Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873) was an Irish writer regarded as one of the great masters of Victorian horror and mystery tales. Born in Dublin, he studied Law at Trinity College, although he soon devoted himself to journalism and literature. He was editor of the Dublin University Magazine and achieved great success in the Gothic genre. Among his most notable works are Uncle Silas (1864), one of his most celebrated novels, and the collection In a Glass Darkly (1872), which includes the story Carmilla, a pioneering work in vampire fiction and a precursor to Bram Stoker's Dracula.