The original author should consider widening his perspective on the recent Halloween happenings in Dublin before suggesting a resurgence in Sheridan Le Fanu’s popularity. A celebration marking the third year in honour of Le Fanu just concluded in Abington, Murroe, Co Limerick – the place where Le Fanu spent his crucial growth years, with his father as the local Protestant church’s rector.
Our festival was an occasion attended by Le Fanu enthusiasts, locals, academics, historians, singers, and musicians, appreciating the influential contributions the Le Fanu family made to Ireland. Attendees toured the rectory where the family resided, listened to tales about the wild local landscape – featuring the ruins of medieval Abbeyowney and how the Tithe War with its terror (during which the Le Fanus, being of Protestant clergy, faced danger) shaped Le Fanu’s gothic imagination. We delved into the stories Le Fanu gathered from the region, native anecdotes of Lough Guir, and enjoyed a showing of ‘The Child That Went With The Faeries’, a short film by the Limerick Youth Theatre. Janet Woods, a renowned soprano, delighted us with performances from “Shamus O’Brien”, an opera by Charles Villiers Stanford boasting a libretto by Le Fanu.
We were thrilled to welcome distinguished guest, Prof Nicola LeFanu on October 26th, Saturday. She’s the great grand-niece of Sheridan and delivered a brilliant lecture discussing the female authors from the family, tracing their roots back to Frances Sheridan, mother of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who was also our Sheridan’s namesake and great-uncle.
Irish literature is a broad platform with enough space for celebrations in honour of both Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu. We extend our heartfelt congratulatory gesture towards the Bram Stoker Festival’s organisers for discovering and making the first read of the long-lost ghostly tale ‘Gibbet Hill’. This past weekend was particularly exhilarating for devotees of Irish Gothic.
If the aim of Mr Griffin is to revitalize the legacy of our notable 19th-century Irish Gothic writer with Huguenot descent, we rest assured Charles Maturin’s spirit would be pleased by such a proposition. Yours sincerely,
By
MIRIAM LOHAN,
GRÁINNE WALSH,
JULIE LONG,
JOHN ELLIOTT,
The Le Fanu Festival Committee,
Abington,
Murroe,
Co Limerick.