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VICTOR SAGE (ESSAY DATE 2004)

SOURCE: Sage, Victor. "Gothic and Romance: Retribution and Reconciliation." In Le Fanu's Gothic: The Rhetoric of Darkness, pp. 29-40. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

In the following essay, Sage illustrates how Le Fanu departs from the typical Gothic formula in his historical romances.

When we come to the two historical romances which Le Fanu wrote in the 1840s, the rhetorical situation is somewhat different from that of The Purcell Papers. The evidentiary mode—the home of dark epiphany—has to go, and plot—the plot of History—must take its place. It was not really possible in the 1840s to write a historical romance that had a 'national' character, without responding to the work of Scott.¹ To emulate Scott, you had to find a way of doing the opposite of what Le Fanu had done so brilliantly in The Purcell Papers: you had to...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Story Date December 1871–March 1872)
4. General Commentary
   1. T. W. Rolleston (Review Date 26 February 1887)
   2. Victor Sage (Essay Date 2004)
5. Title Commentary
   1. "Carmilla"
   2. Robert F. Geary (Essay Date 1999)
6. Further Reading