Green Tea and Blue Devils: The Supernatural in Three of J. S. Le Fanu's Stories

Abstract

In my thesis I will discuss three ghost stories – “Green Tea,” “The Familiar” and “Mr Justice Harbottle” – by the Irish writer, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, originally published together in a volume In a Glass Darkly (1872). I will focus on the function of the supernatural in the tales, exploring the multiple interpretative possibilities of this poetic device, especially against the socio-cultural background of Le Fanu’s Ireland.