Reference Book Articles
Anon. "The House by the Churchyard." Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Rev. 3rd ed. Salem Press,
1998.
Lists and describes the characters.
Anon. "The House by the Churchyard." Masterplots. Rev. 2nd ed. Salem Press, 1996.
Recounts the plot and lists the major characters. The critical evaluation regards the novel as
transitional in moving away from Irish historical romance to contemporary mystery novel.
Anon. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu," "All in the Dark," and "Uncle Silas." The Longman Companion to Victorian
Fiction. Ed. John Sutherland. Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1988.
A useful entry on Le Fanu and his novels All in the Dark and Uncle Silas. Provides basic information
drawn from the major works of biography and criticism.
Anon. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection. Ed. Chris Steinbrunner
and Otto Penzler. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1976.
Basic information but notes that Le Fanu padded to fill three-volume novels. Remarks that his
plots rival Wilkie Collins.
Anon. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detriot: Thomson Gale,
2005-2006.
An excellent summary of Le Fanu's life and works from the publisher of The Dictionary of Literary
Biography.
Anon. "Uncle Silas." Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Rev. 3rd ed. Salem Press, 1998.
Merely lists and describes the characters of the novel.
Anon. "Uncle Silas." Masterplots. Rev. 2nd ed. Salem Press, 1996.
Recounts the plot and lists the major characters. A section of critical evaluation praises the novel as
Le Fanu's best work.
Ashley, Mike. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu." St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers. Ed. David
Pringle. Detroit: St. James Press, Gale, 1998.
A brief overview of Le Fanu's Gothic tales.
Ashley, Mike. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu." Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction. By Mike Ashley. New
York: Taplinger, 1978.
A brief paragraph that discusses Le Fanu's ghost stories.
Aycock, Wendell M. Twentieth Century Short Story Explication, Vol. 6 1999-2000. New York: Shoe
String Press, 2004.
Barzun, Jacques. and Wendell Hertig Taylor. A Catalogue of Crime. Rev. ed. New York: Harper and
Row, 1971.
Brief, succinct entries on Uncle Silas and "Carmilla" that gives these by Le Fanu a solid place in this
reference book.
Bigozzi, Carlo. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Studi Irlandesi. Ed. Carlo Bigozzi. Latina, Italy: Yorick
Libri, 2004.
Bily, Cynthia A. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Cyclopedia of World Authors. 4th rev. ed. Salem Press,
2004.
Brief commentary, mainly on Le Fanu's poetry with a selective annotated secondary bibliography.
Bleiler, Everett F. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Guide to Supernatural Fiction. By Everett F. Bleiler.
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1983.
An annotated bibliography of important editions.
Bleiler, Richard. "Carmilla." The Encyclopedia of the Vampire. Ed. S.T. Joshi. Santa Barbara:
Greenwood, 2011.
A fairly good entry on "Carmilla."
Bomarito, Jessica, ed. Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Foreword by Jerrold E. Hogle. 3
vols. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2006.
An overview of Le Fanu's life and works with essays from important critics of the early twentieth
century such as S.M. Ellis and Edna Kenton. Topical sections of "vampires" and "psychology and
horror" discuss Le Fanu's prominent role as a Gothicist.
Broadus, J.R. "Green Tea." Masterplots II: Short Story Series. Rev. ed. Salem Press, 2004.
Recounts the plot and the critical evaluation comments on the atmosphere and carefully described
psychological horror.
Burstein, Miriam Elizabeth. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Continuum Encyclopedia of British
Literature. Ed. Steven R. Serafin and Valerie Grosvenor Myer. New York: Continuum, 2003.
A short biographical and critical essay.
Caracciolo, Peter. "Sheridan Le Fanu: Overview." St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers. 4th
ed. Ed. Jay P. Pederson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1996.
Discusses V.S. Pritchett's comparison to the mystery novels of Simenon. But ultimately, the
spiritual urgency in Le Fanu's mystery novels make him closer to Chesterton and Dorothy L.
Sayers. Notes that the solution of Le Fanu's mysteries involve not detection, but fate, where good
triumphs over evil.
Chambers, Robert. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature. 3 vols.
London: Chambers, 1901-03.
A brief biographical and bibliographical entry.
Clute, John. "Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873)." The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Ed. John
Clute and John Grant. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.
A good informational overview with a selective bibliography.
Cox, Greg. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu: Carmilla." The Transylvanian Library: A Consumer's Guide to
Vampire Fiction. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1993.
A popular annotated bibliography of vampire fiction, Le Fanu's "Carmilla" is discussed
superficially, with a selective list of film and dramatic adaptations.
Cox, J. Randolph. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu." Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction: An Annotated
Bibliography. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1989.
An annotated bibliography of important secondary works.
Cox, Michael. A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
A brief listing the first editions of Le Fanu's books.
Coyle, Martin, Peter Garside, Malcolm Kelsall, and John Peck, eds. Encyclopedia of Literature and
Criticism. London: Routledge, 1990.
Crawford, Gary William. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu." British Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers before World
War I. Ed. Darren Harris-Fain. Vol. 178 of The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Bruccoli
Clark Layman/Gale, 1997.
An overview of Le Fanu's life and his supernatural tales.
Curran, Bob. Encyclopedia of the Undead: A Field Guide to Creatures that Cannot Rest in Peace. Franklin
Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2006.
A brief entry on Le Fanu's "Carmilla" and the ghost stories.
D'Ammassa, Don. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu" and "Carmilla." Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction.
New York: Checkmark Books, 2006.
Essays on Le Fanu and his novella "Carmilla" provide sound and accurate information. Interesting,
but undocumented, is D'Ammassa's assertion that Bram Stoker knew Le Fanu personally.
Davis, Alex, Andrew Hadfield, Eve Patten, and John Goodby. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Irish
Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Drabble, Margaret, ed. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th
ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
A brief biographical and critical entry.
Drabble, Margaret, ed. "Uncle Silas." The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th ed. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
A plot summary that notes "Maud's mounting terror at these events, seen through her eyes, is
conveyed to the reader in a masterly manner."
Dziemianowicz, Stefan. "The House by the Churchyard." Cyclopedia of Literary Places. Salem Press,
2003.
Describes the setting at Chapelizod and "The Tiled House" with a selective annotated secondary
bibliography.
Dziemianowicz, Stefan. "Uncle Silas." Cyclopedia of Literary Places. Salem Press, 2003.
Emphasizes the settings of the novel, at Knowl, and Bartram-Haugh, and comments on how
perceptively comments on the atmosphere or corruption and decay surrounding the evil Silas
Ruthyn.
Eighteen-Bisang, Robert. The Vampire Bibliography. Transylvania Press, 1995.
Frank, Frederick S. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 1814-1873." Guide to the Gothic III: An Annotated Bibliography
of Criticism, 1994-2003. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005.
The print version of Frank's website. Carries over the erroneous listing for George E. Haggerty.
The work discussed is Frances Burney's Camilla, not Le Fanu's "Carmilla."
Haggerty, George E. ed. Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures. New York: Garland, 1999.
An entry on vampires discusses Le Fanu's "Carmilla."
Head, Dominic, ed. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
A brief entry emphasizing the major works.
Heim, William J. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ed. Frank N. Magill.
A revised version of a piece that appeared several years earlier (see my Greenwood bibliography)
that improves and expands it somewhat, but it still carries over many errors made by S.M. Ellis and
others in the early part of the twentieth century.
Heim, William J. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Research Guide to Biography and Criticism. Beacham
Group, 1985.
A brief entry with basic information.
Herbert, Rosemary, ed. The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Le Fanu's works are mentioned throughout the book. In chapters on the ghost story, the Gothic
novel, and the sealed-room mystery, Le Fanu is given a prominent place.
Herbert, Rosemary, ed. Whodunit? A Who's Who in Crime and Mystery Writing. London: Oxford
University Press, 2003.
An abridged version of Herbert's above title that places Le Fanu's Martin Hesselius in "Green Tea"
as a "Psychic Sleuth" and Le Fanu's Uncle Silas in the villains essay.
Hubin, Allen J. Crime Fiction II. New York: Garland, 2004.
Lists several of Le Fanu's works.
James, M. R. "Uncle Silas." Horror: 100 Best Books. Ed. Stephen Jones and Kim Newman. New York:
Carroll and Graff, 1988.
Reprints M. R. James's introduction to the 1926 edition of Uncle Silas published by Oxford
University Press.
Kloesel, Christian J. W. English Novel Explication, Supplement VII. New York: Archon Books, 2002.
Kollmann, Judith. "Sheridan Le Fanu." British Mystery Writers, 1860-1919. Ed. Berrnard Benstock and
Thomas F. Staley. Vol. 70 of The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Bruccoli Clark
Layman/Gale, 1988.
An overview of Le Fanu's life and mystery works, which Kollman notes, are overshadowed by the
supernatural tales. The primary element of Le Fanu's mystery novels and supernatural tales is the
guilt of his characters. "In a Le Fanu mystery the operation of an invisible providence forces the
criminal into a position or place in which he betrays himself."
May, Charles E. "Irish Short Fiction." Critical Survey of Short Fiction. 2nd. rev. ed. Salem Press, 2001
A rather perfunctory and poorly written section on Le Fanu attempts to offer some insight into Le
Fanu's ghost stories.
McCormack, W. J. "Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu." The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish
Culture. Ed. W.J. McCormack. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999.
"Le Fanu's best work is remarkable for its nervous brilliance in conveying sensation, its
preoccupation with ambiguities of religious belief, and its occasional investigations of sexual
identity."
McCormack, W.J. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. 3rd ed.
Ed. Joanne Shattock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
McCormack, W. J. "J. Sheridan Le Fanu.' The Handbook to Gothic Literature. Ed. Marie
Mulvey-Roberts. New York: New York University Press, 1998: 145-46.
Divides Le Fanu's fiction into two genres, the Irish historical, and the English sensational. Sees Le
Fanu in many ways as half-realized as a writer, and notes that Le Fanu is probably more important
for the influence he had on later writers. Le Fanu is mentioned in many of the essays in this book. A
second edition appeared in 2009.
McCormack, W. J. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Great Writers of the English Language: Novelists and
Prose Writers. Ed. James Vinson. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979: 717-19.
McCormack, W.J. "Le Fanu (Joseph Thomas) Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873)." Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.
McCormack, W.J. "Sheridan Le Fanu: Overview." Reference Guide to English Studies. 2nd ed. Ed. D.L.
Kirkpatrick. Detroit: St. James Press, 1991.
Notes Le Fanu's anxiety over faith in God and the corresponding anxiety of the insular Anglo-Irish
as it is expressed in his fiction.
Melton, J. Gordon. "Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873)." The Vampire Book: The
Encyclopedia of the Undead. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999.
An overview of Le Fanu's life and especially his vampire novella "Carmilla." Notes that it is the
most famous of Le Fanu's works, and discusses some of the films based on it.
Mitchell, Sally, ed. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1988.
Murphy, Bruce. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1999.
A highly imaginative and factually inaccurate entry (he asserts that Le Fanu had a drug
dependency) that is therefore of no value.
Neilson, Keith; updated by George O'Brien. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Critical Survey of Short
Fiction. 2nd rev. ed. Salem Press, 2001.
This long essay focuses on "Schalken the Painter," "Green Tea," and "Carmilla" as Le Fanu's best
work in the short form. Carries over a number of distortions about Le Fanu's writing habits.
Otherwise, a good piece. A selective, annotated secondary bibliography is also provided.
Nevins, Jess. The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana. Austin, TX: MonkeyBrain Books, 2005.
A fascinating reference book that contains lengthy entries of some of Le Fanu's characters. There are
essays on "Carmilla," "Doctor Hesselius," "Toby Marston," and "Minheer Vanderausen." There is
really very little indepth criticism of the stories. Still, an interesting and useful reference book.
O'Brien, Sean T. "Anglo-Irish Literature in the Nineteenth Century." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Irish
History and Culture (Internet resource).
The Anglo--Irish anxiety affected many writers, but Le Fanu "approached this anxiety
psychologically, describing different states of consciousness during intense emotional situations in
novels such as Uncle Silas (1864) and in short stories like 'Carmilla' and 'Green Tea,' collected in In a
Glass Darkly (1872)."
O'Brien, George. "Uncle Silas: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. 2nd ed Ed. D.L.
Kirkpatrick. Detroit: St. James Press, 1991.
Le Fanu's novel "is both an artistic success and a typically oblique treatment of the claustrophobia,
tensions, and threats which beset the Anglo-Irish gentry as the long day of their political and social
ascendancy began to wane."
Page, Norman. "Carmilla: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. 1st. ed. Ed. Noelle Watson.
Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.
A brief essay that relates the plot of the tale, noting the distancing device of multiple narrators.
Page, Norman. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. 1st. ed. Ed. Noelle
Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.
A brief biographical and critical essay that focuses on "Green Tea," "The Familiar," "Mr. Justice
Harbottle," "The Room in the Dragon Volant," and "Carmilla."
Palmisano, Joseph. Short Story Criticism, Vol. 84. Detroit: Gale, 2005.
Pulliam, June, and Anthony J. Fonseca. Read On--Horror Fiction. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited,
2006.
Annotates briefly Le Fanu's In a Glass Darkly and the Dover edition of Green Tea and Other Ghost
Stories, noting the subtle psychological detail that "appeals to the more sophisticated reader and
fans of gentle reads."
Punter, David, and Glennis Byron, eds. The Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
The chapters on the Victorian Gothic and Le Fanu himself note that Le Fanu utilizes the Gothic to
critique Victorian society. The sensation novels use the Gothic to show the evils of the sexual
repression that was a part of the Victorian outlook. An short essay on Uncle Silas notes the doubling
or reflection of the characters of Silas and his brother Austin. Notes the Swedenborgian mysticism
that permeates the novel, and argues that the main plot of the story is subordinated to the setting.
Notes the influence of Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho.
Reilly, Catherine W. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860-1879. London: Mansell,
2000.
A listing of Le Fanu with biographical and bibliographical information on Le Fanu and his poetry.
Lists the 1896 volume of Le Fanu's poetry, edited by Alfred Perceval Graves.
Rockhill, Jim. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Supernatural Literature of the World. Ed. S. T. Joshi and
Stefan Dziemianowicz. 3 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
A good overview of the supernatural tales with perceptive and original commentary on the
influence of Emanuel Swedenborg on Le Fanu's fiction. Appropriately refutes the sensational
legend of Le Fanu's death first set forth by S.M. Ellis in 1931.
Senf, Carol A. "The Literary Vampire Before Dracula." Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Documentary
Volume. Vol. 304 of The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Bruccoli Clark Layman/Gale,
2005.
Notes Le Fanu's cognizance of earlier vampire literature and folklore, and his introduction of the
female vampire that courts her victim to the literature. Points out how these aspects influenced
Stoker.
Sherwood, John C. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction. Rev.
ed. Salem Press, 2008.
A revised essay that discusses how Le Fanu's mystery fiction is in a transitional state in the history
of detective fiction. While there is seldom a true detective, the mysteries of Le Fanu's novels are
solved by chance or fate. The discussions of the major novels, The House by the Churchyard, Uncle
Silas, Wylder's Hand, and Checkmate, illustrate this fact.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. "Sheridan Le Fanu, 1814-1873." Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature. New York:
Facts on File, 2005.
A brief, not very perceptive or original entry with some distortions of fact.
Spivack, Charlotte. "Green Tea: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Ficton. 1st ed. Ed. Noelle
Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.
Relates the plot of Le Fanu's famous story, noting the point of view of the narrative, and the
scientific-metaphysical overlay, which is drawn from the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
Spratford, Becky Siegel, and Tammy Hennigh Clausen. The Horror Readers' Advisory: The Librarian';s
Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses. Chicago: American Library Association, 2004.
Classifies Le Fanu as a classic author and notes that his vampire novella "Carmilla" has been the
source for a number of films.
Stokes, Roy B. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Victorian Novelists Before 1885. Ed. Ira B.Nadel and
William E.Fredeman. Vol. 21 of The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Bruccoli Clark
Layman/Gale, 1983.
An overview of Le Fanu's life and works that place him in the context of the larger Victorian novel.
Focuses on the major works such as "Green Tea," "Carmilla," and Uncle Silas.
Tremayne, Peter. "Carmilla." Supernatural Literature of the World. 3 vols. Ed. S.T. Joshi and Stefan
Dziemianowicz. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Adequate look at Le Fanu's famous vampire tale.
Tremayne, Peter. "Green Tea." Supernatural Literature of the World. 3 vols. Ed. S.T. Joshi and Stefan
Dziemianowicz. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Brief commentary emphasizing Rev. Mr. Jennings's study of paganism, that may bring about his
haunting and suicide.
Tremayne, Peter. "Uncle Silas." Supernatural Literature of the World. 3 vols. Ed. S.T. Joshi and Stefan
Dziemianowicz. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Good commentary on the implied supernaturalism of the novel.
Tuck, Donald H. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Compiled by Donald H. Tuck. 3 vols. Chicago: Advent, 1974.
A brief listing of major works with contents.
Voller, Jack G. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide. Eds.
Douglas H. Thomson, Jack G. Voller, and Frederick S. Frank. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2002: 248-53.
Notes that Le Fanu's Gothic tales deal with ontological questions that are unresolved. Therein lies
the horror of his tales. It is not the supernatural that triumphs in Le Fanu's tales, it is the uncertain.
Warwick, Alexandra, and Martin Willis, eds. The Victorian Literature Handbook. London: Continuum,
2008.
Sections on the supernatural and the changes in the canon mention Le Fanu.
Welch, Robert. "The Cock and Anchor." The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
A brief plot summary of the novel.
Welch, Robert. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
A brief biographical and bibliographical entry. The book also contains brief entries on The Cock and
Anchor, Wylder's Hand, In a Glass Darkly, Uncle Silas, and The Fortunes of Colonel Torlogh O'Brien.
Welch, Robert, and Bruce Stewart. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." The Oxford Companion to Irish
Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
A brief biographical and critical overview. "Le Fanu excelled in documenting stress-induced states
of consciousness, looking out on a frightening world where the evidence of the senses and of the
powers of reasoning are jeopardized."
West, Kathryn. "Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu." British Short Fiction Writers, 1800-1880. Ed. John R.
Greenfield. Vol. 159 of The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Bruccoli Clark Layman/Gale, 1996.
A study of all of Le Fanu's short ficton, noting the themes later taken up by twentieth century
writers. She writes, " . . . a strong basis for his continuing influence lies in the inherent interest of
his exploration of issues such as guilt, the causes for suicide, the appropriate line of inheritance, the
tension between oral traditions and written records, and the boundary between the natural and the
supernatural."
Wolf, Leonard. "Carmilla." Horror: A Connoisseur's Guide to Literature and Film. New York: Facts on
File, 1989.
Remarks that Le Fanu, before Dracula, emphasized the sexual nature of the vampire. The surprising
thing about Le Fanu's vampire is the fact that the lesbian implications of Carmilla and her victim are
explored, perhaps, more so than any other work of Victorian fiction.
Zimmerman, Bonnie, ed. Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures. New York: Garland, 1999.
Contains an entry of Le Fanu's lesbian vampire Carmilla.