Description

By (author) J. Sheridan Le Fanu; By (author) Le Fanu, J.; Edited by Sage, Victor; Introduction by Sage, Victor; Notes by Sage, Victor

Short /annotation
Maud Ruthyn is a 17 year old orphan left in the care of her fearful uncle, Silas. Together with his boorish son and a sinister French governess, Silas plots to kill Maud and claim her fortune.

One of the most significant and intriguing Gothic novels of the Victorian period and is enjoyed today as a modern psychological thriller. In UNCLE SILAS (1864) Le Fanu brought up to date Mrs Radcliffe”s earlier tales of virtue imprisoned and menacedby unscrupulous schemers.The narrator, Maud Ruthyn, is a 17 year old orphan left in the care of her fearful uncle, Silas. Together with his boorish son and a sinister French governess, Silas plots to kill Maud and claim her fortune. The novel established Le Fanu as a master of horror fiction.

Biographical note

Dublin-born Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) established himself as a journalist and writer of fiction and became one of the best-selling authors of the 1860-80s.His sinister and supernatural tales are the precursors of the modern ghost story.
Victor Sage teaches English at the University of East Anglia.A literary critic and short story writer, he has published critical books on Gothic literature, including Horror Fiction in the Protestant Tradition (Macmillan).