Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was a man who employed his own kind of fiery shorthand to describe and explain the Irish society in which he lived. He was almost constantly at work throughout his lifetime as an author of fourteen novels, short stories, poetry and a verse drama. Although the majority of his novels are specifically set in the English countryside, they become clearer when they are transferred to an Irish setting. During Le Fanu’s last years, his mind become almost completely occupied by the supernatural and all the short stories he wrote at this time were of that nature e.g. ‘Carmilla’ and ‘Green Tea’. His peculiar habits of life contributed to this obsession and there can be little doubt but that many of these weird tales came to him in the form of dreams. Brinsley Le Fanu, his son, gave S.M. Ellis an account of his daily routine: Le Fanu wrote mostly late at night in bed, using copybooks for his manuscript and would always have two small candles lit on a bedside table beside him. At approximately 02.00, he would wake up amid the dark shadows of the heavy furnishings and hangings of his old fashioned room and continue to brew a pot of tea, of which he would drink continuously throughout the day. He would write for a couple of hours in that eerie period of night when human vitality is at its lowest ebb and the powers of the darkness are terrifying. ‘Carmilla’ is the last story in the collection ‘In a Glass Darkly’. It is an ‘orthodox’ account of the materialization of the disembodied dead in its grossest form, the vampire. Carmilla is the quintessence of vampire lore. Not the least horrible thing about Carmilla is the strain of lesbian perversity in her passionate declarations for Laura. ‘Green Tea’ is a story of a ma...
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Included within the anthology The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction,1[1] are the works of great Irish authors written from around three hundred years ago, until as recently as the last decade. Since one might expect to find in an anthology such as this only expressions and interpretations of Irish or European places, events or peoples, some included material could be quite surprising in its contrasting content. One such inclusion comes from the novel Black Robe,2[2] by Irish-born author Brian Moore. Leaving Ireland as a young man afforded Moore a chance to see a great deal of the world and in reflection afforded him a great diversity of setting and theme in his writings. And while his Black Robe may express little of Ireland itself, it expresses much of Moore in his exploration into evolving concepts of morality, faith, righteousness and the ever-changing human heart.
Gothic literature, such as The Night Circus, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, and “Masque of the Red Death”, are known for incorporating gothic elements such as the supernatural, death, and fascination with the past.
Romantic literature, as Kathy Prendergast further claims, highlighted things like splendor, greatness, vividness, expressiveness, intense feelings of passion, and stunning beauty. The Romantic literary genre favored “parts” over “whole” and “content” over “form”. The writer argues that though both the Romantic literary genre and the Gothic art mode were medieval in nature, they came to clash with what was called classical conventions. That’s why, preoccupations with such things as the supernatural, the awful, the dreadful, the repulsive and the grotesque were the exclusive focus of the nineteenth century Gothic novel. While some critics perceived the Gothic as a sub-genre of Romanticism, some others saw it as a genre in its own right (Prendergast).
Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
Gerald of Wales’ was most likely never in Ireland, and his writing is not an accurate portrayal of the Irish, but a chance to discuss hybridity and turn his readers against it while also the Irish.
Kelly, James and Martyn J. Powell , Clubs and Societies in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, Dublin, 2010
In conclusion to this essay, having examined these 19th century gothic texts, it is fair to say that normative gender behaviour and sexuality pervades them. This element gives the reader a deep insight into the culture context of the time in which these stories are situated. It enables the reader to delve into the darker sides of humanity at that time, that they would not have been able to do otherwise.
There is particular consideration given to the political climate in this story. It is incorporated with social and ethnic concerns that are prevalent. The story also addresses prejudice and the theme of ethnic stereotyping through his character development. O'Connor does not present a work that is riddled with Irish slurs or ethnic approximations. Instead, he attempts to provide an account that is both informative and accurate.
The ancient mythology of Ireland is one of its’ greatest assets. The glorious, poetic tales of battles, super humans, demigods and heroes ranks among the best of ancient literature. The book of the Dun Cow, (Lebor na huidre), was written around 1100 and contains stories from the eighth and ninth centuries. The Book of Invasions, (Lebor Gabala), tells how the mythical ancestors of the Irish, the God-like Tuatha Dé Danann, wrestled Ireland (or Erin) from misshapen Fir Bolg in fantastic battles. The Fir Bolg were traditionally linked to Gaul and Britain so the analogy between them and the invading English was complete.
Le Fanu veils the true meaning of “Carmilla” by presenting it as a vampire story, which is genius because writing “Carmilla” as a vampire story prevents the reader from feeling overwhelmed by the ideas of the story’s true reality. His main purpose in writing this story was to challenge a society who is very afraid of change or to be questioned. According to Sheri R. Wohl, “Carmilla” is “Frightening for more than the monsters that inhabit the tales. They are frightening because they reflect much truth in both society and human behavior that persist through generations and centuries” (50). What Wohl is conveying is that “Carmilla” is not terrifying because it is a horror story, but it is terrifying because Le Fanu veils society’s reality through
Ronsley, Joseph, ed., Myth and Reality in Irish Literature, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Canada, 1977
The Gothic dimensions of Poe’s fictional world offered him a way to explore the human mind in extreme situations, and so arriving at an essential truth. The Gothic theme of the importance of the intuitive and emotional and the rejection of the rational and intellectual is prevalent throughout The Raven, The Black Cat, and The Tell-Tale Heart. This is coupled with the convention of transgressive, encroaching insanity, ubiquitous in Gothic literature. In The Tell-Tale Heart, a kind of psychological doubling is achieved by the narrator- an identification with the old man at the time of disturbing him in the middle of the night, and a psychopathic detachment, evidenced by the feeling of triumph and elation that precedes the murder in the extract “..so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror”. Hysteria is pertinent in Gothic texts, an...
McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109).
...d that Ireland had a unique and interesting cultural identity through the works of literature during this time period (Hachney and Hernon an McCaffrey 142).