Sheridan Fanu (Dublin, August 18th 1814 - February 10th 1873) is a writer Irish.

It is one of the major authors of the fantastic account.

Biography

Of old stock Norman, Joseph Sheridan Fanu is the son of the senior of the Protestant Church Irish. The name of Fanu comes from the ancestors Huguenots (old name given to the Protestants French of obedience Calviniste during the wars of religion) of the writer, who had emigrated of Caen in Ireland, at the time of the revocation of the Édit of Nantes by the king Louis XIV, on October 18th 1685 (the Edict of Nantes was replaced by the Édit of Fontainebleau). He studies the right to the Trinity College of Dublin where he publishes his first fantastic news. He moves then towards journalism. It Marie in 1844 with Susan Benett, with which he will have three children and settles definitively in Dublin. After the death of his wife, in 1858, it is devoted exclusively to the writing of fantastic novels. He becomes owner of the review Dublin university magazine , which will publish the majority of its works. He dies in Merrion public garden, in Dublin, on February 10th 1873. Joseph Sheridan Fanu was the great nephew of the famous dramatic author and Irish politician Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (Dublin 1751 - London 1816), author in particular of the comedy of manners the School of the scandalmongering ( School off Scandal , 1777).

Several readers, critics and other experts consider Uncle Silas , published in 1864, as being the masterpiece of Fanu. The interest of this novel is due partly to the fact that it puts forward a major figure of the thought at the XVIIIe century, the scientist, philosopher and theologist Swedish Emmanuel Swedenborg (Stockholm 1688-London 1772). Theory illuminist of this last, which also impregnates several other writings of Fanu, this one will retain the theory Néo-platonicienne of Swedenborg wanting that to any real object corresponds a spiritual double. The contribution of the thought of Swedenborg is interesting in what it makes it possible to include/understand an important component of the originality of fantastic of Fanu.

Among principal works of Fanu, Carmilla was that which inspired the cinema the most. That it is enough to mention four following films:

• Vampyr/L' Étrange ventures of David Gray , of the Danish realizer Carl Theodor Dreyer, France-Germany 1932. In addition to Carmilla , Dreyer also drew an episode of the long news the Inn of the Flying Dragon for its film;
• And to die of pleasure , the French realizer Roger Vadim, 1960;
• The Vampire Lovers , of the English realizer Roy Ward Baker, 1970;
• Lust for has vampire , of the British realizer Jimmy Sangster, 1970. The saphic dimension, even if it is suggested much than shown, of heroin éponyme of the news of Fanu is surely not foreign with the popularity of this account.

Principal works

• Carmilla 1871
• Uncle Silas , 1864
• Creatures of the mirror 1872;
• the cursed Small landed proprietor
• Invitation with the crime

French bibliography

• Goimard, Jacques and Roland Stragliati: Stories of doubles , in the Large anthology from fantastic the , Pocket Presses, 1977,415 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: the cursed Small landed proprietor and other tales , in Masterpieces of the science fiction and fantastic the , the European Circle of the book, 1975,457 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: the mysterious tenant , New Editions Oswald, 1982,222 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: the House close to the cemetery , ED. Phébus, 2004,640 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: Invitation with the crime , ED. Phébus, 2003,174 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: the Uncle Silas , ED. Jose Corti, romantic coll Field, 1997,615 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: Schalken the painter , ED. Jose Corti, romantic coll Field, 1997,316 p.

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: Mystéreux tenant (and other stories of strong spirits) , ED. Jose Corti, romantic coll Field, 1999,240 p.

• Carmilla , Collection Babel, 1996,160 p.

• How my cousin was assassinated , ED. Thousand and One Nights, 2002,79 p.

English bibliography

• Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: Carmilla , ED. Zulma, coll Classics, Paris, 2005,96 p.

Studies

• Lozes, Jean: an Irish Gothic Novel: Uncle Silas, Sheridan Fanu , university Presses of Bordeaux, 1992,132 p.

• Gaïd Girard: Joseph Sheridan Fanu, a fantastic writing , Honore Champion, 2005,459 p.