Sheridan Le Fanu

On January 17th, St. Martinville, Louisiana’s 3rd oldest town, celebrated its bicentennial, beginning a yearlong commemoration of the small city’s storied history. St. Martinville is representative of many of Louisiana’s distinct cultural and geographic histories. Seated on the Bayou Teche, the water highway of over 100 miles has been an essential part of the settlement and commercial development of St. Martinville. The word “teche” may be derived from the Chitimacha word for “snake”, and some…

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - Carmilla Laura, the narrator in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla, fits into the appearance of a typical female victim in vampire literature. Long before she meets the titular character, she had a dream or rather a nightmare about a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Carmilla, who sang her fangs into the maiden’s body. Despite the fear, she helps the woman after the accident and invites her in. Laura easily and without much thought happens to trust…

gain and maintain complete control over them. Those in control use the mechanisms of inflicting fear, shame, guilt, or even intimidation to wear down their victims and keep them in their dominance. This scenario is seen in the novel by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla. Camilla is a vampire novel that uses a female character as the seducer of the young Laura. The novel does not only illustrate the female power over sexuality but also demonstrates a feminine…

In J. Sheridan Le Fanu's novella Carmilla, there is a continuum of transgressive ideas. These ideas are primarily conveyed through the character of Carmilla. Her companion, Laura, however, is exemplary of the classic idea of the fallen woman. Arguably, Carmilla could be viewed as the classic vampire: bloodthirsty and evil. While this may be true in some regard, Carmilla is a complex and polyvalent character who is fueled by more than just her lust for blood. She, in many ways, is the true…

Victorian public to whom it was released, yet Victorians enjoyed the novel. Although Dracula is the main influence for many vampire and horror stories, it may be surprising for some to discover that Stoker was influenced by another Irish author, Sheridan Le Fanu. Le Fanu wrote ‘Carmilla’ in 1872, predating the popular Dracula by twenty-five years. After reading both novels the influence can be seen quite clearly through both vampire…

Author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wrote the story called Schalken the Painter. This story tells a tale about a man named Schalken, who is a talented Flemish artist who is in love with Rose Velderkaust, the ward of his painting master, Gerard Douw. However, due to Schalken being extremely poor, his marriage gets rejected by her father Gerard Douw in favour of a suit pressed by a rich, mysterious old man named Minheer Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam. However, as he gets to know this man, Schalken…

When presented with the Labouchere Amendment in 1885, Queen Victoria refused to sign due to the references to lesbianism saying, “Women didn’t do such things”. It’s an entertaining story and yet, it’s a myth, one that began circulating in the 1970’s (“Background: Myth on Victorian and ban on Homosexuality”), and its popularity continues since it fits with the modern idea of prudish, sexually repressed Victorians. While we don’t know Queen Victoria’s views on homosexuality, we do know she had a…

immediately delightfully soothed, and then proceeded to sleep once again, which can be when her seizure started, and she suddenly states, “I was wakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and I cried loudly” (Le Fanu ch. 2). Now this can be a good explanation as to why she had felt a sudden pain while still being tucked in her bed. Mental illnesses are much more than psychological disorders, these can affect both a person’s mind and body causing…

fact that Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) were written twenty five years apart, the vampires in these works of literature represent the same ultimate fear of infiltration, but differ in the kind of subtle desires they projected – Carmilla was fixated on the hidden area of…

Summary: In “(Un)safe Sex: Romancing the Vampire,” professional copywriter Karen Backstein, explores the interest of vampire movies in the 21st century and changes made to keep the genre relevant. Backstein believes society and humankind are evolving and rapidly changing, vampires are also evolving so that they can survive and continue to interest people in popular culture. Modern vampires, Backstein notes, work to control their impulses so as not to harm the ‘heroine’, who is strong,…