Book description
One of the most significant and intriguing Gothic novels of the
Victorian period and is enjoyed today as a modern psychological
thriller. In UNCLE SILAS (1864) Le Fanu brought up to date Mrs
Radcliffe's earlier tales of virtue imprisoned and menacedby
unscrupulous schemers. The narrator, Maud Ruthyn, is a 17 year old
orphan left in the care of her fearful uncle, Silas. Together with his
boorish son and a sinister French governess, Silas plots to kill Maud
and claim her fortune. The novel established Le Fanu as a master of
horror fiction.
Dublin-born Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) established
himself as a journalist and writer of fiction and became one of the
best-selling authors of the 1860-80s. His sinister and supernatural
tales are the precursors of the modern ghost story.
Victor Sage teaches English at the University of East Anglia. A
literary critic and short story writer, he has published critical
books on Gothic literature, including Horror Fiction in the Protestant
Tradition (Macmillan).
