The Turn of the Screw (Penguin Classics)
A chilling ghost story, wrought with tantalising ambiguity, the basis for the new Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor
A Penguin Classic
In what Henry James called a 'trap for the unwary', The Turn of the Screw tells of a nameless young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something malevolent is stalking the children in her care. But is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence or something else entirely? The Turn of the Screw is James's great masterpiece of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension and has influenced subsequent ghost stories and films such as The Innocents, starring Deborah Kerr, and The Others, starring Nicole Kidman.
This Penguin Classics edition contains a chronology, further reading, notes and an introduction by David Bromwich examining the dark ambiguity of James's work and the inseparability of narrative from point-of-view.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Community Reviews
Re-read because I didn't remember much about it from grad school.
This is one of the most pointless things I've ever read. During my read this time I listened to a podcast of a book club discussing it. One of the hosts said that the suspense arises in part from Henry James complicated sentences and vague word choices. That is very astute - there would be essentially no story if the characters just asked straightforward questions and the narrator, when writing the interior thoughts of the main character, didn't constantly rely on insanely vague and repetitive statements. I had remembered going into this that I didn't like Henry James much - this is why. He simply cannot say anything concrete. And incidentally my favorite author is Virginia Woolf - so I am no stranger to elusive prose. But when she does it, you feel the poetry of the moment. James has no poetry.
A lot of the suspense of the story also emanates from class and the requirements of polite conversation that seem carried to an absurd degree here. One of the reasons people don't just talk about what's going on is because there's a class barrier. That could be interesting in the hands of a better writer.
Any way, the story essentially boils down to a cycle something like this (in the mind of the narrator) - "I think something weird might happen. Oh look there's something weird. But I can't ask the kids about it. But I'm sure they must know something, therefore they must be in on it. But I can't ask my employer about it, so I will just look for confirmation from my insanely credulous idiot of a co-worker. After all servants aren't supposed to disturb the upper classes - not even as ghosts. Something may or may not have happened to that effect and now no can talk about it except in the vaguest terms possible. Which makes me think something weird might happen. Oh look there's something weird. But I can't ask the kids about it. But I'm sure they must know something, therefore ..."
It's just that. Over and over again. It's a character either actually seeing something and scaring people around her to death or just thinking she saw it.
Somehow a 120 page novella that felt 4 times too long.
This is one of the most pointless things I've ever read. During my read this time I listened to a podcast of a book club discussing it. One of the hosts said that the suspense arises in part from Henry James complicated sentences and vague word choices. That is very astute - there would be essentially no story if the characters just asked straightforward questions and the narrator, when writing the interior thoughts of the main character, didn't constantly rely on insanely vague and repetitive statements. I had remembered going into this that I didn't like Henry James much - this is why. He simply cannot say anything concrete. And incidentally my favorite author is Virginia Woolf - so I am no stranger to elusive prose. But when she does it, you feel the poetry of the moment. James has no poetry.
A lot of the suspense of the story also emanates from class and the requirements of polite conversation that seem carried to an absurd degree here. One of the reasons people don't just talk about what's going on is because there's a class barrier. That could be interesting in the hands of a better writer.
Any way, the story essentially boils down to a cycle something like this (in the mind of the narrator) - "I think something weird might happen. Oh look there's something weird. But I can't ask the kids about it. But I'm sure they must know something, therefore they must be in on it. But I can't ask my employer about it, so I will just look for confirmation from my insanely credulous idiot of a co-worker. After all servants aren't supposed to disturb the upper classes - not even as ghosts. Something may or may not have happened to that effect and now no can talk about it except in the vaguest terms possible. Which makes me think something weird might happen. Oh look there's something weird. But I can't ask the kids about it. But I'm sure they must know something, therefore ..."
It's just that. Over and over again. It's a character either actually seeing something and scaring people around her to death or just thinking she saw it.
Somehow a 120 page novella that felt 4 times too long.
I enjoyed the book. It was very well written and a very quick read. I would suggest reading the book before the watching the movie ( The Turning) because I enjoyed the movie much more and due to seeing it first kinda made me feel bored listening to the book. The ending leaves you a bit perplexed. most of the story you are wondering is everyone crazy or is the governess is crazy or is the house really haunted.