced to sell the library and its books to settle some of their debts following the passing of his father. In 1838, he began writing stories for the Dublin University Magazine to make money, which included his first ghost story, The Ghost and the Bone-Setter (1838). It was during this period that Le Fanu decided to focus on the ghost story genre, despite continuing to also write short stories and commentaries across other genres, and by 1840 he had become the owner of several local newspapers.
He also wrote The House by the Churchyard (1863), which became one of his best-known novels. Initially, his work fell into neglect following his death, and it was the efforts of later writers, such as Elizabeth Bowen and M. R. James, that brought the public's attention back to his novels. M. R. James, in particular, greatly admired his works and described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories".
Le Fanu became a key figure in the dark romanticism movement during the 19th century, and had a major influence on later vampire and horror fictions such as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), among others. While several of his short stories, fictional novels, novellas, and horror pieces proved popular in his lifetime, he remains a central figure in vampire fiction largely due to the significance of Carmilla. Since his death, the novella has become one of the most influential works of vampire literature, having been adapted for films, operas, video games, Halloween plays, comics, songs, cartoons, and other media.
Sheridan Le Fanu was born at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family of Huguenot, Irish and English descent. He had an elder sister, Catherine Frances, and a younger brother, William Richard. His parents were Thomas Philip Le Fanu and Emma Lucretia Dobbin. Both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights (his niece Rhoda Broughton would become a successful novelist), and his mother was also a writer, producing a biography of Charles Orpen.[citation needed] 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 would appear in Le Fanu's later stories.
In 1826, the family moved to Abington, County Limerick, where Le Fanu's father Thomas took up his second rectorship in Ireland. Although he had a tutor, who, according to his brother William, taught them nothing and was finally dismissed in disgrace, Le Fanu used his father's library to educate himself. By the age of fifteen, Joseph was writing poetry which he shared with his mother and siblings but never with his father. His father was a stern Protestant churchman and raised his family in an almost Calvinist tradition.
In 1832, the disorders of the Tithe War (1831–36) affected the region. There were about six thousand Catholics in the parish of Abington and only a few dozen members of the Church of Ireland. In bad weather, the Dean cancelled Sunday services because so few parishioners would attend.[citation needed] However, the government compelled all farmers, including Catholics, to pay tithes for the upkeep of the Protestant church. The following year the family moved back temporarily to Dublin, to Williamstown Avenue in the southern suburb of Blackrock, where Thomas was to work on a Government commission.
Although Thomas Le Fanu tried to live as though he were well-off, the family was in constant financial difficulty. Thomas took the rectorships in the south of Ireland for the money, as they provided a decent living through tithes. However, from 1830, as the result of agitation against the tithes, this income began to fall, and it ceased entirely two years later.[citation needed] In 1838 the government instituted a scheme of paying rectors a fixed sum, but in the interim, the Dean had little besides rent on some small properties he had inherited. In 1833 Thomas 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 over her medical bills.[citation needed] At his death, Thomas had almost nothing to leave to his sons, and the family had to sell his library to pay off some of his debts. His widow went to stay with the younger son, William.
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Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (/ˈlɛfən.juː/; 28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873), popularly known as J. S. Le Fanu, was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He is considered by literary critics to be among the greatest ghost story writers of the Victorian era, as several of his works were central to the development of the genre. Le Fanu was the author of novels such as Uncle Silas (1864) and the collection of stories In a Glass Darkly (1872), which includes the novella Carmilla (1872), a foundational work of vampire literature.
Born into a family of writers, Le Fanu began writing poetry at the age of fifteen, using his father's personal library to educate himself. Due to severe financial constraints, his family were forced to sell the library and its books to settle some of their debts following the passing of his father. In 1838, he began writing stories for the Dublin University Magazine to make money, which included his first ghost story, The Ghost and the Bone-Setter (1838). It was during this period that Le Fanu decided to focus on the ghost story genre, despite continuing to also write short stories and commentaries across other genres, and by 1840 he had become the owner of several local newspapers.
He also wrote The House by the Churchyard (1863), which became one of his best-known novels. Initially, his work fell into neglect following his death, and it was the efforts of later writers, such as Elizabeth Bowen and M. R. James, that brought the public's attention back to his novels. M. R. James, in particular, greatly admired his works and described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories".
Le Fanu became a key figure in the dark romanticism movement during the 19th century, and had a major influence on later vampire and horror fictions such as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), among others. While several of his short stories, fictional novels, novellas, and horror pieces proved popular in his lifetime, he remains a central figure in vampire fiction largely due to the significance of Carmilla. Since his death, the novella has become one of the most influential works of vampire literature, having been adapted for films, operas, video games, Halloween plays, comics, songs, cartoons, and other media.
Sheridan Le Fanu was born at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family of Huguenot, Irish and English descent. He had an elder sister, Catherine Frances, and a younger brother, William Richard. His parents were Thomas Philip Le Fanu and Emma Lucretia Dobbin. Both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights (his niece Rhoda Broughton would become a successful novelist), and his mother was also a writer, producing a biography of Charles Orpen.[citation needed] 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 would appear in Le Fanu's later stories.
In 1826, the family moved to Abington, County Limerick, where Le Fanu's father Thomas took up his second rectorship in Ireland. Although he had a tutor, who, according to his brother William, taught them nothing and was finally dismissed in disgrace, Le Fanu used his father's library to educate himself. By the age of fifteen, Joseph was writing poetry which he shared with his mother and siblings but never with his father. His father was a stern Protestant churchman and raised his family in an almost Calvinist tradition.
In 1832, the disorders of the Tithe War (1831–36) affected the region. There were about six thousand Catholics in the parish of Abington and only a few dozen members of the Church of Ireland. In bad weather, the Dean cancelled Sunday services because so few parishioners would attend.[citation needed] However, the government compelled all farmers, including Catholics, to pay tithes for the upkeep of the Protestant church. The following year the family moved back temporarily to Dublin, to Williamstown Avenue in the southern suburb of Blackrock, where Thomas was to work on a Government commission.
Although Thomas Le Fanu tried to live as though he were well-off, the family was in constant financial difficulty. Thomas took the rectorships in the south of Ireland for the money, as they provided a decent living through tithes. However, from 1830, as the result of agitation against the tithes, this income began to fall, and it ceased entirely two years later.[citation needed] In 1838 the government instituted a scheme of paying rectors a fixed sum, but in the interim, the Dean had little besides rent on some small properties he had inherited. In 1833 Thomas 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 over her medical bills.[citation needed] At his death, Thomas had almost nothing to leave to his sons, and the family had to sell his library to pay off some of his debts. His widow went to stay with the younger son, William.