J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. No less an authority than M.R. James described Le Fanu as “absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories”—but he was far more than that. His short novel Carmilla is an early tale of vampirism, and it has lesbian elements as well, making it of...

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. No less an authority than M.R. James described Le Fanu as “absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories”—but he was far more than that. His short novel Carmilla is an early tale of vampirism, and it has lesbian elements as well, making it of...

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu gave life to the modern ghost story style and inspired the genre's most famous contributor, M. R. James. Gathered together for the first time are Le Fanu's complete ghost stories in 30 extraordinary recordings. A manuscript from the collection of the late Rev. Francis Purcell, an Irish country priest whose interests extended to the gathering of old local legends. In this tale, Terrance Neil, local handyman and bone-setter, encounters a rather bad-tempered...

Joseph Sheridan Le Faun gave life to the modern ghost story style and inspired the genre's most famous contributor, M. R. James. Gathered together for the first time are Le Fanu's complete ghost stories in 30 extraordinary recordings. In this classic tale, metaphysical investigator Doctor Martin Hesselius recounts events in the Styrian countryside, in the dark heart of Europe. A lonely young girl longs for the excitement of the town and for congenial company. Fate provides her with a...

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu gave life to the modern ghost story style and inspired the genre's most famous contributor, M. R. James. Gathered together for the first time are Le Fanu's complete ghost stories in 30 extraordinary recordings. A manuscript from the collection of the late Rev. Francis Purcell, an Irish country priest whose interests extended to the gathering of old local legends. In this comic tale, a farmer, suspecting his favourite goose of being possessed by the spirit of...

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu gave life to the modern ghost story style and inspired the genre's most famous contributor, M. R. James. Gathered together for the first time are Le Fanu's complete ghost stories in 30 extraordinary recordings. Master of metaphysical medicine, Dr Martin Hesselius, recounts the case of the Rev. Mr Jennings, very gentle and very kind. A seemingly harmless restorative unveils a terrifying primal manifestation, convincing the confused and disturbed clergyman that...

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu gave life to the modern ghost story style and inspired the genre's most famous contributor, M. R. James. Gathered together for the first time are Le Fanu's complete ghost stories in 30 extraordinary recordings. In the journals of Doctor Hesselius is an account set in the London of the 18th Century. The Honourable Elijah Harbottle, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, bloated and pitiless administrator of the hangman's noose, overreaches himself in...