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Loading... The Turn of the Screw (Penguin Popular Classics) (original 1898; edition 1998)by Henry James (Author)
Work InformationThe Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. #642 in our old book database. Not rated. 6/10 I have very conflicted feelings about the book and did not overly like it, but it was certainly well done. Part of these problems stem from the first gothic scene. I must have misread the setting and could not understand why the main character was so scared. After that, I could not really believe her tale and thought she was prone to overreacting. Later, the setting is further explored and I finally realised how horrible that experience would have been. Despite this oversight, the ending is weak. Still, the prose is reasonable and storytelling strong. Will revisit James again, but not rushing off to read to him again. This is what happens when a realist tries to be a romantic. Ghost stories are irrational and melodramatic by nature, they need to be presented using theatrical tools that Henry James would have found beneath him. Instead we get what could be a gripping story buried under some grueling prose. It's exhausting. Edit: Virginia Woolf wrote about Henry James' ghost stories positively, and it's good to see what a contemporary (a genius contemporary at that) thought of it. She confirmed what I suspected, that by their time creepy castles and rainstorms had become cheesy and psychological terror was a novelty. But she also states that he put his ghosts in a scenario of the utmost realism, vividly described, so that it created a jarring effect on the reader. It's like if we suddenly saw HD footage of aliens, something impossible depicted utterly sincerely. The effect didn't work for me but it's good to understand another perspective. Eh, I could take this or leave it. The wording on most of the sentences seemed intentionally convoluted to me. I hope all of Henry James isn't written like this. (This is my first Henry James.) I love a good Gothic story, but this is not the one for me. *Book #135 I have read of the '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'
Det rör sig om en av världslitteraturens otäckaste berättelser. Otäck inte bara för att det som händer är otäckt utan för att man inte riktigt vet vad som händer – och har hänt. Belongs to Publisher SeriesThe Bodley Head Henry James (Volume XI) — 19 more Is contained inDaisy Miller, The Aspern Papers, The Turn of the Screw, The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James (indirect) Is retold inHas the (non-series) sequelHas the adaptationInspiredHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guideAwardsNotable Lists
Classic Literature.
Fiction.
HTML: The Turn of the Screw is s ghostly Gothic tale by Henry James. A masterpiece in ambivalence and the uncanny, The Turn of the Screw tells the story of a young woman who is hired as governess to two seemingly innocent children in an isolated country house. As the tale progresses she begins to see the ghost of her dead predecessor. Or does she? The story is so ambivalent and eerie, such a psychological thriller, that few can agree on exactly what takes place. James masters "the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy" in this chilling Victorian classic. .No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.4Literature English (North America) American fiction Later 19th Century 1861-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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