Uncle Silas

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Cosimo, Inc., Jan 1, 2008 - Fiction - 444 pages

The foremost teller of scary stories in his day and a profound influence on both the novelists and filmmakers of the 20th century, Anglo-Irish author JOSEPH THOMAS SHERIDAN LE FANU (18141873) has, sadly, fallen out of scholarly and popular favor, and unfairly so. To this day, contemporary readers who happen across his works praise his talent for weaving a tense literary atmosphere tinged by the supernatural and bolstered by hints of ambiguous magic. First published in 1864, Uncle Silas, one of his more famous works, is a macabre tale of the death-haunted mansion known as Knowl, and Maud Ruthyn, who narrates for us the ominous goings-on there through her curtain of obsession with the dark and the dead. Considered by some to be among the best horror novels ever written, this is certainly a pinnacle of Victorian suspense that continues to grip sophisticated readers today. With a series of new editions of Le Fanus works, Cosimo is proud to reintroduce modern book lovers to the writings of the early master of suspense fiction who pioneered the concept of psychological horror.

Contents

• CHAPTER: 1
• MADAME DE LA ROUGIERRE: 16
• A WALK IN THE WOOD: 24
• CHURCH SCARSDALE: 30
• LADY KNOLLYS SEES THE FEATURES: 49
• A CURIOUS CONVERSATION: 55
• ANGRY WORDS: 65
• A WARNING: 71
• AN ADVENTURE: 84
• A MIDNIGHT VISITOR: 91
• SOMEBODY IN THE ROOM WITH THE COFFIN: 118
• THE OPENING OF THE WILL: 130
• MORE ABOUT TOM CHARKES SUICIDE: 153
• HOW THE AMBASSADOR FARED: 167
• ON THE ROAD: 175
• THE WINDMILL WOOD: 198
• ZAMIEL: 204
• WE VISIT A ROOM IN THE SECOND STOREY: 212
• AN ARRIVAL AT DEAD OF NIGHT: 219
• DOCTOR BRYERLY EMERGES: 226
• A MIDNIGHT DEPARTURE: 233
• COUSIN MONICA AND UNCLE SILAS MEET: 241
• NEWS AT BARTRAM GATE: 271
• A FRIEND ARISES: 280
• A CHAPTERFULL OF LOVERS: 289
• THE RIVALS: 296
• DOCTOR BRYERLY REAPPEARS: 304
• QUESTION AND ANSWER: 310
• AN APPARITION: 317
• THE PICTURE OF A WOLF: 342
• AN ODD PROPOSAL: 349
• IN SEARCH OF MR CHARKES SKELETON: 357
• THE FOOT OF HERCULES: 366
• THE LETTER: 378
• LADY KNOLLYS CARRIAGE: 384
• A WELLKNOWN FACE LOOKS: 412
• SPICED CLARET: 418
• THE HOUR OF DEATH: 425

About the author

The greatest author of supernatural fiction during the nineteenth century was undoubtedly J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Le Fanu was born in Dublin and, as with so many other English popular fiction authors of his time, entered the genre of fiction by way of journalism, working on such publications as the Evening Mail and the Dublin University Magazine. Le Fanu came from a middle-class background; his family was of Huguenot descent. He graduated from Trinity College and married in 1844. After his wife died in 1858, until his own death, Le Fanu was known as a recluse, creating his ghost fiction late at night in bed. Probably he began writing ghost fiction in 1838; his earliest supernatural story is often cited as being either "The Ghost and the Bone-Setter" or the "Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh," both of which were later collected in the anthology entitled The Purcell Papers (1880). Writing most effectively in the short story form, Le Fanu's tales such as "Carmilla" (a vampire story that is thought possibly to have influenced Bram Stoker's Dracula) and the problematic "Green Tea" are considered by many literary scholars to be classics of the supernatural genre. His lengthy Gothic novels, such as Uncle Silas (1864), though less highly regarded than his shorter fiction, are nonetheless wonderfully atmospheric. Le Fanu's particular brand of literary horror tends toward the refined, subtle fright rather than the graphic sensationalism of Matthew Gregory Lewis. His work influenced other prominent horror fiction authors, including M. R. James.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Uncle Silas; Cosimo Classics
• Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
• Publisher: Cosimo, Inc., 2008
• ISBN: 1605203394, 9781605203393
• Length: 444 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General