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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
[a:Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu|26930|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206504583p2/26930.jpg] does bone-chilling creepiness exceedingly well. This book made the hairs on my neck stand up at least twice; not the easiest thing to accomplish with fiction. The story contains several villains, with varying degrees of overt nastiness and subtlety. That being said, I found myself repeatedly grinding my teeth at or wanting to shake the heroine into using her brain at least once in a while. Admittedly, I am relatively unversed in the gothic horror sub-genre having only previously read the Bronte sisters, but I do not recall their heroines being quite so limp and hysterical. This definitely hurt my enjoyment of an otherwise excellent book. [b:Uncle Silas|49190|Uncle Silas|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170357891s/49190.jpg|2847087] is yet another book that makes me wish I had the option to give 3.5 stars. As it is, being unable to accurately give it 4, I have to downgrade it to 3.
Originally published on my blog here in July 2004.
Sheridan Le Fanu's work has never really become an established part of the English literary scene's collection of classic novels. Although his reputation has gone up and down, and though he has boasted some quite famous fans (including [a:Dorothy L. Sayers|8734|Dorothy L. Sayers|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206564934p2/8734.jpg]), he has always been an outsider. His Irish origins may have had something to do with this (though they didn't prevent his relation [a:Richard Brinsley Sheridan|83945|Richard Brinsley Sheridan|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1302356254p2/83945.jpg] from becoming massively successful in the London theatre a couple of generations earlier), but it was perhaps more his style of writing and his subject matter. As early as the publication of [b:Northanger Abbey|50398|Northanger Abbey|Jane Austen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328753190s/50398.jpg|4039699] in 1817, it must have been hard to write a Gothic novel intended to be taken seriously, but that was precisely what Le Fanu wanted to write, almost half a century later.
Uncle Silas was Le Fanu's first success in England, and was based on an earlier short story published in an Irish journal edited by the author. It has probably remained his best known novel ever since.
The plot of the novel is quite simple: Maud Knollyes is the daughter and heiress of a rich, eccentric recluse; when he dies, she is placed in the guardianship of her Uncle Silas. This is intended to be a public declaration of one man's confidence in his brother, for Silas was disgraced years earlier when a man to whom he owed money died in his house leaving his neighbours gossiping as to whether it was suicide or murder. Maud will be completely in her uncle's power until she reaches her majority, and if she happens to die during this time, then Silas would inherit the whole estate. Clearly, the only element missing from making this a Gothic tail is the supernatural, the source of a spine tingling chill in the reader - and this is where Le Fanu does something completely unexpected, and very modern.
For throughout the novel Le Fanu piles on the supernatural atmosphere - almost every metaphor and simile is about ghosts or magic - but the uncanny itself never appears. Most Gothic novels are full of "horrid apparitions", occult ceremonies, and so on, but nothing like that happens in Uncle Silas. Northanger Abbey does the same thing, of course, but for comic effect; Le Fanu is using the conventions of the Gothic novel to induce a similar atmosphere, without the absurdities. (This was, after all, the rational Victorian age.) While occasionally clumsy and sometimes lacking in subtlety, Uncle Silas is well written, atmospheric and tense - while the reader expects Maud to escape an uncle who then experiences his just deserts (good to the good, bad to the bad), the road to this ending is neither straight not following the most obvious route. It has funny moments too; Le Fanu may be taking the unlikely clichés of the Gothic novel seriously, but that does not mean he is lacking in a sense of humour.
Of the writers contemporary with Le Fanu, the closest to him in style was problably [a:Wilkie Collins|4012|Wilkie Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192222099p2/4012.jpg], and their brand of fairly genteel chills fairly soon lost out to the more flamboyant influence of writers like [a:Poe|4624490|Edgar Allan Poe|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1315307900p2/4624490.jpg]. Nobody would be likely to place either of them in the top rank of Victorian novelists, but Uncle Silas does not deserve to be forgotten either.
Sheridan Le Fanu's work has never really become an established part of the English literary scene's collection of classic novels. Although his reputation has gone up and down, and though he has boasted some quite famous fans (including [a:Dorothy L. Sayers|8734|Dorothy L. Sayers|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206564934p2/8734.jpg]), he has always been an outsider. His Irish origins may have had something to do with this (though they didn't prevent his relation [a:Richard Brinsley Sheridan|83945|Richard Brinsley Sheridan|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1302356254p2/83945.jpg] from becoming massively successful in the London theatre a couple of generations earlier), but it was perhaps more his style of writing and his subject matter. As early as the publication of [b:Northanger Abbey|50398|Northanger Abbey|Jane Austen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328753190s/50398.jpg|4039699] in 1817, it must have been hard to write a Gothic novel intended to be taken seriously, but that was precisely what Le Fanu wanted to write, almost half a century later.
Uncle Silas was Le Fanu's first success in England, and was based on an earlier short story published in an Irish journal edited by the author. It has probably remained his best known novel ever since.
The plot of the novel is quite simple: Maud Knollyes is the daughter and heiress of a rich, eccentric recluse; when he dies, she is placed in the guardianship of her Uncle Silas. This is intended to be a public declaration of one man's confidence in his brother, for Silas was disgraced years earlier when a man to whom he owed money died in his house leaving his neighbours gossiping as to whether it was suicide or murder. Maud will be completely in her uncle's power until she reaches her majority, and if she happens to die during this time, then Silas would inherit the whole estate. Clearly, the only element missing from making this a Gothic tail is the supernatural, the source of a spine tingling chill in the reader - and this is where Le Fanu does something completely unexpected, and very modern.
For throughout the novel Le Fanu piles on the supernatural atmosphere - almost every metaphor and simile is about ghosts or magic - but the uncanny itself never appears. Most Gothic novels are full of "horrid apparitions", occult ceremonies, and so on, but nothing like that happens in Uncle Silas. Northanger Abbey does the same thing, of course, but for comic effect; Le Fanu is using the conventions of the Gothic novel to induce a similar atmosphere, without the absurdities. (This was, after all, the rational Victorian age.) While occasionally clumsy and sometimes lacking in subtlety, Uncle Silas is well written, atmospheric and tense - while the reader expects Maud to escape an uncle who then experiences his just deserts (good to the good, bad to the bad), the road to this ending is neither straight not following the most obvious route. It has funny moments too; Le Fanu may be taking the unlikely clichés of the Gothic novel seriously, but that does not mean he is lacking in a sense of humour.
Of the writers contemporary with Le Fanu, the closest to him in style was problably [a:Wilkie Collins|4012|Wilkie Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192222099p2/4012.jpg], and their brand of fairly genteel chills fairly soon lost out to the more flamboyant influence of writers like [a:Poe|4624490|Edgar Allan Poe|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1315307900p2/4624490.jpg]. Nobody would be likely to place either of them in the top rank of Victorian novelists, but Uncle Silas does not deserve to be forgotten either.
The discovery that you enjoy gothic fiction is something of a mixed bag. If you're lucky, you'll find yourself reading something really compelling, that draws you in and keeps you captivated until the end. But there's always the possibility that you're reading one of the boring ones, because frankly, very little is more boring than a boring gothic novel.
This one, as you might have surmised from my opening paragraph, is one of the boring ones. Basically nothing happens until the end, and then everything happens very suddenly and abruptly, and then it's over. Yes, I realize that one of the hallmarks of gothic fiction is that it's paced quite slow. The genre is not known for its breakneck, action-packed suspense. I know that. But the good examples of it still feel like things are moving along, slowly but inexorably. This one really just felt like it was going in circles for pages and pages and pages, until it suddenly shot in a straight line to the climax and conclusion. Not very satisfying.
There's also the issue that some of the basic premises of the book didn't even make sense. For starters, there's Maud's ending up with Uncle Silas in the first place. Frankly, appointing him as her guardian seems like kind of a dick move on her late father's part. Yes, it was intended to serve as a kind of posthumous support for Silas's innocence in an alleged murder years before (although it wasn't entirely clear why, if that was so important, Daddy did nothing to bolster his brother's reputation before he died), and yes, I suppose he might have thought that it would be good for Maud to have her similarly aged cousin (Silas's daughter) as a companion. And if Silas were the only option, then sure. But Daddy also had a sister, with whom Maud had a good relationship, and she'd never so much as laid eyes on Silas. So, like I said, seems like kind of a dick move to send her to live with Uncle Complete Stranger.
And then there's Silas's plot. Spoiler alert: he tries to kill her for her inheritance. Except instead of shoving her off a cliff and calling it an accident, or poisoning her and calling it illness, or whatever, he concocts this elaborate scheme that involves a bunch of deception about travel arrangements, so that no one will notice she's gone missing. Except that makes no goddam sense, because in order to inherit, you need a dead body. So far from wanting to hide her death, he would need it to be known and verified in order to assert his inheritance rights. So yeah. Creating this story about her being away at school, and then braining her and burying her in the garden so she'd just plain vanish? Makes no sense.
Anyway, I'm still on the gothic train, but I didn't particularly care for this stop.
This one, as you might have surmised from my opening paragraph, is one of the boring ones. Basically nothing happens until the end, and then everything happens very suddenly and abruptly, and then it's over. Yes, I realize that one of the hallmarks of gothic fiction is that it's paced quite slow. The genre is not known for its breakneck, action-packed suspense. I know that. But the good examples of it still feel like things are moving along, slowly but inexorably. This one really just felt like it was going in circles for pages and pages and pages, until it suddenly shot in a straight line to the climax and conclusion. Not very satisfying.
There's also the issue that some of the basic premises of the book didn't even make sense. For starters, there's Maud's ending up with Uncle Silas in the first place. Frankly, appointing him as her guardian seems like kind of a dick move on her late father's part. Yes, it was intended to serve as a kind of posthumous support for Silas's innocence in an alleged murder years before (although it wasn't entirely clear why, if that was so important, Daddy did nothing to bolster his brother's reputation before he died), and yes, I suppose he might have thought that it would be good for Maud to have her similarly aged cousin (Silas's daughter) as a companion. And if Silas were the only option, then sure. But Daddy also had a sister, with whom Maud had a good relationship, and she'd never so much as laid eyes on Silas. So, like I said, seems like kind of a dick move to send her to live with Uncle Complete Stranger.
And then there's Silas's plot. Spoiler alert: he tries to kill her for her inheritance. Except instead of shoving her off a cliff and calling it an accident, or poisoning her and calling it illness, or whatever, he concocts this elaborate scheme that involves a bunch of deception about travel arrangements, so that no one will notice she's gone missing. Except that makes no goddam sense, because in order to inherit, you need a dead body. So far from wanting to hide her death, he would need it to be known and verified in order to assert his inheritance rights. So yeah. Creating this story about her being away at school, and then braining her and burying her in the garden so she'd just plain vanish? Makes no sense.
Anyway, I'm still on the gothic train, but I didn't particularly care for this stop.
Yes, I love cheesy gothic novels. I always will. They make me happy.
My dear cheaile, this is not a good book! Tedious and overlong, redeeming quality (very mild) is first person narration by the 'heroine' (if she could be called heroine) although this inevitably means that she will survive whatever the dastardly evil villains throw at her. For that I give it a star and also for my own effort to finish it, even though I skimmed through most. At least I could laugh at Mrs Radcliffe's Udolpho, with Uncle Silas, I shall just stomp my foot and leave the room.
Buddy read with Hannah and Kim.
More detailed discussion at The Readers Review Literature from 1800 to 1910
After her father's death, Maud Ruthyn is sent to live with her Uncle Silas who is follower of the Swedenborggism. In this "religion", people could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk to angels, demons and other spirits (Wikipedia). According to her father's will, she will be forced to live there until her twenty first birthday.
The plot is a truly turmoil of events and emotions where we can follow Maud's struggle for survival against her uncle and her French governess Madame de La Rougierre. On the other hand, she finds some alleys as Milly, Silas' daughter and her cousin Monica.
This book is based in a short story "Passage in The Secret Story of an Irish Countess", which is published in The Purcell Papers Volume 2.
Another curiosity about this book is that the author wrote in the first person as a woman which is not so usual in this kind of book, except for Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.
After finished this book, I'm planning to read Carmilla and In a Glass Darkly
More detailed discussion at The Readers Review Literature from 1800 to 1910
After her father's death, Maud Ruthyn is sent to live with her Uncle Silas who is follower of the Swedenborggism. In this "religion", people could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk to angels, demons and other spirits (Wikipedia). According to her father's will, she will be forced to live there until her twenty first birthday.
The plot is a truly turmoil of events and emotions where we can follow Maud's struggle for survival against her uncle and her French governess Madame de La Rougierre. On the other hand, she finds some alleys as Milly, Silas' daughter and her cousin Monica.
This book is based in a short story "Passage in The Secret Story of an Irish Countess", which is published in The Purcell Papers Volume 2.
Another curiosity about this book is that the author wrote in the first person as a woman which is not so usual in this kind of book, except for Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.
After finished this book, I'm planning to read Carmilla and In a Glass Darkly
I loved this book. Having finished it, I definitely see the comparison to Jackson. Unlike other Gothic horror novels, the horror elements of this novel are psychological rather than supernatural. Instead of being literally haunted, Maud is instead tormented by a cast of characters who seek to lie, manipulate, and gaslight her as part of their shadowy, secretive machinations. As a result, the villains in Uncle Silas feel a lot more villainous than the more over-the-top characters of other Gothic novels like The Monk. In many ways, the novel actually most reminds me of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The sniveling, scheming, and greedy Uncle Silas and the evil Madame de la Rougierre whose true nature is only recognized by the protagonist and a few canny servants are very evocative of Count Olaf.
One of the most interesting elements of the novel is how the period-typical sexism comes across. The gender-power dynamics are the intrinsic but largely uncommented on driving force of the narrative. Maud is objectively an incredibly privileged, wealthy individual, but the novel really emphasizes the extent to which being a woman and underaged makes her vulnerable.
Overall I really enjoyed this novel, and while not necessarily a "fun" read it was very suspenseful and had a great atmosphere. The novel does a great job of conveying Maud's deteriorating mental state as the novel goes on and things keep getting weirder and more sinister. It starts out a bit slow but it really picks up the pace and I found that once it got going I couldn't put it down.
A very typical Gothic romance/mystery novel. It stars Maud Ruthyn, a habitually nervous young girl who is kept in relative solitude in her father's lonely estate. Her father is a mystery to her, he keeps a key to a locked cabinet about his person even while he sleeps. Another mystery he tantalizes Maud with is an unexplained journey that he says he may soon be called to embark upon. Maud is constantly haunted by strange fears, of ghosts, or other visions and this isn't helped when her father takes a frightening French woman as her tutor. The title character, Uncle Silas, comes into the beginning of the story only as a handsome portrait and rumors of some scandal involving him.
The book was a bit slow in some areas, though it did take off a bit once Maud's father went away on his journey and Uncle Silas took her as his ward. There was much use of local dialect in the story which occasionally stumped me, but other than that it was a relatively easy read, though again, it did go a bit slow in areas.
The tone of the novel was wonderfully Gothic. The descriptions of Maud's visions, the various locales of the story, especially Bartram-Haugh with it's deserted dusty rooms and the case of the locked room murder that occurred there.
Another interesting aspect of the novel was the Swedenborgian religion of Maud's father and (supposedly) Uncle Silas. Although it wasn't focused on, and the reader only really knows Maud's understanding of it, it lends to the mysterious and occult tone of the novel.
I really enjoyed reading it, and although Maud was occasionally silly and slow in realizing the obvious she was a strong character and really held her own. Through her own kindness and intelligence she inspires loyalty and love in those around her and through some luck as well she is able to spoil plans against her.
The book was a bit slow in some areas, though it did take off a bit once Maud's father went away on his journey and Uncle Silas took her as his ward. There was much use of local dialect in the story which occasionally stumped me, but other than that it was a relatively easy read, though again, it did go a bit slow in areas.
The tone of the novel was wonderfully Gothic. The descriptions of Maud's visions, the various locales of the story, especially Bartram-Haugh with it's deserted dusty rooms and the case of the locked room murder that occurred there.
Another interesting aspect of the novel was the Swedenborgian religion of Maud's father and (supposedly) Uncle Silas. Although it wasn't focused on, and the reader only really knows Maud's understanding of it, it lends to the mysterious and occult tone of the novel.
I really enjoyed reading it, and although Maud was occasionally silly and slow in realizing the obvious she was a strong character and really held her own. Through her own kindness and intelligence she inspires loyalty and love in those around her and through some luck as well she is able to spoil plans against her.
This took a long time to finish, but it is a long book. And one that you certainly have to be in a specific mindset to read; like any good Victorian gothic, the plot is complex and the journey winding. But it's still entertaining.
(An aside: I refuse to believe this book wasn't at least partial inspiration for Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith".)
(An aside: I refuse to believe this book wasn't at least partial inspiration for Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith".)
I was invested in this up until Maud went to Bartram-Haugh (i.e pretty much the second half of the book) then it felt like it went awry. I think I was expecting Silas to be a more present and dominant character and for the plot to unpack the death that led to his ruin. Instead we got the My Fair Lady saga with Milly and Dudley who was a complete dud and the revival of that stupid bloody French woman. The execution (pardon the pun) fell flat for me. Even Monica wasn’t as good as she was in the first half. Still, you do get the dramatic ending and now I’ve read this, I can probably get away with not reading Radcliffe. The writing itself was surprisingly rich and modern, if this was published today it’d be a hit. Disappointment aside, I’m still a...Fan-u of Le Fanu...I’ll see myself out.