Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Hippocampus Press Library of Criticism)

Irish writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) is one of the leading weird writers of the nineteenth century, the author of "Green Tea," "Carmilla," Uncle Silas, and other classic works. In this volume, the first collection of essays about Le Fanu, three distinguished scholars have amassed a wealth of material on every aspect of the author's life, work, and influence. A biographical section features memoirs of Le Fanu along with reproductions of many portraits of the author. Early reviews of his many books are reprinted, as is important early criticism by M. R. James, E. F. Benson, V. S. Pritchett, and others. Recent essays by Jack Sullivan, John Langan, Victor Sage, and many others discuss a wide array of topics relating to Le Fanu's writing. Nine of these essays are printed here for the first time. All in all, this book provides a definitive guide to the weird fiction of Le Fanu. Gary William Crawford is a widely published poet, scholar, and fiction writer, and compiler of a bibliography of Le Fanu. Jim Rockhill is the editor of the complete supernatural fiction of Le Fanu. Brian J. Showers is a fiction writer and literary historian, and the co-compiler (with Gary William Crawford) of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: A Concise Bibliography. Together, they edit the online scholarly journal Le Fanu Studies.