The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Henry James’s Turn of the Screw was the first thing I wanted to read when I finished The Thirteenth Tale.
…the book is a rather silly story about a governess and two haunted children. I am afraid that in it, Mr. James exposes the extent of his ignorance. He knows little about children and nothing at all about governesses. –Hester Barrow, The Thirteenth Tale
I’ve seen Turn of the Screw referenced many times, but had not yet read it. It’s a short novella, with a strange introduction, in which nameless people tell tales at a house party. The story becomes the read-aloud narrative of a governess with two children in her care. She believes they see ghosts, but her reliability as a narrator is continually underscored. Most analyses say that the intrigue of the novel lies in its tension between whether the governess is imagining things or the children are seeing ghosts. I prefer to think it’s not either/or, and instead is both. The governess uses vocabulary that implies an excited state–”erect” and “intercourse” among them. Further, I think there is the potential for an implied impropriety between the “boy” (whose age is never named) and the governess, in whose arms he dies. It’s a short novel that’s packed with possible interpretations–an intriguing read.
For other books I’ve read, see my library at Gurulib.com