J.S. LE FANU: b. Dublin, August 28, 1814

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, born on this date in Dublin, Ireland during the Napoleonic era, was a masterful practioner of the short story and particularly the ghost story. Le Fanu came from literary stock; his great-uncle was the well known playright Richard Brinsley Sheridan1.



He earned an undying place in the history of the horror genre with the invention of his archetypal Vampiress in the novella "Carmilla" 25 years before the publication of Bram Stoker's "Dracula"2



1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_Le_Fanu

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmilla