The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism (Norton Critical Editions)
by Henry James
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Read in April, 2008
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Read in April, 2007
I absolutely loved this. There is quite a lot of controversy linked with this story, and what was really happening. Was their really evil? Was the Governess mad?
The end is rather inconclusive and leaves the reader to decide for themselves.
I thought it was very compelling and well written. James did a really good job of writing from a young woman’s perspective. Especially at the beginning I found her incredibly endearing and oh-so-GIRLY. Over a hundred years later, and it’s still quit...more
The end is rather inconclusive and leaves the reader to decide for themselves.
I thought it was very compelling and well written. James did a really good job of writing from a young woman’s perspective. Especially at the beginning I found her incredibly endearing and oh-so-GIRLY. Over a hundred years later, and it’s still quit...more
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Read in January, 2005
So I did give this a reread because I was intrigued by the governess as crazy approach that seems to be taken for granted. Again, I did not get that feeling. I do feel that she is perhaps being driven mad by the ghosts or, even possibly, by diabolical young children. And I do think she gets obsessive and neurotic as the sexually repressed, socially disadvantaged woman of her day did do under similar strains (the life of a governess was a special kind of hell all its own.) But I also think th...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
brit lit fans, people who like psychological readings of texts
Creepy. Twisty-turny. Ghosts. Weird kids. Unreliable, possibly insane narrator. Henry James, is there no genre that you will not poke your head into?
No, really. It's interesting though. On the surface, this story is perfect to curl up by the fire with on a cold winter's night. Which is exactly how the book is framed, by the way. As a story told in front of a fireside on a cold winter's night. It's short, it reads quickly, and is open to pretty much whatever you want to make of it. James let...more
No, really. It's interesting though. On the surface, this story is perfect to curl up by the fire with on a cold winter's night. Which is exactly how the book is framed, by the way. As a story told in front of a fireside on a cold winter's night. It's short, it reads quickly, and is open to pretty much whatever you want to make of it. James let...more
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Read in August, 2007
I must admit that it was not on the recommendation of my much-admired 10th-grade English teacher, nor the lengthy, laudatory discussion of it in the introduction of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, one of my favorite books, that got me to pick this one up. No, it's because it was featured as a plot point on Lost, and holy crap, do I love that show.
This is a short novella with a deceptively simple pl...more
This is a short novella with a deceptively simple pl...more
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Read in December, 2007
Guests gather around the fire on Christmas eve and tell ghost stories. One, Douglas, was not so impressed as the others. He says, "But it's not the first occurence of its charming kind that I know to have been concerned with a child. If the child gives the effect of another turn of the screw, what do you say to <em>two</em> children--?"
"We say, of course," somebody exclaimed, "that two children give two turns! Also that we want to hear about them.&qu...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
patient readers and lovers of ghost stories
It's been over a hundred years since Henry James' novella was published. I'm sure readers at the time were spooked by its tale of ghosts threatening the innocence of two children, and the attempts of a quasi-hysterical governess to save them. It was that period of the Victorian era when séances and ghosts were popular, when spiritists promised to bridge the road between the living and the dead. People enjoyed sitting around a fire and sharing ghost stories, specially during Christmas time.
B...more
B...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
gothic fiction fans
I decided to read this book as part of the RIP Autumn Reading Challenge (http://minusspine.wordpress.co... even though I've never been a huge Henry James fan, but it seems that James' talent lay in the gothic fiction realm rather than the searing social commentaries that he attempted in books like "Daisy Miller," which confusingly both celebrated and attacked products of Victorian society like h...more
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I read this one because a book of criticism I’m going to read has a lengthy essay that analyses James’s techniques and several critical responses. Interesting how James reinforces the ambiguity by beginning with what appears to be a frame, although it turns out not to be one because the narrative within the narrative is not enclosed at the end. Early on James creates narrative tension by sticking close to the protagonist’s thought processes, even in the midst of scenes. This strategy is pa...more
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Read in May, 2007
Henry James is tough and I find his text to be pretty convoluted. I have this "joke": the average letter count/word in this book is about 9. Of course, it's not, but I vaguely remember the need to read this book with a dictionary. That probably only makes me less educated.
It's also old, so the ghost story is not at all thrilling or causing a "page-turner" status. The same thing happens over and over again and it's "scary", all to arrive at an ambiguous climax that...more
It's also old, so the ghost story is not at all thrilling or causing a "page-turner" status. The same thing happens over and over again and it's "scary", all to arrive at an ambiguous climax that...more
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Moment of honesty: I read this book because I needed some fiction to read before bed, and the novels I wanted to start weren't in at the library yet. It was only 85 pages, so I thought it would be quick. Who in their right mind thinks that James will be a quick read? I like James, but even I realize that his prose is dense and prone to long, boring descriptions. And here's another moment of honesty: As I read this, I kept thinking, "This would be such a great novel if it were written by...more
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recommended to Amy by:
My wonderful Gothic Lit. teacher
I read this in college, in a Gothic Literature course that enriched my life so much. Everything I read in that course, including this spooky little story, stays with me to this day.
In particular, if anybody watches "Lost" on Thursday nights on ABC, you'll see several references to the Gothic device of duality. I'm absolutely enamored of the series; I've watched it since the first season, and I never cease to be amazed by the constant dualism that pops up.
"Lost" has ma...more
In particular, if anybody watches "Lost" on Thursday nights on ABC, you'll see several references to the Gothic device of duality. I'm absolutely enamored of the series; I've watched it since the first season, and I never cease to be amazed by the constant dualism that pops up.
"Lost" has ma...more
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Read in January, 2002
recommended to jacky by:
Lynn Parker
I remember reading this on a train, but can't remember where the train was going to. I had interest in reading this story because my professor for Lit Studies, which is like an intro to analyzing literature, used a portion of this to work on our close reading skills. She gave us only a couple of paragraphs and no background knowledge and we were to figure out what was happening as best we could. That peaked my interest about the rest of the book, however, it was a let down for me. It was too...more
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Read in September, 2007
I actually listened to the Librivox audiobook of this, which was a really interesting way to read it. I tend to "skim" while I'm reading, so I only pick out the major plot points and don't take a lot of it in. As an audiobook, it was much more suspenseful and allowed me to sort of marinate in the tone of it.
That said, I loved it right up to the end, because I had heard just enough about the story to think there was a twist ending, and enjoyed all the spooky lead-up. But actually, a...more
That said, I loved it right up to the end, because I had heard just enough about the story to think there was a twist ending, and enjoyed all the spooky lead-up. But actually, a...more
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recommends it for:
people who are REALLY good at literary analysis or have a genius for an English teacher
James' terrifying novel makes its mark on its readers by crawling under their skin and evoking every worry and fear of themselves and of whatever hidden characteristics may lie within them. The horror is hidden in the context of every word and phrase, and once the reader digs deeper into their meaning, it is impossible not to be at least somewhat frightened. While the horrific elements are not as blatant as those of Poe's stories, they are equally disturbing in their own way, making for a decide...more
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Read in February, 2007
The story begins with a frame: someone will read a letter to a group of people, which details the most horrible ghost story any of them have ever heard. James never returns to this frame at the end.
The actual story is told from the point of view of the new governess, sent to take care of Flora and Miles. The governess discovers that the ghosts of the former governess and her lover have been appearing to the children, turning them into liars and hypocrits.
The novella is filled with dram...more
The actual story is told from the point of view of the new governess, sent to take care of Flora and Miles. The governess discovers that the ghosts of the former governess and her lover have been appearing to the children, turning them into liars and hypocrits.
The novella is filled with dram...more
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Read in November, 2007
Hard enough as it was to muddle through the narration, I was disappointed by the tale itself. Although there were a few creepy moments, they were buried in the rambling thoughts of the narrator. I guess since it is presented as a ghost story, as well as for the point that the housekeeper believes as well, I never thought for a moment that the story was ambiguous and the governess was mad. I see that many people relished this book, and I really wish I had. If you like your sentences with an a...more
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Seeing as everyone was telling me that it was going to be a great story, I was rather disappointed. It was strange: the main character was neurotic, possibly crazy, and very annoying, constantly jumping to increasingly ridiculous conclusions. The ending was dissatifying and abrupt, leaving the whole plot open, never proving whether the governess was imagining things or if the ghosts were in fact real. I suppose if you want to read it for the sole reason of it being a classic, go ahead, but if yo...more
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Well constructed ghost story that builds tension, in part through the introduction and in part by dispensing the clues to the reader in the order the narrator recounts receiving them. I would have liked a more information at the end but ambiguity was part of the design and appeal. I had a difficult time with the prose, in particular the paragraph-long sentences, and found myself forcing my way through it. It was very different from my experience with other Henry James novels (Portrait of a Lady,...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in December, 2007
I would have given this four stars if it weren't for the ending. Maybe I was too tired to grasp exactly what he was trying to get at the end, so I guess I'll have to look it over again.
The first half is really good, then I feel it just doesn't pay off at the end. The tension, or the purported tension, just didn't do enough for me.
(For those of you who've read it, I found it rather interesting that the man who brought the story to the campfire would have been 10 years old when the gover...more
The first half is really good, then I feel it just doesn't pay off at the end. The tension, or the purported tension, just didn't do enough for me.
(For those of you who've read it, I found it rather interesting that the man who brought the story to the campfire would have been 10 years old when the gover...more
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