Article #511-2 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from The Purcell Papers — Volume 3, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

'Oh!' says she, 'there's no use in purtendin', I know he's kilt himself;
he has committed infantycide an himself,' says she, 'like a dissipated
bliggard as he always was,' says she, 'God rest his soul. Oh, thin,
isn't it me an' not you, Jim Soolivan, that's the unforthunate woman,'
says she, 'for ain't I cryin' here, an' isn't he in heaven, the
bliggard,' says she. 'Oh, voh, voh, it's not at home comfortable with
your wife an' family that you are, Jim Soolivan,' says she, 'but in the
other world, you aumathaun, in glory wid the saints I hope,' says she.
'It's I that's the unforthunate famale,' says she, 'an' not yourself,
Jim Soolivan,' says she.

An' this way she kep' an till mornin', cryin' and lamintin; an' wid the
first light she called up all the sarvint bys, an' she tould them to
go out an' to sarch every inch iv ground to find the corpse, 'for I'm
sure,' says she, 'it's not to go hide himself he would,' says she.

Well, they went as well as they could, rummagin' through the snow,
antil, at last, what should they come to, sure enough, but the corpse
of a poor thravelling man, that fell over the quarry the night before
by rason of the snow and some liquor he had, maybe; but, at any rate,
he was as dead as a herrin', an' his face was knocked all to pieces jist
like an over-boiled pitaty, glory be to God; an' divil a taste iv a nose
or a chin, or a hill or a hollow from one end av his face to the other
but was all as flat as a pancake. An' he was about Jim Soolivan's size,
an' dhressed out exactly the same, wid a ridin' coat an' new corderhoys;
so they carried him home, an' they were all as sure as daylight it was
Jim Soolivan himself, an' they were wondhering he'd do sich a dirty turn
as to go kill himself for spite.

Explanation

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s The Purcell Papers (1880) is a collection of short stories and sketches, many of which draw on Irish folklore, Gothic horror, and dark humor. The excerpt you’ve provided is a prime example of Le Fanu’s ability to blend macabre subject matter with the colorful, exaggerated dialect and speech patterns of Irish rural characters. This particular passage likely comes from a tale involving mistaken identity, superstition, and the grim absurdity of death—common themes in Le Fanu’s work, which often explores the intersection of the supernatural and the mundane.

Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt

Context and Summary

The passage depicts a woman (likely Jim Soolivan’s wife or a close relative) in a state of hysterical grief, convinced that Jim has committed suicide ("infantycide an himself" is a malapropism for suicide). Her lament is a mix of sorrow, anger, and dark humor, as she curses Jim as a "dissipated bliggard" (drunkard/rogue) while simultaneously hoping he’s in heaven. The next morning, she sends servants to search for his body, and they discover a corpse—not Jim’s, but that of a traveling man who fell into a quarry. Due to the body’s mutilated state and similar clothing, everyone assumes it is Jim, reinforcing the tragicomic irony of the situation.

This scene is classic Le Fanu: a blend of Gothic horror (the grotesque corpse), folk realism (the woman’s exaggerated dialect), and psychological tension (the mistaken identity). The story likely plays on themes of fate, misperception, and the unpredictability of death, with a touch of Irish fatalism—the idea that life is governed by forces beyond human control, often with a darkly humorous twist.

Key Themes in the Excerpt

Mistaken Identity and Irony
- The core of the passage is a tragicomic misunderstanding: the woman’s grief is genuine, but the corpse is not her husband’s. The irony is heightened by the fact that the dead man is dressed similarly to Jim, making the error plausible.
- This reflects a broader theme in Gothic and folk tales: appearances deceive, and reality is often stranger (and grimmer) than assumed.
Grief and Dark Humor
- The woman’s lament is both heartbreaking and absurd. She curses Jim ("bliggard") while praying for his soul, oscillating between anger and sorrow. Her repeated insistence that she is the "unforthunate famale" (unfortunate female) underscores her self-pity, but the exaggerated dialect makes it darkly comic.
- Le Fanu often uses gallows humor—laughter in the face of death—to underscore the absurdity of human suffering.
Fate and the Unpredictability of Death
- The traveling man’s death is random and brutal—he falls into a quarry, his face "knocked all to pieces like an over-boiled pitaty" (potato). This grotesque imagery emphasizes the indifference of fate.
- The woman’s assumption that Jim killed himself "for spite" suggests a superstitious worldview, where death is not just natural but personal—a deliberate act of malice or despair.
Class and Rural Life
- The servants’ obedience ("they went as well as they could") and the woman’s authoritative tone ("she tould them to go out") reflect hierarchical rural Irish society.
- The dialect and phrases ("divil a taste iv a nose," "glory be to God") ground the story in Irish oral tradition, where storytelling often blends humor, horror, and moral lessons.

Literary Devices

Dialect and Vernacular Speech
- Le Fanu phonetically renders Irish English ("purtendin’" for pretending, "thravelling" for traveling, "famale" for female), creating an authentic but exaggerated rural voice.
- This device immerses the reader in the setting while also highlighting the character’s emotional excess. The woman’s speech is repetitive and circular ("Oh, thin, isn’t it me an’ not you..."), mimicking real grief’s irrationality.
Grotesque Imagery
- The corpse’s face is compared to an "over-boiled pitaty" and a "pancake", emphasizing its flattened, unrecognizable state. This hyperbolic description makes the scene both horrifying and darkly funny.
- Such imagery is common in Gothic literature, where decay and deformity symbolize moral or existential corruption.
Repetition and Parallelism
- The woman’s repetitive phrases ("says she" appears nine times in the first paragraph) create a rhythmic, almost incantatory effect, reinforcing her hysterical state.
- The structure mirrors folk lamentations, where grief is expressed through cyclical, ritualistic language.
Dramatic Irony
- The reader (and eventually the characters) knows the corpse isn’t Jim, but the woman and servants do not. This irony makes the scene both tragic and farcical.
- Le Fanu often uses irony to undermine expectations, blending horror with humor.
Malapropisms and Wordplay
- "Infantycide" (for suicide) and "aumathaun" (a phonetic rendering of old man or omadhaun, Irish for fool) add comic relief while also characterizing the speaker as uneducated but vividly expressive.
- These errors humanize the woman, making her both pitiable and ridiculous.

Significance of the Passage

Representation of Irish Rural Life
- Le Fanu, an Anglo-Irish writer, often romanticized and critiqued Irish peasant culture. This passage captures the superstitions, fatalism, and dark humor of rural Ireland, but it also others the characters through exaggerated dialect.
- The story reflects 19th-century Anglo-Irish attitudes: a mix of fascination and condescension toward the Irish working class.
Gothic and Folk Horror Elements
- The misidentified corpse is a staple of Gothic fiction (e.g., Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher), but Le Fanu Irish-ifies it, grounding the horror in local superstitions.
- The grotesque description of the dead man’s face aligns with folk horror, where death is visceral and unglamorous.
Psychological and Social Commentary
- The woman’s self-pity and anger suggest a culture where women’s suffering is performative—she must publicly lament to validate her grief.
- The assumption that Jim killed himself "for spite" hints at toxic masculinity and alcoholism in rural communities, where men’s self-destructive behavior is both condemned and expected.
The Uncanny and the Absurd
- The mistaken identity creates an uncanny effect—what should be a personal tragedy becomes a macabre farce.
- Le Fanu blurs the line between horror and comedy, a technique that influenced later writers like Flann O’Brien and Patrick McCabe.

Conclusion: Why This Passage Matters

This excerpt is a microcosm of Le Fanu’s genius: it’s funny, horrifying, and deeply human all at once. The woman’s over-the-top grief, the grotesque corpse, and the tragic misunderstanding all serve to explore how people confront death—with superstition, humor, and denial. The passage also captures the voice of rural Ireland, for better or worse, in a way that feels both authentic and exaggerated.

In the broader context of The Purcell Papers, this story likely serves as a cautionary tale about jumping to conclusions or the fickleness of fate. But more than that, it’s a masterclass in tone—balancing pathos and dark comedy in a way that feels uniquely Irish. Le Fanu doesn’t just tell a ghost story; he paints a living, breathing (and sometimes decaying) world, where the line between tragedy and farce is deliberately thin.

Would you like a deeper dive into any specific aspect, such as the historical context of Anglo-Irish literature or comparisons to other Gothic works?

Questions

Question 1

The woman’s repeated insistence that she is the “unforthunate famale” rather than Jim Soolivan serves primarily to:

A. underscore the cultural expectation that women must publicly perform grief to maintain social standing.
B. highlight the irrationality of her grief, which blinds her to the possibility that the corpse might not be Jim’s.
C. expose the hypocrisy of her mourning, given her simultaneous anger toward the deceased.
D. reflect the superstitious belief that the dead are freed from suffering while the living endure it.
E. create a rhythmic, incantatory effect that mimics the cyclical nature of folk lamentations while amplifying her self-absorption.

Question 2

The description of the traveling man’s face as “flat as a pancake” and “like an over-boiled pitaty” functions most effectively to:

A. evoke sympathy for the anonymous victim by emphasizing the brutality of his death.
B. undermine the solemnity of death through grotesque, darkly comic imagery that distances the reader emotionally.
C. critique the servants’ incompetence in failing to recognize the body’s true identity.
D. reinforce the woman’s hysteria by providing a visually shocking confirmation of her fears.
E. contrast the rural characters’ coarse language with the narrator’s more refined perspective.

Question 3

The woman’s malapropism “infantycide” for suicide is most thematically significant because it:

A. reveals her lack of education, positioning her as a comic figure rather than a tragic one.
B. suggests that Jim’s death is metaphorically an act of violence against his own innocence.
C. introduces a layer of linguistic chaos that mirrors the broader confusion and misidentification in the scene.
D. implies that suicide is a taboo subject, requiring euphemistic distortion to be voiced.
E. foreshadows the discovery of an actual infant’s corpse later in the story.

Question 4

The servants’ immediate assumption that the corpse is Jim Soolivan’s is best understood as an example of:

A. confirmation bias, as they uncritically accept the woman’s hysterical claims.
B. class-based deference, where subordinates avoid questioning their social superior’s narrative.
C. supernatural foreshadowing, hinting that Jim’s spirit has possessed the stranger’s body.
D. narrative irony, since the reader alone recognizes the absurdity of their conclusion.
E. the story’s central theme of misperception, where reality is obscured by emotional and circumstantial distortions.

Question 5

Which of the following statements best captures the passage’s treatment of death?

A. Death is a sacred transition, and the woman’s grief—though exaggerated—honors its gravity.
B. The grotesque details of the corpse serve to desensitize the reader to violence, aligning with Gothic conventions.
C. The scene critiques rural Irish superstitions by exposing their incompatibility with rational inquiry.
D. Death is depicted as both arbitrary and absurd, undermined by dark humor and the characters’ flawed interpretations.
E. The woman’s lament reflects a universal human response to loss, transcending cultural and linguistic barriers.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: E

Why E is most correct: The woman’s repetition of “says she” and her cyclical, self-referential grief (“isn’t it me an’ not you”) create a rhythmic, incantatory pattern characteristic of folk lamentations. However, the excessive focus on her own misfortune—even as she curses Jim—reveals her self-absorption, turning her sorrow into a performance that prioritizes her own suffering over the deceased’s fate. This dual effect (ritualistic structure + narcissistic tone) aligns best with E.