Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh

Description

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu ( 28 August 1814 ~ 7 February 1873 ) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of his time, central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. He had enormous influence on some of the 20th century’s most important ghost story writers.

He specialised in tone and effect rather than “shock horror” and liked to leave important details unexplained and mysterious. He avoided overt supernatural effects: in most of his major works, the supernatural is strongly implied but a “natural” explanation is also possible. This technique influenced later horror artists, both in print and on film.

Uncle Silas remains Le Fanu’s best-known novel. It is an early example of the locked-room mystery subgenre, rather than a novel of the supernatural (despite a few creepily ambiguous touches).