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Fiction Classics

In a Glass Darkly

by (author) J. Sheridan Le Fanu

edited by Elizabeth Tilley

Publisher
Broadview Press
Initial publish date
Aug 2018
Category
Classics, Gothic
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554812998
    Publish Date
    Aug 2018
    List Price
    $18.75

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

From the predatory same-sex desire in “Carmilla” to the ghostly hallucinations in “Green Tea,” the five supernatural stories in In a Glass Darkly reflect a profound and deeply disturbing uncertainty about the nature of humanity. Originally published separately in magazines, the stories are framed and linked in this collection as case notes in the papers of the fictional Dr. Hesselius. Sheridan Le Fanu’s approach to the supernatural reworks traditional Irish oral storytelling and combines it with nineteenth-century adaptations of the eighteenth-century Gothic novel.

Appendices include Le Fanu’s correspondence about the stories, posthumous assessments of his life and work, and twentieth-century critical commentaries by M.R. James and Elizabeth Bowen. Engravings from the original serial publications of several stories are also included.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Elizabeth Tilley is a Senior Lecturer in Victorian literature and book history at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Editorial Reviews

“Le Fanu’s In a Glass Darkly is one of the landmark works of Victorian Gothic. It contains some of the greatest ghost stories ever written, and in ‘Carmilla’ one of the most important vampire tales. Elizabeth Tilley’s brilliant new edition is the best one we’ve ever had, and it takes us closer to Le Fanu’s collection than we’ve ever been before. With its wonderful introduction and its superb selection of critical and contextual material, this book has everything a serious reader needs.” — Darryl Jones, Trinity College Dublin