- For the rural reprobate of stories by H.E. Bates, see My Uncle Silas
Uncle Silas is a Victorian Gothic mystery/thriller novel by the Anglo-Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Herbert Ernest Bates, CBE, ( May 16 1905 - January 29 1974) better known as H for the Gothic Mystery Novel by Le Fanu see Uncle Silas My Uncle Silas is the name of a book of short stories about a bucolic elderly Bedfordshire Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901 and corresponds to the Victorian era. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story " Anglo-Irish " was a term used historically to describe a privileged Social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 &ndash 7 February 1873 was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels It is notable as one of the earliest examples of the locked room mystery subgenre. The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of Detective fiction wherein a crime such as murder is committed under apparently impossible circumstances—typically involving a crime It is not a novel of the supernatural (despite a few creepily ambiguous touches), but does show a strong interest in the occult and in the ideas of Swedenborg. The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine hidden secret referring to "knowledge of the hidden" (born Emanuel Swedberg; February 8 1688–March 29 1772 was a Swedish Scientist, Philosopher, Christian mystic, and Theologian
Like many of Le Fanu's novels, it grew out of an earlier short story, "A Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" (1839), which he also published as "The Murdered Cousin" in the 1851 collection Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery. The setting of the original story was Irish; presumably it was changed to Derbyshire for the novel because this would appeal more to a British audience. History The area that is now Derbyshire was first visited probably briefly by humans 200000 years ago during the Aveley Interglacial as evidenced by a Middle It was first serialized in the Dublin University Magazine in 1865, under the title Maud Ruthyn and Uncle Silas, and appeared in December of the same year as a triple-decker novel from the London publisher Richard Bentley.
Plot summary
The novel is a first person narrative told from the point of view of the teenaged Maud Ruthyn, an heiress living with her sombre, reclusive father Austyn Ruthyn in their mansion at Knowl. She gradually becomes aware of the existence of Silas Ruthyn, a black-sheep uncle whom she has never met, who was once an infamous rake and gambler but is now apparently a reformed Christian. Silas's past holds a dark mystery, which she gradually learns from her father and from her worldly, cheerful cousin Lady Monica: the suspicious suicide of a man to whom Silas owed an enormous gambling debt, which took place within a locked, apparently impenetrable room in Silas's mansion at Bartram-Haugh. Austyn is firmly convinced of his brother's innocence; Maud's attitude to Uncle Silas (whom we do not meet for the first 200 pages of the book) wavers repeatedly between trusting in her father's judgment, and growing fear and uncertainty.
In the first part of the novel, Maud's father hires a French governess, Madame de la Rougierre, as a companion for her. Madame de la Rougierre, however, turns out to be a sinister figure who has designs on Maud. (In a cutaway scene that breaks the first-person narrative, we learn that she is in league with Uncle Silas's good-for-nothing son Dudley. ) She is eventually discovered by Maud in the act of burgling her father's desk; this is enough to ensure that she is dismissed.
Austyn Ruthyn obscurely asks Maud if she is willing to undergo some kind of "ordeal" to clear Silas's name. She assents, and shortly thereafter her father dies. It turns out that he has added a codicil to his will: Maud is to stay with Uncle Silas until she comes of age. If she dies while in her minority, the estate will go to Silas. Despite the best efforts of Lady Monica and Austyn's executor and fellow Swedenborgian, Dr. Bryerly, Maud is forced to spend the next three and a half years of her life at Bartram-Haugh.
Life at Bartram-Haugh is initially strange but not unpleasant, despite ominous signs such as the uniformly unfriendly servants and a malevolent factotum of Silas's, the one-legged Dickon Hawkes. Silas himself is a sinister, soft-spoken man who is openly contemptuous of his two children, the loutish Dudley and the untutored but friendly Milly (her country ways initially amaze Maud, but they become best friends). Silas is subject to mysterious catatonic fits which are attributed by his doctor to his massive opium consumption. Gradually, however, the trap closes around Maud: it is clear that Silas is attempting to coax or force her to marry Dudley. When that plan fails, and as the time-limit of three-and-a-half years begins to shrink, it becomes clear that more violent methods may be used to ensure that Silas gains control of the Ruthyn estate. . . .
Allusions/references from other works
Uncle Silas remains Le Fanu's best-known and most popular novel. It was the source for Arthur Conan Doyle's The Firm of Girdlestone, and remains a touchstone for contemporary mystery fiction. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930 was an Anglo-Scottish Author most noted for his stories about the
Film versions
A film version was made by Gainsborough Studios in 1947, directed by Charles Frank and starring Jean Simmons, Katina Paxinou and Derek Bond. Gainsborough Pictures was a Film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street Hoxton in the London Borough of Hackney Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Charles R Frank (born April 17, 1947) is an American Actor noted for playing Bret Maverick 's cousin Ben Maverick in the 1978 Jean Merilyn Simmons OBE (born January 31 1929 is an Oscar -nominated English actress Katina Paxinou ( 17 December, 1900 - 22 February, 1973) was an Academy Award - and Golden Globe -winning Greek Derek William Douglas Bond MC (26 January 1920&ndash15 October 2006 was a popular British Actor. The heroine's Christian name was changed from Maud to Carolyn. It was re-titled The Inheritance in the United States, and the incestuous material was excised. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
A remake titled The Dark Angel, starring Peter O'Toole, was made in 1987. A " remake' " is a term used to described something that has been done again sometimes with better Quality, and usually with more features Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar)
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