Ghost Stories of Chapelizod

By Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

This early work by Sheridan Le Fanu was originally published in 1851. Born in Dublin in 1814, he came from a literary family of Huguenot origins; both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Oct 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473377837

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic horror. Born in Dublin, Le Fanu was raised in a literary family. His mother, a biographer, and his father, a clergyman, encouraged his intellectual development from a young age. He began writing poetry at fifteen and went on to excel at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied law and served as Auditor of the College Historical Society. In 1838, shortly before he was called to the bar, he began contributing ghost stories to Dublin University Magazine, of which he later became editor and proprietor. He embarked on a career as a writer and journalist, using his role at the magazine as a means of publishing his own fictional work. Le Fanu made a name for himself as a pioneer of mystery and Gothic horror with such novels as The House by the Churchyard (1863) and Uncle Silas (1864). Carmilla (1872), a novella, is considered an early work of vampire fiction and an important influence for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897).

Book preview

Ghost Stories of Chapelizod

By

Sheridan Le Fanu

Copyright © 2012 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

Joseph Sheridan le Fanu

Ghost Stories of Chapelizod

The Village Bully

The Sexton’s Adventure

The Spectre Lovers

Joseph Sheridan le Fanu

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was born in Dublin in 1814. His was a literary family of Huguenot origins; both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights, and his niece Rhoda Broughton would go on to become a successful novelist. Le Fanu’s family lived in a variety of locations around rural Ireland during his youth – the folk superstitions of which are said to have left a deep impression on him – and were financially hard-hit by the agitations of the Tithe Wars. In 1833, not long after the death of his father, Le Fanu entered Trinity College, Dublin to study law. While there, he was elected Auditor of the College Historical Society, and between 1838 and 1840 published his first series of short stories, which were later collected as The Purcell Papers.

Le Fanu was called to the bar in 1839, but he never practiced and soon abandoned law for journalism. During the 1840s, he married, and spent time mounting a protest against the indifference of the government to the Irish Famine. He also produced his first two novels - The C’ock and Anchor (1845) and The Fortunes of Colonel Torlogh O’Brien (1847); both works of historical fiction – and in 1851 he and his wife Susanna moved to their house on Merrion Square, Dublin, where le Fanu was to remain until his death. In 1858, Le Fanu’s wife Susanna died in unclear circumstances, and he became a recluse, setting to work in his most productive and successful years as a writer. Between 1864 and 1872, he produced ten novels, all in the ‘sensation fiction’ genre popular at the time.

At his peak, le Fanu was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century, and he is now seen as central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. His work is credited with turning the Gothic’s focus from the external sources of horror to the inward effects of terror, thus helping to create the psychological basis for supernaturalist literature that continues to this day. Arguably le Fanu’s most enduring works are Uncle Silas, published in 1864, and the vampire novella Carmilla (1872), which influenced Bram Stoker in the writing of Dracula and has inspired several films. Le Fanu died in his native Dublin in 1873, at the age of 58.

Ghost Stories of Chapelizod

Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village, especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of terror. You might as well

Reviews for Ghost Stories of Chapelizod

[jalenv_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

'Ghost Stories of Chapelizod' contains three short tales:'The Village Bully': Bully Larkin as good as murdered Long Ned Moran in a fist fight. He lives to regret the deed. ''The Sexton's Adventure': Bob Martin stops boozing so much after a friend's suicide (which was partly his doing). Will he keep his promise to his wife when offered some whiskey? (Mentions: the Royal Irish Artillery, Anthony Polar, and Atropos.) Note: I believe, based on its use in another story in the collection in which I read this, that 'bliggard' is dialect for 'blaggard'.'The Spectre Lovers': Peter Brien is a lazy slob who has a vision and meets the ghosts of lovers. I felt sorry for the woman. Will no one return her treasure to her? By the way, I believe that when the author states that Peter's grandmother is at fault, he's using it in the old hunting term sense of being baffled. (Mentions: Colonel Grimshaw, Black Ann Scanlan, Ninon de L'Enclos)Of the three tales, the third affected me the most. I was bullied in school, so the fate of Bully Larkin didn't bother me. Bob the sexton deserved what happened to him. Peter's vision was well described. What a twit!