Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Gary William Crawford, Brian J. Showers, and I submitted the full, final text for this compilation to Hippocampus Press last week and should have the book in print later this Summer or Fall. Jason Van Hollander will be doing the cover illustration. Contents are as follows:

Preface – W. J. Mc Cormack

Introduction – The Editors

Acknowledgements

I. SOME NOTES ON BIOGRAPHY

A Memoir of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu – Alfred Perceval Graves

Anecdotes from Seventy Years of Irish Life – W. R. Le Fanu

Extracts from Wilkie Collins, Le Fanu and Others – S. M. Ellis

The Portraits of Le Fanu – Jim Rockhill, Brian J. Showers and Douglas A. Anderson

A Void Which Cannot Be Filled Up: The Obituaries of J. S. Le Fanu – Brian J. Showers

II. GENERAL STUDIES

M. R. James on J. S. Le Fanu – M. R. James

Forgotten Creator of Ghosts—Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Possible Inspirer of the Brontës –Edna Kenton

Sheridan Le Fanu – E. F. Benson

From The Supernatural in Fiction – Peter Penzoldt

An Irish Ghost – V. S. Pritchett

“Prologue” and “Epilogue” to Madam Crowl’s Ghost – M. R. James

Doubles, Shadows, Sedan-Chairs, and the Past: “The Ghost Stories of J. S. Le Fanu” – Patricia Coughlan

III. SOME SPECIAL TOPICS

Making Light in the Shadow Box: The Artistry of Le Fanu – Kel Roop

Le Fanu’s House by the Marketplace – Wayne Hall

Sheridan Le Fanu and the Spirit of 1798 – Albert Power

H. P. Lovecraft’s Response to the Work of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu – Jim Rockhill

“A Regular Contributor”: Le Fanu’s Short Stories, All the Year Round, and the Influence of Dickens – Simon Cooke

A Shared Vision: Le Fanu’s In a Glass Darkly and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr – Gary William Crawford

Dreyer, Vampyr and Sheridan Le Fanu – Mark Le Fanu

IV. CONTEMPORARY REVIEWS

Contemporary Reviews of the Publications of J. Sheridan Le Fanu – Compiled by the Editors

V. STUDIES OF INDIVIDUAL WORKS

“Green Tea”: The Archetypal Ghost Story – Jack Sullivan

“Introduction” to The House by the Churchyard – Elizabeth Bowen

Three Ghost Stories: “The Judge’s House”, “Some Strange Disturbances in an Old House on Aungier Street”, and “Mr. Justice Harbottle” – Carol A. Senf

“Introduction” to Uncle Silas – M. R. James

Conversations in a Shadowed Room: The Blank Spaces in “Green Tea” – John Langan

“Introduction” to Uncle Silas – Elizabeth Bowen

“Addicted to the Supernatural”: Spiritualism and Self-Satire in Le Fanu’s All in the Dark – Stephen Carver

In the Name of the Mother: Perverse Maternity in “Carmilla” – Jarlath Killeen

Crossing Boundaries, Mixing Genres in The Wyvern Mystery – Sally C. Harris

“I resolved to play the part of a good Samaritan”: Metafiction in “The Room in the Dragon Volant” – William Hughes

“The Child that Went with the Faeries”: The Folk Tale and the Ghost Story – Peter Bell

The Smashed Looking Glass: Fragmentation and Narrative Perversity in Willing to Die – Victor Sage

Bibliography

Sources

Biographical Notes

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Extra kudos are due Brian - The Keeper of the Text - for bearing the brunt of the typing, keeping track of the word count, and channeling the various revisions for this endeavor.

Jim