Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer born on August 28, 1814 in Dublin, and who died on February 7, 1873 in the same city. He is best known for his mystery and horror stories. Coming from a family of Huguenot origin, his father was a pastor in various Protestant localities. Joseph studied Law at Trinity College, where he was appointed auditor of the University's History Society. He never practiced law, dedicating himself to journalism. In 1838, he began publishing stories in the Dublin University Magazine; and from 1940 he took control of several newspapers. In 1844, he married Susanna Bennett, with whom he had four children. Gradually, he became involved in politics due to his campaign against the British government's indifference to the Irish famine, but his personal life was complicated due to his wife's illness, who suffered from anxiety attacks and an advanced neurosis that apparently cost her life in 1858. Le Fanu stopped writing, tormented by the death of his wife, and did not do so again until the death of his mother in 1861, supported by his cousin, Lady Gifford, with whom he maintained correspondence until her death. Upon becoming the owner of the Dublin University Magazine, he took the opportunity to publish his novels in serial form in this magazine. Although due to the demands of editors and his readers he wrote stories and novels following the British fashions of the time, in his last stories he returned to Irish folklore as a source of inspiration.
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