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The Turn of the Screw/Daisy Miller
by
Henry James
For lucidity and compactness of style, James's short novels, or novelles, are shining examples of his genius.Few other writings of the century have so captured the American imagination.When Daisy Miller, the tale of the girl from Schenectady, first appeared in 1878, it was an extraordinary success.James had discovered nothing less than "the American girl"--free spirited, f...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
August 1st 1954
by Laurel
(first published 1878)
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The Turn of the Screw is a classic horror story written by Henry James. It tells a story of a young governess and who watches after two children. While taking care of them, she begins to encounter a couple ghost-like beings. Written purely for entertainment, the author walks the reader through this woman’s terrifying experiences. This book is geared towards teenagers and adults who like a traditional ghost story.
Being that this book is a ghost story, one of the most prevalent themes is that of...more
Being that this book is a ghost story, one of the most prevalent themes is that of...more
Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, last read by me, oh, many decades ago – indeed, my little paperback copy has “35¢” on its cover – drew my attention last evening, and I began rereading it, continuing this morning. How is James conjuring such a feeling of foreboding, long before anything dreadful has occurred? My sensation cannot be simply the result of having read the work before, of knowing in a general way what is going to happen; rather, it has to do with his use of language itself, his m...more
Daisy Miller was a straight forward book about a American gentlemen loving a beautiful American girl who is innocent but flirty. He meets her in Vevay, and is automatically in love with her beauty and elegance. He at first feels that he oversteps the boundary by talking to her but then realizes that Daisy Miller was actually a flirty talkative girl. The two go to a castle and enjoy one another immensely. Then the plot shifts to Rome where Daisy has been acting irresponsibly in the eyes of everyo...more
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This was a hard book to rate for a couple of reasons. First of all it contains two separate stories, one I liked better than the other. The "Turn of the Screw" is the one I'll remember most, I think. It was spooky enough that I avoided reading it at night.
Secondly, the writing is superb--until it isn't. Henry James had me interested all the way through, my desire to know what would happen building...until the last few pages when it all fell flat. His writing is at it's best when his main charact...more
Secondly, the writing is superb--until it isn't. Henry James had me interested all the way through, my desire to know what would happen building...until the last few pages when it all fell flat. His writing is at it's best when his main charact...more
I think the only reason these two novellas are together in this edition is because they are two of Henry James' most famous stories. As this was a very tiny book, I thought it would be a very quick read but it wasn't. It took me a week to read the Turn of the Screw, but only an hour or so to read Daisy Miller. So in that, Daisy Miller was a lot easier to get through.
I think maybe because the TOTS was very old fashioned and all of the characters sounded the same. Or maybe because there were no pa...more
I think maybe because the TOTS was very old fashioned and all of the characters sounded the same. Or maybe because there were no pa...more
We read The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller in my book group.
You probably know the gist of the story: naïve, love-starved governess seeks countryside post teaching suspiciously angelic children, wards of a mysterious, unavailable (yes, emotionally as well as geographically) landowner.
The narrator governess (and even this telling is remote as we are supposedly reading a decades-old text whilst we gather round our host’s hearth) is reminiscent of Hamlet both in her prevarication and, to a lesse...more
You probably know the gist of the story: naïve, love-starved governess seeks countryside post teaching suspiciously angelic children, wards of a mysterious, unavailable (yes, emotionally as well as geographically) landowner.
The narrator governess (and even this telling is remote as we are supposedly reading a decades-old text whilst we gather round our host’s hearth) is reminiscent of Hamlet both in her prevarication and, to a lesse...more
This was one of the countless "classics" I was forced to read in college. Unlike most of the other books that were crammed down this hapless English major's throat (I will refrain from my notorious Frankenstein rant), this story became one of my favorites.
The Turn of the Screw is narrated by an unnamed governess who is hired by a mysterious yet attractive gentleman to watch over his niece and nephew at a remote estate. Upon arriving, she begins having strange visions of her predecessor, Miss Jes...more
The Turn of the Screw is narrated by an unnamed governess who is hired by a mysterious yet attractive gentleman to watch over his niece and nephew at a remote estate. Upon arriving, she begins having strange visions of her predecessor, Miss Jes...more
These two fit together nicely. (I had never read either.) Both center on a single consciousness (the governess, Winterbourne) whose intelligence and discrimination first win our trust, and then threaten to lose it as the action advances and their judgment does not.
The Turn of the Screw was a revelation and I raced through it -- wonderfully unsettling -- more raw feels than I've gotten in a long time. (You root for the ghosts, but a second reading would probably show not only that the question...more
The Turn of the Screw was a revelation and I raced through it -- wonderfully unsettling -- more raw feels than I've gotten in a long time. (You root for the ghosts, but a second reading would probably show not only that the question...more
I did not like The Turn of the Screw. I just didn't get what all the fuss is about. I found it confusing. I like a difficult read (Moby Dick for instance), but this story was just plain muddled and unenjoyable. I hung on, hoping for reward at the end, only to be disappointed. Daisy Miller though, was a pretty good read. It was straightforward and presented a good view into the old guard vs. new guard thinking about sexuality and mores.
I tried to read The Wings of the Dove a few years ago and didn't like it. Then, I had to read short stories by James for an American Lit. class and enjoyed them, so I decided to give him another go. I own a few books by him but went for this one since the two stories are short, and if I didn't like them, I could force myself through them. I didn't mind them, actually, but I'm still not sure whether or not I want to read a longer work by him. I might just decide to at some point, randomly, but ce...more
Both odd pieces end abruptly, though both are otherwise "windy" (verbose) as Updike's Fritz Fleischer might say. "The Turn of the Screw" begins as a story within a story, but that contrivance is dropped and never picked up again. Then poor "Daisy Miller" gets her come-uppance for her reckless flouting of convention. In both stories, passion and willfulness earn punishment by death.
I thought this was supposed to be the best ghost story ever. I've had this book for two years but I've been too scared to read it, based on it reputation alone. In fact, while reading it, I would not pick it up after dark, on account of I thought it might give me nightmares or something.
But it's totally not scary at all. Maybe it's because I psyched myself out, expecting something that was really grandiose in its fright potential. Or, at the opposite extreme, maybe I just don't have the kind of...more
But it's totally not scary at all. Maybe it's because I psyched myself out, expecting something that was really grandiose in its fright potential. Or, at the opposite extreme, maybe I just don't have the kind of...more
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I don't recall a whole lot of Daisy Miller, except it seemed a bit of fluff after the suspense of The Turn of the Screw.
The Turn of the Screw is a really good, creepy ghost story about two children and their governess, fighting evil that wasn't alive. NOT one to read alone at night.
The Turn of the Screw is a really good, creepy ghost story about two children and their governess, fighting evil that wasn't alive. NOT one to read alone at night.
Both stories are phenomenal, but too short and too perfect to attempt to adequately summarize or review. I said in my review of Washington Square & The Europeans that those were "exceedingly well-written," but, if anything, I didn't appreciate just how skilled an author James was.
I can check these off the list of canon literature I haven't yet read. They did not move me, but except for "Portrait of a Lady" James generally hasn't moved me. Oh well. Time well spent nonetheless.
what an interesting little read. I'm pretty sure I've seen a movie on this same theme but the book was much much better. I knew the end (because of the movie) but it was still a fun little mystery.
Huge fan of Henry James. I love The Turn of the Screw. If you want to see a very good movie based on this book, it's called The Innocents with Deborah Kerr. So good!!!
- Turn of the Screw: Starts great, in the middle gets better and just puft, finishes. I was veery disappointed with the end. The story just ends without an actual end and any explanations.
I don´t understand why people say she saw the ghosts because she was sexualy repressed, doesn´t make sense to me.
- Daisy Miller: I liked this one more. It´s interesting to read about the european culture of that time, the way they saw society. Winterborne has a sweet tone thinking about Daisy, it´s almost a lov...more
I don´t understand why people say she saw the ghosts because she was sexualy repressed, doesn´t make sense to me.
- Daisy Miller: I liked this one more. It´s interesting to read about the european culture of that time, the way they saw society. Winterborne has a sweet tone thinking about Daisy, it´s almost a lov...more
Turn of the Screw was a the star read. Entertaining but it required more thought to read it due to the time period it was written in. Daisy Miller was an easier read and warrants a 4 star.
Henry James is insane. He seems kind of normal until you get to the endings of these novellas, which are both exactly the same and psycho.
sentence structure could be irritating in 'turn of the screw' which sometimes read like this - "to the store, with a pocket full of cash, in the afternoon, which was sunny, he went". spooky nonetheless.
Oh Henry!! :) Daisy Miller is one of my favorites- wrote a 25 page lit paper on it about classism and such. Love it.
(Turn of the Screw)
extraordinarily verbose...almost humorously so. i got through it because it started strong and was immediately gripping. unfortunately the ending was cheaply executed.
extraordinarily verbose...almost humorously so. i got through it because it started strong and was immediately gripping. unfortunately the ending was cheaply executed.
Jun 04, 2011
Erik Graff
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
James fans
Recommended to Erik by:
Mr. Silkowski
Shelves:
literature
I didn't like either of these novellas and have avoided Henry James' novels ever since--though some of his short stories have appeared in collections read afterwards. The Turn of the Screw was required reading for high school English and appeared as a double with Daisy Miller. I read the former for class, thought it boring and too obscure, and read the latter on the beach that summer since I had it anyway and since James is accounted a great writer. It, too, was disappointing, moreso if anything...more
Actually own a different edition w/ Turn of the Screw, Daisy Miller, The Beast in the Jungle
Mar 26, 2010
Drew
added it
The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller by Henry James (1954)
The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller by Henry James (1975)
Turn of the Screw....
What *really* happened? We will never know...
What *really* happened? We will never know...
Daisy Miller held my attention...the Turn of the Screw did not.
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Henry James, OM, son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author, one of the founders and leaders of a school of realism in fiction. He spent much of his life in England and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for a series of major novels in which he portrayed the...more
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