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The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers

Henry James

3.78 · Rating details · 7,479 ratings · 339 reviews

'The apparition had reached the landing half-way up and was therefore on the spot nearest the window, where, at the sight of me, it stopped short'

Oscar Wilde called James's chilling The Turn of the Screw 'a most wonderful, lurid poisonous little tale.' It tells of a young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a sense ...more

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Paperback, 180 pages

Published 2000 by Wordsworth (first published 1898)

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Oct 27, 2020 Henk rated it liked it · review of another edition

Henry James is quite innovative and bold with unlikeable or unreliable narrators in these two stories

The foreword to this edition of The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers was really flowery (and the academical one was rather spoilery), which made me very scared of how I would like Henry James his writing style, but both ended up being very solid tales.
Interestingly enough I liked the Aspern Papers (close to four stars for me) more than the more famous Turn of the Screw (three stars).

Aspern ...more

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Mar 24, 2011 William2 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 19-ce, uk, fiction

“A Turn of the Screw” is fabulous. I wish all his works, especially his later ones, were as ecstatically readable.

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Dec 09, 2016 Lobstergirl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: bandolier designers

Shelves: own, fiction

Please note, four stars does not mean I approve of dialogue like this:*

"So she went to -"

"To?"

She hung fire. "To the gentleman's residence."

"The gentleman's residence?"

"Yes, you know, in case of -"

"Oh, yes, well..."

She hung fire. "He wasn't exactly a gentleman."

"Wasn't a gentleman?"

"No, and it caused problems later -"

"Later? If only it had been sooner."

"Sooner?"

They hung fire.

"Everything depended on when she went -"

"When she went? Why? Because of -"

"Yes." He hung fire. "Or -"

"Or?"

"Well - you cou ...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Holly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, horror-haunting, classics, horror-faves

Well, you certainly have to concentrate on the prose in this one; be prepared to pay attention.

A classic story with a classic question. Did all this really happen as the governess tells it? Were the children really possessed by the malevolent spirits of their dead servants? Was the governess really a half-crazy repressed old maid victim of Victorian society who in turn victimized her young charges? I prefer the former, but either one is horrifying in its own way.

Although a certain type of woman, ...more

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Oct 14, 2018 Ria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4stars, movie-adaptation

I was planning on buying The Turn which was 3euros but i found this edition with two stories for the same price. didn't expect to care for the second story but i ended up enjoying both of them 👌. ...more

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Oct 29, 2020 Gizem-in-Wonderland rated it liked it

Shelves: halloween, world-classics

The Turn of The Screw

I never thought it would be possible to tell a ghost story in such a dry manner but here we are, Henry James, you’ve done it.
The Jane-Eyre duplicate governess, dreaming about the master of the house while taking care of his nephew and niece becomes entangled in a poltergeist web. Or does she? Do they really exist or is she mad? Well we can safely say that she is mad as she goes nuts over a letter but calmly meets the phantom of the dead governess? She is hysterical, her reac The Turn of The Screw

I never thought it would be possible to tell a ghost story in such a dry manner but here we are, Henry James, you’ve done it.
The Jane-Eyre duplicate governess, dreaming about the master of the house while taking care of his nephew and niece becomes entangled in a poltergeist web. Or does she? Do they really exist or is she mad? Well we can safely say that she is mad as she goes nuts over a letter but calmly meets the phantom of the dead governess? She is hysterical, her reactions are so childishly absurd that I was dumbstruck most of the time. The only horrifying thing in the house is the children: Their too-mature manners and the way speak freaked the hell out of me. It’s like they’re possessed by a 35-year old auntie. But what do I know? I have absolutely no idea what’s going inside the house, where the “good-looking” gentleman of the house haunted by spirits is. Our weird governess is trying to prove she’s not mad by passive aggressively forcing the kids to say they see the “ghosts”, too. I do not know what kind of madness is at large here in this asylum of a house. Also, James’s exhausting narration and style was another turn of the screw for this uninteresting story. - 2 stars

The Aspern Papers

At what lengths are you willing to go for the relics of your favorite author? The narrator is after the letters of Jeffrey Aspern, a famous but deceased poet and goes to Venice in search of the poet’s lover, an old widow living with her niece. Trying to gain their trust and put his hands on the precious papers, this weasel of a man uses his social skills to achieve his goal while his conscience weighs more at times as he questions the morality and ethics behind his purpose. However, this does not prevent him from destroying the once peaceful life of the two women but he finds it all the more difficult to reach the letters he dreamed of. Henry James takes up an intriguing story with a passionate protagonist but his usual dry style overshadows the potential. - 3 stars. ...more

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Nov 12, 2018 Diana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: henry-james, classic-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Turn of the Screw [1898] – ★★★★

<>

“Wasn’t it just a story-book over which I had fallen a-doze and a-dream?” [James, Ed. 2004: 33].

This is a horror novella penned by James in 1898 at the invitation of Robert J. Collier for his magazine. First published as a series, it tells of a hired governess who comes to Bly, a country estate in Essex, to supervise two children, Miles and Flora. The children are orphans under the responsibility of their uncle who, in turn, does not have much time to spend The Turn of the Screw [1898] – ★★★★

<>

“Wasn’t it just a story-book over which I had fallen a-doze and a-dream?” [James, Ed. 2004: 33].

This is a horror novella penned by James in 1898 at the invitation of Robert J. Collier for his magazine. First published as a series, it tells of a hired governess who comes to Bly, a country estate in Essex, to supervise two children, Miles and Flora. The children are orphans under the responsibility of their uncle who, in turn, does not have much time to spend with them and resides in London. The young governess willingly assumes her responsibilities, being totally delighted to be in charge of two beautiful, lovely and well-behaved children in such grand estate. However, Bly soon opens its horrors to the governess and she becomes aware that there are at least two ghosts in the house that haunt the children. The Turn of the Screw is now infamous for its multiple story interpretations and all kinds of meanings that can be read into the text. Nevertheless, whether one reads the story as a straightforward ghost tale or as a more complex psychological study of one nanny losing her mind, it is still a scary and intriguing read, which leaves much to think about and discuss upon finishing.

The Turn of the Screw is different from others novels of James in that there is an implication of danger of a horrid kind. The story is told through a first person narrative, and our narrator is “the youngest of several daughters of a poor country parson” [Ed. 2004: 26]. We follow her thoughts and encounters as she becomes a governess to two children at Bly. She is not alone in the house as housekeeper Mrs Grose accompanies her, and very soon, our heroine is convinced that the house is haunted by the ghosts of a previous governess Miss Jessel and a valet Peter Quint. More than haunted, the narrator is convinced that the two ghosts are after the children – Miles and Flora. There are two ways to read The Turn of the Screw. It can be read as a morbid tale of creepiness whereby ghosts haunt the country estate and take strange “possession” of the children, or it can be read as a story of our heroine’s emotional or mental breakdown whereby she either imagines or hallucinates spiritual elements. The novella is clever enough to give each theory enough evidence. As soon as readers may think they deal with ghosts, there is immediately something in the narrative which somewhat contradicts that, perhaps pointing to active imagination or mistaken perception. This ambiguity is what makes the story so fascinating, with only subtle hints left behind as to the real danger.

If the narrator is to be believed (how else would she know detailed physical descriptions of previous dead servants?), the story is rather scary, and there are chilling passages where she details her ghostly encounters. The beauty and innocence of the children are contrasted with the dark and disturbing behaviour of the ghosts visiting them. The children’s own behaviour becomes strange, and they are as though under the spell of monstrous and evil intentions of the two ghosts who “corrupt”. But, even here there is this lack of clarity. Who really desires to corrupt? The ghosts – the children; the governess – the children; or maybe even the children try to corrupt the governess? The novella can really be read as evil coming from different directions.

There are many clues in the story that we are dealing with an unreliable narrator, who is impressionable and easily excitable. We have to take the narrator’s word at face value, but her account is highly emotive, and she herself admits to her confusion. Thus, there is also a theory that the ghostly encounters in the story are part of the governess’s active imagination or that she hallucinates them. The governess’s mental breakdown as a theory was proposed as early as 1919 [Ed. 2004: 192], and there are passages in the novella such as “I’m rather easily carried away” [Ed. 2004: 31] and “she was…untried, nervous”, and that before her were “serious duties and little company…really great loneliness” [Ed. 2004: 28]. Sometimes the narrator doubts herself, even that she was “in life”. Clearly, that could be some proof of her losing her grip on reality.

The governess of Miles and Flora also becomes completely infatuated with them. She tells us how [Flora] “was the most beautiful child I had ever seen” and the children are described as being “remarkable”, “incredibly beautiful” and “radiant” [Ed. 2004: 30, 37]. The governess senses in them a “positive fragrance of purity” and is “dazed by their loveliness” [Ed. 2004: 30, 37, 44]. Even though the housekeeper is also enchanted by the duo, and we have little reason to doubt the narrator’s description of children, her expressions regarding the children are often emotional and it is telling that neither Miles’s school headmaster nor his uncle (both males) want the boy near them, also suggesting that, probably, the governess’s and Mrs Grose’s good impression of children may be exaggerated. Miles was expelled from his school and spent a lot of time with his uncle’s valet Quint, who was not a gentleman. It is also telling and slightly ironic that, although both Mrs Grose and the governess narrator refuse to believe the hard fact that Miles was expelled from school, they do succumb to a paranormal belief that there are spirits in the house.

The governess is so obsessed with, and enraptured by, the children and everything they do that she may have imbued them with some divine characteristics, abilities and secrets. She also may want to be part of their secrets and pact. Thus, she may see ghosts because of her desire to be part of the mysterious games the children apparently play, rather than other way around. The governess seems to rejoice in the fact that there is this unusual connection shared between her, and Flora and Miles. Thus, she tells us “the element of the unnamed and untouched became, between us, greater than any other” [Ed. 2004: 78]. She also tells us that the children are aware of the ghosts, but if we read the book closely, we discover that there is little evidence to support that (apart from the narrator’s perceptions). The narrative is so persuasive that we begin to believe this theory, even in spite of the fact that the narrator admits herself later that there is little proof that Miles and Flora can see ghosts, and that it would distress her if she ever loses her power to see ghosts [Ed. 2004: 80]. In the same vein, the governess’s desire to feel useful and needed, as well as become a protector of children may have meant the imagining of a situation whereby she has to protect the children against evil ghosts. She later says “we had been, collectively, subject to an intrusion”, “…cut off…together…[and] united in danger” [Ed. 2004: 42]. This will provide the necessary drama and diversion in her monotone life on the estate, some situation where she may feel “a sudden vibration of duty and courage” ” [Ed. 2004: 45].

Even the ghosts of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint can be seen as the heroine’s inverted mind projections of herself (“tragic”) and the master of the house (“deep”). The affair between Quint and Miss Jessel was doomed, and our narrator may hint in this way on her own doomed and unstarted affair with the master of the house. If there is a talk of the ghosts of Miss Jessel and Quint trying to “destroy” the children, the narrator may also subconsciously think that their uncle would also harm them by being absent, and she could destroy them with her smothering love, and badly-educated and uncultured ways. Her own loss of what is real may be due to her sexual repression. When the “handsome” master of the house held her hand after her interview, “she felt already rewarded” [Ed. 2004: 29], and it is telling that the ghosts she meets give her “bold, hard stare[s]”. The most revealing passage in support of this theory is that when the governess is walking alone, she has the desire that her employer meets her on her way and sees how well she is doing. The heroine refers to the gentleman when she says: “it would be as charming as a charming story suddenly to meet some one. Some one would appear there at the turn of a path and would stand before me and smile and approve” [Ed. 2004: 39].

The later account in the novella of the governess’s thoughts and actions also fits more accurately with the theory of her slowly losing her sense of reality, rather there being a straightforward ghost story. If before the heroine tells us how Bly was like “a fairy tale…place” [Ed. 2004: 38] and enjoys the place almost like a proprietor, later in the story she may be realising that Bly will never be hers, the master of the estate will never return her feelings, and the children will also never be hers. The governess also feels her inadequacy to cater for such intelligent children. She feels she has nothing to teach Miles, saying to us that Miles “was too clever for a bad governess, for a parson’s daughter, to spoil” [Ed. 2004: 65]. When her dear Miles then tells her that he wants “to get away…to new field”, to be with his “own lot” and to “see more life” [Ed. 2004: 85], the governess may have become disturbed and hurt by that statement. She previously thought Miles was happy with her at Bly since he never mentioned his old school. Similarly, Flora may have been sensing something strange in her governess and attempted to run away (probably, even afraid of her). Even other servants started to perceive the governess differently, while the governess starts to feel that any future will hurt her darlings [Ed. 2004: 110, 84].

What can be the result of such feeling of alienation and hurt on the governess’s part? Then comes the climax of the story. The secrets here are out and the game is up. Following the governess’s narration, Flora turns “ugly”, apparently when she is no longer her secretive Flora who sees ghosts, and moves away [Ed. 2004: 103]. Our “heroine”’s only hope becomes Miles, whom she immediately whimsically compares to her husband on their wedding day [Ed. 2004: 113]. The separation between her and the boy becomes the reality, and, perhaps, to maintain her grip on the house and on Miles, the nanny resorts to the only action she thinks available to her – unimaginable horror. There is a line in the book to that effect where the narrator refers to “a perverse horror of what I was doing”, and to “an act of violence” [Ed. 2004: 115]. All this is related in a rather obscure form with another ghostly encounter, and the whole situation may be read in other ways. Henry James indirectly implies and leaves the readers to draw their own conclusions.

Because of the language used, long and complex sentences, and the indeterminate conclusion, The Turn of the Screw is not as instantly satisfying as may be desired, and its reading may be rather daunting. However, those who delight in reading between the lines will find the novella engrossing and atmospheric. It could challenge with its ambiguity, and Henry James must be given credit for the subtle way he deals with evil and true horror in his book. By not pinpointing or describing the meaning of horror, he makes the story take an even darker turn, and the line between the mind and the body, between the inside and the outside, between the spiritual and the earthy, and between the imagined and real, becomes blurred. ...more

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Feb 27, 2014 Roy Lotz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels-novellas-short-stories

For the second time, I have had the misfortune of choosing to reading Henry James alongside another difficult author. The first time it was Proust; this time, Joyce. So, instead of getting the desired relief from literary headache, I get an extension of it. But, of course, the fault is mine, not Henry’s.

When reading Henry James’s work, I am reminded of a remark Stephen King made about Stanley Kubrick: that “he thinks too much and feels too little.” One gets the impression that, as Henry wrote, For the second time, I have had the misfortune of choosing to reading Henry James alongside another difficult author. The first time it was Proust; this time, Joyce. So, instead of getting the desired relief from literary headache, I get an extension of it. But, of course, the fault is mine, not Henry’s.

When reading Henry James’s work, I am reminded of a remark Stephen King made about Stanley Kubrick: that “he thinks too much and feels too little.” One gets the impression that, as Henry wrote, he did not vicariously experience the feelings and perspectives of his characters; instead he manipulates them at a far distance in the service of his aesthetic goal. This makes reading his work a peculiarly cerebral experience. Instead of identifying with James’s protagonists, the reader gazes upon them from far-away—like watching pedestrians from a tall building.

Maddening, frustrating, and exasperating as he writing-style is, I am always impressed by the end of it. James has mastered the art of using the structure of language to mirror the structure of his plots. Instead of merely relaying information, James’s sentences show the reader what is going on in their very composition. As the protagonist tries and fails to guess at a mystery, the sentences try and fail to reach their objects—like a snake coiling around itself. Annoying as this sometimes is to read, I am so amazed by the end that I can give James nothing but kudos.

The Turn of the Screw is famous for its use of ambiguity. Is the governess crazy? Or are there really ghosts? Or do the ghosts make her crazy? Or does her craziness somehow reify the ghosts? I’ve heard it argued, and with good reason, that this ambiguity is what makes the story so endlessly intriguing—the implication being that those who try to definitely answer the story’s riddle are doing it a disservice. But what’s the point of a riddle you don’t try to answer? In fact, if you don’t try to answer it, is it even a riddle? So, in the spirit of literary puzzles, here’s my attempt.

I am for the mad governess theory. One obstacle to this is that she was able to describe people she never met with enough precision that the housekeeper immediately recognized them. However, it’s reasonable to suppose that she might have overheard or otherwise been told something about the two deceased former inhabitants. What’s more, her descriptions of the ghosts contain some odd features: she describes Quinn as wearing borrowed clothes, and knows that he isn’t a gentleman; and she describes Miss Jessel as “infamous.” Now, how could you tell any of those things merely by looking at someone? Her descriptions contain more information than could be plausibly gathered through a glance, which is why I think she was parroting something she’d been told.

Another obvious clue is that nobody else can see these ghosts. But what’s even more compelling is how creepily fond the governess is of the children. Her feelings towards them are unhealthy in the extreme. She idolizes them, and then comes to distrust and suspect them in their every action. Her ‘ghosts’ could then be a kind of manifestation of her extraordinary possessiveness. She fears so keenly that somebody or something would take her away from these children she so adores that her mind produces villains who aim to do just that. Her feelings are similar to that of a hyper-jealous lover who sees signs of infidelity lurking in every shadow and hiding in every word.

At this point, one is forced to think about how much the narrator may have omitted from her tale. For all we know, she may have mistreated—even abused—the children. This would explain why Flora comes to hate her so passionately. And it may also explain Miles’s death. I will admit, however, that Miles’s death is particularly hard to account for within the governess-is-mad theory. Did she poison him? Smother him in her arms? It seems a bit far-fetched, but certainly still possible.

The Aspern Papers was less perplexing and more readable. The prose, less gnarled; the characters, more life-like. I suspect this is because it was written earlier in James’s career, when his own distinct style was yet imperfectly developed. That being said, it was certainly masterfully done. The main character, even though he is something of a scoundrel, is endearing because of his dorkiness. And the description of the pent-up women lingering in their large Venetian house is nearly Dickensian.

So now, after finishing these two little gems, I am left wanting to read more of good ol' Henry. He may indeed “think too much and feel too little,” but that’s only a flaw when you’re not as smart as he was. ...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Sheri rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, horror-scary-creepy, classic-literature

The Turn of the Screw is a haunting and creepy novella published in 1898 about a female caretaker of two orphaned children in the country home of the children's uncle. The caretaker believes that the house and grounds are haunted. Other people employed at the residence are not sharing the same experiences as the nanny and so it could be that there really is something evil hovering around the country estate or the entire scenario is playing out only in the mind of the nanny. It is up to the reade ...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Sketchbook rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

James is always about thwarted desire and/or sexual repression,
like the man's own life. In "Screw" the sublimated sexuality of the governess turns her into a mental case; she destroys 2 children with her fantasies of corruption. Are the kiddies innocent? I dont think so, but they are sweet. The (deceiving) framework is a ghost story. This fools Dum Reader.

In "Aspern" a naive-repressed editor tries to coax
a crusty dowager and her cock-hungry niece to part with some
historic papers, but the ladies ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Renee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The writing is excellent and had a gothic almost romantic feel to it. I am not a fan of the genre but can still appreciate well thought out plot. May even read more ot James short stories.

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Oct 20, 2020 Nancy Oakes added it · review of another edition

I've really only finished "Turn of the Screw," which I quite liked. I'll get to "The Aspern Papers" and then come back to post about this book as a whole. ...more

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Jul 02, 2013 Sam rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Ok, I didn't actually read the Aspern Papers, just The Turn of the Screw. It was recommended by a member of our book club.

Firstly, I found it hard going. It often took me two attempts at reading a sentence to understand it clearly. I can't quite put my finger on the problem, it was clearly written in English, but the sentence structure (which was probably perfectly correct) was (in some parts) almost unintelligible.

The story itself is almost as confusing. I actually had to 'Google' it afterwards ...more

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Oct 06, 2019 Subashini added it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic, gender-and-sexuality, ghosts-and-horror, spinster-lit

Holy #spinsterlit, Henry James! The Turn of the Screw is definitely not the frightening story I expected it to be, though it was disquieting and troubling in many aspects. Victorian morality, childhood innocence, claustrophobia, hysteria, and displaced feelings all converge in this deliberately cryptic, ambiguous tale. James' ornate, labyrinthine sentences will either drive you nuts or make you ignore your phone and read with rapt attention, and I had the latter experience. Having read Washingto ...more

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Feb 02, 2010 Julie Christine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, read-2010, mystery-crime-thriller

I've had at least as much fun reading commentary about the novella The Turn of the Screw as I did the work itself. This is classic Goth horror- with ghosts and governesses, creaky mansions and eerily ethereal tots. Is our heroine, who falls in love at the drop of a kerchief, the victim of a household haunting conspiracy or is she merely batty? What was the sinister exploit that got Miles expelled from boarding school? What connivances is Flora calculating behind her angelic blues? To whose insan ...more

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Oct 01, 2008 X rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Turn of the Screw was quite good, but difficult to read due to the gothic language. The subtle mystery and non-so-subtle supernatural elements were gripping, but the ending left me, at least, still wondering about a few unresolved things.

I had no idea what to expect from The Aspern Papers, but I found it easier to follow than The Turn of the Screw and even enjoyed its lovely Venetian setting and the narrator's attempt to outwit the old lady who possessed the papers in question. I'm not sure ...more

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Jun 18, 2017 Meredith rated it did not like it · review of another edition

My edition is a Wordsworth, containing two-for-one novellas: The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers. With a colossal effort and what amounted to skimming, not actual reading, I reached the last page of The Turn of the Screw, which could be one of the dullest, driest, most needlessly verbose and inactive books I've ever read. (What's worse than a book where you have to read the same paragraph ten times, but you're still saying WTF?).
However, I am not going to read The Aspern Papers. I might ...more

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Sep 23, 2011 David rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: big-white-square

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 12, 2012 Helen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

All I got from this book is the answer to the following questions:

1. Which author used so many commas, colons, semi and full, hyphens and exclamation marks, that his over-long sentences became impossible to comprehend?

2. Which fictional character would you most like to push down a long flight of stairs?

All I need now is for someone to ask.....

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Jul 27, 2011 E. G. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, henry-james, 4-star, own, north-america

Introduction
Preface

--The Aspern Papers
--The Turn of the Screw

Notes

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Oct 22, 2017 Jeanette rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1830-1899-publication

I bought this book in order to read The Turn of the Screw and ended up enjoying the other story, The Aspern Papers, more than I did The Turn of the Screw.

The Aspern Papers- 4 Stars
I thought James did an amazing job of building tension in the Aspern Papers. Will the historian get the papers he so longs for? Should he even have them? What will he do to get them? What will the women who possess the papers do to them? And just what is her story? I read this short story with eagerness and bated breat ...more

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Jun 26, 2013 Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature, read-in-2013, author-henry-james, my-western-canon, historical-fiction, victorian-literature, american-authors-translators

This review is associated with The Aspern Papers--

The Aspern Papers is a brilliant novella written by Henry James and serialized in the Atlantic in 1888. In short, The Aspern Papers is the story of an academic researcher, the novella's narrator, on the trail of bundles of personal letters and writings of a long-dead American poet, 'Jeffrey Aspern'. Apparently, these letters and papers are in the possession of a very old woman, Miss Juliana Bordereau, who lives with her middle-aged niece in an ol This review is associated with The Aspern Papers--

The Aspern Papers is a brilliant novella written by Henry James and serialized in the Atlantic in 1888. In short, The Aspern Papers is the story of an academic researcher, the novella's narrator, on the trail of bundles of personal letters and writings of a long-dead American poet, 'Jeffrey Aspern'. Apparently, these letters and papers are in the possession of a very old woman, Miss Juliana Bordereau, who lives with her middle-aged niece in an old rambling palazzo in a shabbier part of Venice. Our narrator rents a room from the women under false pretenses and endeavors to elicit the aid of the niece in discovering the whereabouts of the papers. He is not above using deceit and artifice in ingratiating himself with the women. It is clear from the outset that he is obsessed and consumed with obtaining the papers--he calls them his "spoils"--and cares little for the old woman's privacy or the memories of her lost love.

This is a creepy read, and one can't help but sympathize with the poor lonely middle-aged niece, Miss Tina, and even for the ancient Miss Juliana who lives for the memories of her love affair with Aspern. It becomes altogether uncomfortable for the reader as the narrator emotionally and psychologically manipulates the niece into becoming his accomplice in trying to find and acquire the papers. Frankly, the ending of the tale is incredibly satisfying to my mind.

I think the point that James is trying to make in this novella is that there really is quite the moral dilemma when it comes to personal privacy and the pursuit of information for intellectual or commercial purposes. In other words, if an author or poet becomes famous and well-read, the question becomes just how much of their life becomes fair game, if you will, for future biographers, researchers, and so forth? It is a tough question for sure.

As I read The Aspern Papers, I realized that other authors have written about this dilemma as well. For example, Edith Wharton's superb novella, The Touchstone, written in 1900 revolves around a man who sells bundles of very intimate personal letters he received from a former lover who was also a very famous author. A.S. Byatt sort of gets to this same point with correspondence between two fictional Victorian poets in her Booker Prize winning novel, Possession (1990). Towards this end then, if you read The Aspern Papers, I strongly urge you to immediately follow it up with a read of Wharton's The Touchstone. It is a wonderful way to link the two novellas, and is made even more meaningful in that Henry James and Edith Wharton spent much time together and became very good friends. ...more

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Jan 04, 2020 Nathalie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, 2020

5/5 | english | a strong start into 2020; with these two stories James made it into my top authors of classic literature; history combined with mystery and psychological factors = my cup of tea

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Jan 13, 2019 Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins rated it it was ok · review of another edition

You can read my full review of The Turn Of The Screw at Keeping Up With The Penguins.

Henry James could never be accused of being concise. The Turn Of The Screw is what he called a “tale” – a fictional story with a single plot, too long to be a “short story” (today we call them novellas). James loved ghost stories – and he wrote quite a few – but he was bored by the tropes of the genre. He preferred stories that, as he put it, “embroidered the strange and sinister onto the very type of the normal ...more

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May 01, 2012 Mel Jackson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One of my favorite short stories, it's absolutely beautiful how creepy this book is. I need to reread it again!

(Even if I can't stare at the cover of this edition for too long without being convinced the children are standing behind me, just waiting. I gave this specific copy to my friend Liz one year for her birthday and upon opening it and being thrilled to finally own it, she shrieked and threw it away from her immediately. Seriously, this cover is horrifying up close.)

The Aspern Papers are ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 Micaela Alvi rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015, college, 2017, classics

Taking into account that this was written ages ago, it is a pretty decent horror story. There is always an aura of mystery surrounding the characters and their intentions, even their sanity. And the ending is actually good. Sure, it leaves us with more questions than answers but I think that is the point of the whole story, we will never truly know what happened.

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Aug 19, 2012 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-favourite-books

I re-read this recently and what a glorious creepy tale.. those children little Miles and Flora. Many writers have tried to copy James's skill at leading the reader to the point where they realise the children are involved... in something quite horrible. A short story really but a great read. ...more

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Mar 13, 2017 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic

James wrote some of the best dark fiction of his day, and these two are, for me, his standouts. Elegant, twisted, chilling--this is rich stuff, and like a rich dessert, it forces you to slow down and savor every bite.

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Aug 22, 2019 Brent M. Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: before-2000

In the Turn of the Screw by Henry James, the Bachelor is responsible for his niece and nephew after the death of their parents and he hires a woman, the Governess, to take care of his niece and nephew. The story is written as if it happened to the Governess and as she tells the story as if it happened to her.

When she arrives to begin taking care of Flora and Miles, the bachelor's niece and nephew, the governess immediately starts seeing ghosts and learns from the maid that the ghosts are Peter Q ...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Oria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There is something about the classics that just wouldn’t go away. Not that I want it to, I have to add. Every now and then I feel the need for the convoluted language, the turned phrases, the intricately constructed sentences that make my head spin and my mind feel like I’ve just been mentally tortured. And yet, it is a sweet torture, and one I find comfort in from time to time.

The only other book by Henry James I’ve read was "The Portrait of a Lady" and while I wasn’t exactly swept away by it, ...more

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About Henry James

Henry James

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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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“I foresaw that I should have a summer after my own literary heart, and the sense of playing with my opportunity was much greater after all than any sense of being played with. There could be no Venetian business without patience, and since I adored the place I was much more in the spirit of it for having laid in a large provision. That spirit kept me perpetual company and seemed to look out at me from the revived immortal face - in which all his genius shone - of the great poet who was my prompter. I had invoked him and he had come; he hovered before me half the time; it was as if his bright ghost had returned to earth to assure me he regarded the affair as his own no less than as mine and that we should see it fraternally and fondly to a conclusion. It was as if he had said: 'Poor dear, be easy with her; she has some natural prejudices; only give her time. Strange as it may appear to you she was very attractive in 1820. Meanwhile, aren't we in Venice together, and what better place is there for the meeting of dear friends? See how it glows with the advancing summer; how the sky and the sea and the rosy air and the marble of the palaces all shimmer and melt together.” — 0 likes

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