Remembering the ‘Invisible Prince’

ALTHOUGH his works have inspired generations of Irish writers including Bram Stoker and James Joyce, few today remember Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu. Master of gothic horror and mystery novels, Le Fanu was once lauded as

‘the father of the Victorian ghost story’.

Le Fanu was born in Lower Dominic Street on August 20 1814. His father was a Church of Ireland clergyman, although the family were of French Huguenot decent. The family put a high value on education and literature, and a grandmother and an uncle of the young Le Fanu were accomplished playwrights.

Soon after his birth the family moved to the Royal Hibernian Military School, Phoenix Park, where his father was appointed as Chaplin. The park and the nearby village of Chapelizod feature heavily in his later writing. In 1826, the family moved to Abington, County Limerick, were Le Fanu became interested in Irish Folklore. Many of the stories he heard at this time would have an influence on his later writings.

Le Fanu attended Trinity College and later the Kings Inn, London, were he studied Law and the classics. His fiery oratory skills won him recognition while at Trinity and he was elected Auditor of the College Historical Society.

Despite being called to the Bar in 1839, Le Fanu decided against a career as a Barrister. While at college he had found his real passion, writing and journalism. In 1838, Le Fanu began contributing articles to the Dublin University Magazine, publishing his first ghost story,

‘The Ghost and the Bone Setter’.

His early success convinced him that writing was his vocation and he soon acquired a number of newspapers including

‘The Wader’ and

‘The Dublin Evening Mail’.

In 1844, Le Fanu married Susanna Bennett and the couple moved into Warrington Place near the Grand Canal. Le Fanu and Bennett had four children together and a happy marital life.

During this period le Fanu concentrated on journalism to support his young family. Unfortunately their happiness was to be short-lived.

In 1856, the family moved to 18 Merrion Square which was owned by Bennett’s parents where she quickly began showing signs of troubled mental health. Bennett suffered from anxiety and what is described as

‘a crisis of faith’. In April 1858, Bennett suffered a hysterical attack and died in uncertain circumstances.

Le Fanu was devastated at the death of his wife and blamed himself. He became almost a complete recluse and rarely left the house before nightfall. His strange behaviour soon led his fellow Dubliners to call him the

‘Invisible Prince’.

Despite this trauma, Le Fanu’s later life became his most productive. In 1861, he became the owner and editor of the Dublin University Magazine and began using its pages, serialising his most famous stories before revising them for the English market.

Some of his most important work at this time included

‘The House by the Church Yard’, a gothic horror set in Chapelizod and Uncle Silas, a gothic mystery thriller set in England.

It is relatively unknown that Le Fanu has the honour of writing the first vampire fiction in English literature, 25 years before Bram Stoker.

Arguably his most famous work,

‘Carmilla’, tells the story of a female vampire aristocrat in Eastern Europe. The novella has inspired several films and famously influenced Stoker in the writing of Dracula.

Le Fanu died on February 7 1873, and has been largely and unfairly forgotten in his native city.

So the next time you’re looking for a good read, why not pick up a title from the

‘father of the ghost story’.