Talk:Sheridan Le Fanu

Untitled

Both Green Tea and Carmilla are shortish stories, and almost certainly in the public domain; would it be useful to put them up as an illustration to this article (which I intend to flesh out)? sjc

I have added a link to an etext of Carmilla in the main article. --- hajhouse

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find his prose too wordy and his characters frustratingly daft.

POV? I haven't heard many who complain about the quality of his prose and characterization. Mandel 07:08, Dec 9, 2004 (UTC)

No less NPOV than a lot of necessary concessions to literary critical practices in a wiki context, one might argue. But I suppose I have to grant that describing early Victorian prose narrative style as wordy or belaboured from a contemporary point of view is a bit like describing first world war era film as 'a bit grainy'. Le Fanu strikes me as far from the worst offender in this department, given his era, so as far as I'm concerned, this could stand to be omitted simply because insofar as it is true, it goes without saying in historical context, and I think this is within that minimum of attention to historical context one can assume of the general wiki audience. I'll change this to something which at least acknowledges historical context iminently, barring objections or useful citations --Yst 22:59, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

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Is "Sheridan" the forename and "Le Fanu" the family name? How about the grandmother "Alice Sheridan Le Fanu", then? Isn't in fact "Sheridan Le Fanu" the family name, and Joseph the forename? Who knows for sure? The Library of Congress catalog has 75 entries for "Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan". while "Le Fanu, Sheridan" is a redirect to the full name. --LA2 08:41, 2005 Jan 31 (UTC)

Rewrite

I've done a fairly extensive re-write of this article. However I still think it can be improved (and expanded) a lot more. What do you think? Colin4C 03:05, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

I think it reads a lot better now, but I agree it could be expanded further. Natalieduerinckx 10:48, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm working on it Natalie...(and maybe you too?). I must confess my amazement that such an important writer as Sheridan Le Fanu arouses so little interest amongst wikipedia editors. And there is still no wikipedia article for Uncle Silas, which still remains defiantly red on the hyperlink...Colin4C 17:15, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

I've been rereading Uncle Silas (hadn't read it for about 2 decades!) so I've started a new page for it. My plot summary gets vague at the end because I'm still only 2/3rds through it, though I remember roughly how it goes. I think the main thing that needs to be done is in the "influence" bit at the end. Also a bibliography of good books & editions would be handy, e.g. the WJ McCormack book. --ND 04:58, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Great! I've made a start on a page for The Purcell Papers, by the way, which probably could be vastly improved...Would be great if we could do for Le Fanu what other wikipedia editors have done for Poe and Lovecraft, for instance...Colin4C 06:17, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, that will require me to read more of his works! I do have a half-dozen of them around in my wife's collection. Plus the two Dover editions of his short stories (haven't seen The Purcell Papers, just those selections). -- I think the most important thing isn't so much the addition of plot summaries &c as trying to explain what's distinctive/significant about his work, giving critical quotes of utility, &c. --ND 06:44, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Finished the book--at the moment I'm inclined to leave my plot summary as it stands, since I'm not sure that any more needs to be said about the mechanics of the plot. -- Any reason why you (C4C) deleted your earlier comments on this page? I don't mind, it's just that I didn't see anything wrong with them. Yeah, WJ MacCormack is extremely quirky; I know his writing on/editing of Austin Clarke better, but it's also a little idiosyncratic.... He's also a kind of interesting poet (under the name Hugh Maxton). --ND 22:48, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Well after I had written my comments, I found that I wasn't addressing your points at all, but had gone off on a tangent of my own. I have some strong hunches about where Le Fanu is coming from, but as I can't back them up by references, perhaps discretion is the best option....Anyway (hint to budding writers) I do think a new biography of Le Fanu is called for, with more emphasis on the unconscious, folklore, the supernatural and questions of sexuality, (plus, of course, large colour pictures of Ingrid Pitt as 'Carmilla'........).Colin4C 11:42, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

More novels

Just added a page for The House by the Churchyard. Corrections/expansions are welcome! I "straightened out" the plot a lot in the effort to make things clear, in the sense that rather than detailing revelations in the order they appear in the book (since this would entail giving things in very skewed sequence) I gave things in roughly chronological order. --ND 10:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Looks good. Maybe a good idea to link to Chapelizod? Colin4C 10:42, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Reference in lead

Putting a reference in an article's lead is discouraged, since the lead is intended merely as a summary of information that appears elsewhere in the article. If Sage's introduction is the source for any statements in the body of the article, please place the reference at the appropriate point. And it should be in the form "Sage, Victor. Introduction. Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu. Penguin, 2000" or similar. Deor 00:27, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation of name

Perhaps it should be mentioned that "Le Fanu" is pronounced "Leff-new", though I'm having trouble finding a source. Opera hat (talk) 14:42, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Bad prose (imho) in present article

My now-reverted revision was an attempt to improve the bad prose (imho) of the article.

He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era.

His father was a stern Protestant churchman and imbued his family with a religious sense that bordered on Calvinism.

Although Thomas Le Fanu made efforts to keep up the facade of a comfortably-off family, they were constantly beset by financial problems.

Imho, anyone who can read English like that without feeling a bit (how shall I put it?) queasy hasn't got much grasp of what good prose is like. Which is why I have no hope of improving the article. It's a shame, imho, that a writer as good as SLF should have an article like this on the world's premierly (and seminally) influential information-promulgation portal. Then again, it's not as tho' he lacks company. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Westofthewall (talk • contribs) 10:33, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, after reading through the edits several times, and being pretty familiar with the subject matter, and concentrating on the content rather than the style, I thought they were not an improvement. Though the article has been "improved" several times already I agree that clumsy phrases remain and if you feel strongly enough about your edits feel free to re-insert them. I shan't rv a second time. Hohenloh ⁺ 01:23, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for a reasonable response, and I apologize for the sarcastic tone of my original post. However, I do get exasperated by the bad English so common on Wikipedia, unless it's in an appropriate place (e.g. the Jeffrey Archer article). Westofthewall (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 09:10, 22 July 2011 (UTC).

The synopsis of Shalken the Painter is misleading. He didn't return from the grave expressly to claim his bride - he was already active when he spied her. Contrary to this. the article implies the revenant had a relationship with the girl before his death. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.35.168.101 (talk) 22:51, 15 November 2011 (UTC)