This new study seeks to explore the relations between reader and text across the span of Sheridan Le Fanu's career, placing his early work of the 1830s in context. Sage concentrates on the development in Le Fanu of hybrid forms, which mingle satire and comedy with Gothic horror, and also discusses the early work of Uncle Silas and Carmilla , giving space to the often neglected unpublished romances.
'Sage's book addresses Le Fanu, and the issues his texts raise, with panache: he brings to bear a profound historical knowledge, particularly of the all-important Irish dimension of Le Fanu's work, but also - and perhaps most strikingly - a keen awareness of narrative and rhetorical devices. I think I hardly need to say more: there is no other respectable book on Le Fanu, and one is needed. Sage has, in my opinion, written it.' - Professor David Punter, University of Bristol