The Turn of the Screw

by Henry James

For lucidity and compactness of style, James's short novels, or novelles, are shining examples of his genius. Few other writings of the century have so captured the American imagination. When "Daisy Miller," the tale of the girl from Schenectady, first appeared in 1878, it was an extraordinary success. James had discovered nothing less than "the American girl"--free spirited, flirtatious, an innocent abroad determined to defy European convention even if it meant scandal . . . or tragedy. But the subtle danger lurking beneath the surface in "Daisy Miller" evolves into a classic tale of terror and obsession in "The Turn Of The Screw." "The imagination, " Henry James said to Bernard Shaw, "has a life if its own." In this blood-curdling story, that imagination weaves the lives of two children, a governess in love with her employer, and a sprawling country house into a flawless story, still unsurpassed as the prototype of modern horror fiction." "The Turn Of The Screw" seems to have proved more fascinating to the general reading public than anything else of James's except "Daisy Miller.""--Edmund Wilson

• ISBN10: 0140623868
• ISBN13: 9780140623864
• Publish Date: 26 July 2007 (first published 1 January 1898)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 21 March 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 128
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Full book vs. TV show review on my blog coming soon!

Okay, so I have a LOT of thoughts on the novella, but I'll start with the show as I watched it before reading Henry James's story.
There are a lot of things I tremendously enjoyed about the adaptation. First of all, the casting was amazing and every single one of the actors and actresses delivered. It was cool that several of the cast members we met in The Haunting of Hill House got to return.
The scenery was also atmospheric af. Bly Manor is my gothic horror mansion dream and I was rather excited that we got to explore that venue. I also liked the 80's vibe that was definitely present but not overpowering. You could tell it's set in the '80s based on the clothes and stuff but it was subtle. No giant perms or anything! Not to get ahead of myself with this but this way the story fell extremely timeless and I was surprised how many elements were directly from the novella.
The story was rather intricate and they added a lot of new elements (as opposed to the source material) making for many intense new scenes. Overall, I liked the added elements a lot as it gave the story depth and also some more sense. I'll get to that in a moment but the novella was kind of weak in the plot and logic department, especially in comparison with the show.
While there are many things I quite enjoyed, there are also a couple of elements that didn't 100% work for me. The two kid actors both gave stellar performances (and me the creeps!) but I found their characters just SOOOOO annoying. How many times does that girl say "perfectly splendid"? It made me want to scream.
There is a pretty cool episode (shot in black and white) that explains the origin of the curse plaguing Bly Manor. Visually this was stunning but the episode dragged on a bit. I was really excited about the backstory, but it could have been told with more intensity in half the time.
Generally speaking, there are episodes that drag a little at some point. The pacing of this season is just the slightest bit off. But honestly, that didn't bother me too much as we were rewarded with so many brilliant scenes! Take for example the one where Miss Jessel (played by Tahirah Sharif) screams. No spoilers but if you watched the show you'll know exactly which scene I mean. That was just stellar!
As you can see, I am pretty excited about the show! The novella had actually been sitting on my e-reader for ages but somehow I had never gotten around to reading it. Well, what better time to finally get to it than now? After all, we're talking about 130 pages, so how long can that take?
It turns out, ages.

Boy, this novella annoyed the shit out of me. Where do I even start?
Maybe with the beginning. Henry James decided to frame the actual story like this: some guy tells the story (a manuscript that had been sent to him) around the open fire. This has the potential to be cool but somehow it falls flat because after the story at Bly is done, we never return to that scene. When I finished the last chapter I googled whether my edition was missing a chapter or something as it just felt so odd!
However, this was not the only issue. The next thing I had to deal with was James's way of expressing himself. Although it's such a short story it took me forever and a day to read it. At first, I thought that it's because I'm not a native English speaker and the language is a bit old-timey. But when I thought about it some more (I actually read quite a lot of older books and never had a problem like this) and checked out some reviews, I realized the problem isn't me.
That brings us to the story per se, which wasn't particularly enjoyable either. First of all, I couldn't be bothered to care for the governess. I found her rather annoying and her train of thought was impossible to follow. She constantly arrives at conclusions that seemingly come out of nowhere or have no backup whatsoever. At one point she actually says "The chain of my logic was ever too much for her." I'm not kidding. Well, it was too much for me as well. While there might have been an interesting aspect here (are there really ghosts or is the governess mad?), I didn't even care to invest my time and thoughts into that as so much of the surrounding stuff made no sense whatsoever. For example, the boy gets expelled from school, the letter doesn't say why but nobody asks him about that. Ever. Until like the last chapter.
Additionally, I found the ghosts' behaviors also rather weird. Several of the characters mentioned that Jessel and Quint behaved rather weird when they were alive and I didn't really understand the problem. Well, after reading the Wikipedia article, it appears they both were child molesters. That did not come through for me in the story at all. They mention that they were close with the kids but it didn't dawn on me that that's what James meant.
Moreover, I never understood (and still don't) why the ghosts are there. They didn't die at Bly (?) so why are they connected to the place? And why are they so easily expelled basically by the governess uttering a stern word? Questions over questions and no answers.
The end of the story was also weird. It could have potential were you inclined to explore the idea mentioned above (the governess's sanity). But honestly, by the time I reached the final chapter, I was annoyed and just 100% done, so I didn't even care to invest a single additional second thinking about it.

[Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub]

This is the story of a governess who, upon taking charge of two young children, finds herself worrying that something malevolent is after them. She begins to fear that two deceased former employees are haunting the house.

I’ve read this creepy little story before, but it’s been quite a while, so I figured the time was ripe for a reread. I’m pleased to report that it’s just as eerie the second time around as it was the first.

While the pacing is excellent, building tension slowly, it’s the uncertainty of everything that stands out to me. Are the children really haunted, or is it all the product of the governess’ imagination? I love that it’s up to the reader to decide.

The characters are surprisingly well-developed, considering the shortness of the story. At barely over a hundred pages, this is easily read in a day. It’ll take a lot longer to mull over, though.

I quite enjoyed this spooky tale. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth giving a go. Henry James is a fantastic author, and this story is engaging and thought-provoking.

If you’ve read this book, what was your takeaway? Were the hauntings really there? Was the governess hallucinating?

As always, you can find this review and others on https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2019/09/25/the-turn-of-the-screw-by-henry-james/

[celinenyx]

I am honestly not sure what I just read. Something with children and the world's least confrontational governess?

[pamela]

I think the entire 120 pages of this book may have been one, long sentence. I've wanted to read this novella for so long, but my god was it challenging to get through. That it was beautifully written cannot be denied, but it certainly wasn't enjoyable. Every sentence ran on far too long with excessive description that took away from the impact of the story.

The underlying narrative of the story is strong. It deals with some pretty horrific themes without being direct about it, creating a sense of unease. The lines between imagination and reality are blurred, and I can see how this story was incredibly influential in the genre. But I just can't get past the fact that it was boring as hell! There was no sense of terror or urgency, which is essential to a good horror story.

I'm glad I read it, as it's a pretty seminal work of gothic horror, but I can't say I'll be recommending it as a must read. That said though, I might be interested in trying an audiobook of it. In fact, I'm going to do that right now.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Extremely boring. Drags on forever with the protagonist saying "YOU know what happened" and other such ambiguous phrases, as a cheap attempt to build suspense for the readers. The payoff at the end isn't worth it. It's not that interesting.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

This classic horror story was awesome; it has ghosts, it has evil and the writing style is just amazing. While I'm not sure if this is a story about manipulative children or innocent children falling victim to a crazy woman but this story was just chilling and a fantastic read.