{"id":3508,"date":"2017-01-12T21:35:37","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T21:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2017-01-12T21:35:37","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T21:35:37","slug":"le-fanu-fire-royal-road-ash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/le-fanu-fire-royal-road-ash\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Fanu Under Fire on the Royal Road of Ash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, for all the horror fans out there it’s our least comprehensible headline yet. Hurrah! There’s a lot going on, and we need to catch up, so here are a few things you might like. We’re enjoying a new South American illustrated project by Matias Zanetti<\/strong><\/span>, starting to read Turn to Ash<\/em> Issue 2 with Jonathan Raab<\/strong><\/span>, and updating you on Sheridan Le Fanu<\/span><\/strong>. So we’d better get on with it, backwards as usual\u2026<\/p>\n

\"weird<\/a>
weird fiction explained<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Irish Weird<\/h2>\n

A few days ago we were talking about styles of dark fiction, and drifted across H P Lovecraft, M R James<\/strong>, and the Irish writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu<\/strong> (see sneerwell and verjuice – the school for weird fiction<\/a>). As you do. Not long after, Brian J Showers<\/strong>, that erudite owner of Ireland’s most excellent Swan River Press, called in to mention that Jim Rockhill’s<\/strong> essay on Le Fanu and HPL was included in the anthology Reflections in a Glass Darkly<\/em>. This volume also reproduces M R James’s entire lecture on Le Fanu.<\/p>\n

\"9781614980056\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu<\/em>, by Gary William Crawford (Editor), Jim Rockhill (Editor), Brian J. Showers (Editor) was a Bram Stoker Award nominee –<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this volume, the first collection of essays about Le Fanu, three distinguished scholars have amassed a wealth of material on every aspect of the author’s life, work, and influence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Enthusiasts of early supernatural writers, Le Fanu, and those interested in Le Fanu’s influence on the development of weird and supernatural fiction, can still get hold of a copy here:<\/p>\n

reflections in a glass darkly<\/a><\/p>\n

We strongly recommend browsing Swan River Press’s own back catalogue as well, for it contains many wonders.<\/p>\n

swan river press main site<\/a><\/p>\n

\"21895934\"<\/a>
the book…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our own current read from Swan River is The Dark Return of Time<\/em>, by R B Russell<\/strong>, which is apparently being filmed right now, with Eric Roberts, Adrian Paul<\/strong> and Matthew Ziff<\/strong>, amongst others.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlavian Bennett is trying to leave his troubled past behind when he goes to work in his father’s British bookshop in Paris. Soon after he arrives he witnesses a violent crime in which a mysterious customer, Reginald Hopper, may be implicated. Hopper involves Flavian in his search for The Dark Return of Time, a rare and strange book which he thinks will provide the key to unlock his past.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

imdb<\/em><\/p>\n

\"...and<\/a>
…and the film<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Given our known Jamesian interests, Brian added this:<\/p>\n

\u201c…On the topic of Le Fanu and James, did you know that Le Fanu originally coined the phrase “pleasing terror”? You’ll find it in, if memory serves, ‘All in the Dark’.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Which we didn’t know, having failed to click with the novel in question. All in the Dark<\/em> (1866) is not one of Le Fanu’s best works, sadly, and was poorly rated by both Lovecraft and James.<\/p>\n

\"s-l225\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MRJ, as we said before, did have some Le Fanu favourites; HPL seems not to have got on well with the Irishman’s work, though may not have read some of his best stuff. James had to confess on this one:<\/p>\n

\u201cWeakest of all the novels is All in the Dark – a domestic story with a sham ghost: an offence hard to forgive in any writer but much harder in Le Fanu’s case, seeing that he could deal so magnificently with realness without incurring any more expense.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Royal Institution of Great Britain, March 16th, 1923<\/i><\/p>\n

On the plus side for Le Fanu, he wrote many far better works, some of which we should cover here at some point. Given our involvement with Occult Detective Quarterly,\u00a0 we should especially talk more about his ‘occult detective’, Dr Hesselius.<\/p>\n

In the meantime,\u00a0 why not take a break and listen to his Madam Crowl’s Ghost<\/em> instead.<\/p>\n