Stories of the Supernatural

by Henry James, Leon Edel (Editor)

Presents the complete works of the nineteenth-century American which deal with the occult including The Turn of the Screw

762 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."

Reviews

[Jed Mayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection contains some of James' best works, and some of the best forays into the genre of the ghost story ever published. To follow the master from the Victorian period to the modern is to watch the genre evolve from a chilling diversion to a profound vehicle for exploring the relationship between the living and the dead, the present and the past, the life dreamt of and the life endured: a stunning achievement.

[Grace]

These stories were all very amusing, though only "The Turn of the Screw" actually got under my skin. The introductions to individual stories by Leon Edel are also superb.