1alaudacorax
This seems to be regarded as a key text of Gothic Literature, so it probably deserves its own thread.
2alaudacorax
I have to say that that I’ve read other of James’s writing before I came to this and I just don’t like him. It seems to me that his sentences are often clumsily-constructed and I don’t understand why he’s so highly-regarded. On a number of occasions reading this I had to reread a sentence two or three times to make out what he was saying. Despite that, the storyline did grab me and keep me reading.
I have to say, though, that I was left rather bemused by it. I don’t think there’s too much of a if I say that there seems a strong implication towards the end that the supernatural events of the novel were all in the governess’s imagination, while her accurate describing of Peter Quint, whom she new nothing about, to the housekeeper implies the exact opposite. I shall probably give this another and more mindful read.
I have to say, though, that I was left rather bemused by it. I don’t think there’s too much of a
4pgmcc
>2 alaudacorax:
The Turn of the Screw is the only Henry James story I have read. I have a couple of his novels on my shelves but have not been driven to read them. Comments elsewhere match your comments on his other works; I suspect this has influenced my lethargy regarding picking them up.
The Turn of the Screw is the only Henry James story I have read. I have a couple of his novels on my shelves but have not been driven to read them. Comments elsewhere match your comments on his other works; I suspect this has influenced my lethargy regarding picking them up.
5alaudacorax
>3 pgmcc:
I was reading from the Norton Critical Edition and the notes didn't help—I should have ignored them. I felt my brain was overloaded with so much extra information, especially on Victorian attitudes to childhood, that I wasn't properly concentrating on the story.
I was reading from the Norton Critical Edition and the notes didn't help—I should have ignored them. I felt my brain was overloaded with so much extra information, especially on Victorian attitudes to childhood, that I wasn't properly concentrating on the story.
7pgmcc
>6 alaudacorax:
I always try to sneak up on people when they least expect. It adds to the Gothic ambiance.
:-)
I always try to sneak up on people when they least expect. It adds to the Gothic ambiance.
:-)
8housefulofpaper
I've read The Turn of the Screw, in the Folio Society edition that they brought out a few years ago (NOT the full leather edition, costing several hundred Pounds more, I hasten to add) and I'll probably read it again as I now have the Limited Editions Club edition, and the story appears in the Tartarus Press edition of James' "Ghostly Stories" (as the subtitle has it).
However, I wasn't coming to the novella without prior knowledge, as I had seen The Innocents and heard a recording of Britten's opera.
I also have had my struggles with Henry James. There's a bookmark in the Tartarus Press book that has been stalled at page 159 for at least a couple of years. Whilst I sympathise and agree with all the comments here, at the same time I can't shake the feeling it's at least partly my fault. If I could drive out distractions, settle into, or burrow into, the rhythm of the sentences, maybe I would get the reward that I've read others get from their reading of "the master".
I think you have to both take things slowly and stay attentive to what's going on in the narrative. In some ways, I find late-Victorian writers a more challenging read than the Modernists who followed them: not so experimental, not so flashy, but it's so easy to glide over something important and miss the meaning of an entire paragraph. I absolutely would not try to read James with one eye on explanatory notes.
I mentioned adaptations in passing.Who's seen Michael Winner's prequel, The Nightcomers?
However, I wasn't coming to the novella without prior knowledge, as I had seen The Innocents and heard a recording of Britten's opera.
I also have had my struggles with Henry James. There's a bookmark in the Tartarus Press book that has been stalled at page 159 for at least a couple of years. Whilst I sympathise and agree with all the comments here, at the same time I can't shake the feeling it's at least partly my fault. If I could drive out distractions, settle into, or burrow into, the rhythm of the sentences, maybe I would get the reward that I've read others get from their reading of "the master".
I think you have to both take things slowly and stay attentive to what's going on in the narrative. In some ways, I find late-Victorian writers a more challenging read than the Modernists who followed them: not so experimental, not so flashy, but it's so easy to glide over something important and miss the meaning of an entire paragraph. I absolutely would not try to read James with one eye on explanatory notes.
I mentioned adaptations in passing.Who's seen Michael Winner's prequel, The Nightcomers?
9alaudacorax
>8 housefulofpaper:
I don't think I was aware of The Nightcomers until a couple of days ago. Found it while searching streaming services for The Innocents. I haven't watched it yet. I'm not a big fan of Winner. I'm sure I've seen some good films by him, but I find most of his a bit nasty. Among other things, man was too keen on his rape scenes for comfort. Not that it should be a problem in a film based on The Turn of the Screw ... And when he was alive and doing interviews and talk shows I instinctively disliked him. I'll watch it once I've seen The Innocents.
I don't think I was aware of The Nightcomers until a couple of days ago. Found it while searching streaming services for The Innocents. I haven't watched it yet. I'm not a big fan of Winner. I'm sure I've seen some good films by him, but I find most of his a bit nasty. Among other things, man was too keen on his rape scenes for comfort. Not that it should be a problem in a film based on The Turn of the Screw ... And when he was alive and doing interviews and talk shows I instinctively disliked him. I'll watch it once I've seen The Innocents.
10alaudacorax
Forgot to mention something else that puzzled me in the novel.
I felt that the children were altogether too angelic to be believable, rather like some weird fantasy of children. Then it occurred to me that if I ever met kids like that in real life I'd quite possibly find them a bit creepy. So then I wondered whether that was what James had all along intended me to feel, or were they indeed a childless man's fantasy of ideal children. But then, at least in reference to the boy, James puts into the housekeeper's mouth some disapprobation of a child's being too well-behaved. He'd got me confused ... again ...
I felt that the children were altogether too angelic to be believable, rather like some weird fantasy of children. Then it occurred to me that if I ever met kids like that in real life I'd quite possibly find them a bit creepy. So then I wondered whether that was what James had all along intended me to feel, or were they indeed a childless man's fantasy of ideal children. But then, at least in reference to the boy, James puts into the housekeeper's mouth some disapprobation of a child's being too well-behaved. He'd got me confused ... again ...
11alaudacorax
All in all, I have the strong feeling that I haven't got to the bottom of this novel and need to read it again; while, at the same time, reading up on James and his book seems to indicate that I'm never going to get to the bottom of it.
12DuncanHill
I gave up on The Nightcomers. I'll probably try to watch it again sometime, but Brando was unwatchable, at least for how I was feeling at the time. Perhaps with a bottle of wine and some suitably irreverent company.
I've read The Turn of the Screw a few times, and probably will again at some point. I can't remember where, but somewhere I saw it called The Turn of the Shrew, and I thought that was apposite.
Ghost Stories of Henry James is gradually moving down my "to be read" pile (he'll be read when he reaches the top).
It was Philip Guedalla who made the famous observation that "The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender."
I've read The Turn of the Screw a few times, and probably will again at some point. I can't remember where, but somewhere I saw it called The Turn of the Shrew, and I thought that was apposite.
Ghost Stories of Henry James is gradually moving down my "to be read" pile (he'll be read when he reaches the top).
It was Philip Guedalla who made the famous observation that "The work of Henry James has always seemed divisible by a simple dynastic arrangement into three reigns: James I, James II, and the Old Pretender."
