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bookishwendy 's review for:
In a Glass Darkly
by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
This is a fun little collection of Victorian era horror by Irish writer Le Fanu. There's a little bit of everything here: demon ghost monkeys, premature burial, lovely lesbian vampires...oh, and my personal favorite character, (bit part though he had) the guy who said this:
Much of the older (as in 18th century) gothic horror stories (i.e. [b:The Monk|93157|The Monk|Matthew Gregory Lewis|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1365712491s/93157.jpg|3095060]) come across to the modern reader as (unintentionally?) hilariously over the top. Le Fanu, however, is obviously writing from a later 19th century frame of mind because much --though not all--of his horror may be rooted in those weird, psychological recesses that were just starting to be recognized then...and which we still don't understand completely. Despite treading the (by now) well-worn paths of horror, I still found this collection very atmospheric, and creepily enjoyable. The ghost stories in particular made a few tingles run up my spine while reading after dark. I AM a total horror wimp, but enjoyed these for what they are.
‘At Ligny, the other day, where we smashed the Prussians into ten hundred thousand milliards of atoms, a bit of a shell cut me across the leg and opened an artery. It was spouting as high as the chimney, and in half a minute I had lost enough to fill a pitcher. I must have expired in another minute, if I had not whipped off my sash like a flash of lightning, tied it round my leg above the wound, whipt a bayonet out of the back of a dead Prussian, and passing it under, made a tourniquet of it with a couple of twists, and so stayed the haemorrhage and saved my life. But, sacré bleu! Gentlemen, I lost so much blood, I have been as pale as the bottom of a plate ever since. No matter. A trifle. Blood well spent, gentlemen.’ He applied himself now to his bottle of vin ordinaire.
Much of the older (as in 18th century) gothic horror stories (i.e. [b:The Monk|93157|The Monk|Matthew Gregory Lewis|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1365712491s/93157.jpg|3095060]) come across to the modern reader as (unintentionally?) hilariously over the top. Le Fanu, however, is obviously writing from a later 19th century frame of mind because much --though not all--of his horror may be rooted in those weird, psychological recesses that were just starting to be recognized then...and which we still don't understand completely. Despite treading the (by now) well-worn paths of horror, I still found this collection very atmospheric, and creepily enjoyable. The ghost stories in particular made a few tingles run up my spine while reading after dark. I AM a total horror wimp, but enjoyed these for what they are.