Ghosts in December

[dotinthesky]

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, 1898
It's been over a hundred years since Henry James' novella was published. I'm sure readers at the time were spooked by its tale of ghosts threatening the innocence of two children, and the attempts of a quasi-hysterical governess to save them. It was that period of the Victorian era when séances and ghosts were popular, when spiritists promised to bridge the road between the living and the dead. People enjoyed sitting around a fire and sharing ghost stories, specially during Christmas time.

But times have changed and this novella is now more interesting as a controversial piece of lit crit rather than a frightening ghost story. Did the ghosts in the story really exist? Or was it all part of the governess' imagination? You are never given the answers. One interesting question which resonates with today's world is what kind of "evil" was inflicted on the children. It's suggested that a deceased governess and her lover did "depraved" things to the children, only to later return as ghosts in order to continue their evil influence. But what kind of evil exactly?

If you enjoy puzzles and hard-to-read English writing, this novella is for you; if you are after an easy page-turner, you are better off looking elsewhere.

Comments

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I also love Victorian horror stories, but I have to confess that James' language was a bit hard for me and took away some of my enjoyment of the story.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I haven't read him yet! :-)

Would you recommend The Horla?

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Can I safely assume that you've seen The Innocents, with Deborah Kerr?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Not yet. Is it any good? I saw The Others and now I can see how the scriptwriter for that film based himself on this novella; there's even one point in the story when the governess and the child talk about "the others".

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Any good? Bloody great.

Deborah Kerr is good playing a repressed governess. Miles is played by Martin Stephens from Village of the Damned, Flora is played by Pamela Franklin, who was later in The Legend of Hell House - both brilliant child actors. Peter Quint was played by Peter Wyngarde, but that was when he was still butch. Beautifully shot, too.

[sbeth76.livejournal.com]

I agree - fantastic movie!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Cool, I'll try to find a copy!

[(Anonymous)]

How uncanny. My mum was watching the movie this morning and I read the description of the film and saw its basis. I only saw part of it and really enjoyed it. Methinks I need a trip to the library later.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Reading the book alongside the movie is probably a good exercise - one must complement the other in that manner that adds depth and insight into the story.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I love that book. For me, a big part of the mystery is whether the children themselves are evil, or innocents led astray, or something else entirely; how much part do they have in what's happening?

[sbeth76.livejournal.com]

People talk a lot about the opening lines of books. This book has the best closing lines, ever. I read it for the first time years in middle school, and didn't understand much, but the impact of those final lines was powerful enough to carry the story. Reading it again, years later, I was impressed all over again.

[tarotbydiana.livejournal.com]

I think I'm James impaired. I went to school for English literature, but I have never been able to get through his prose. I don't like the way he puts words together. It feels like a ton of consonants filling my mouth.

I love the Victorians too. It's a shame because I would probably really enjoy his stories for plot/character development if I could make it through more than 10 pages.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think I'm James impaired too. I need to check some of his other books and confirm it, but with this one I found his language quite hard to get into. The story was cracking though!

Turn of the screw

[mirple.livejournal.com]

I tried reading this at Uni and may go back to it. I think i'd get more from it now

Re: Turn of the screw

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

The edition I read had a very good introduction (which I'd suggest you read afterwards, if your copy has one too); it discussed the ongoing literary criticism and disagreements over what the story is supposed to mean, which I found quite interesting.

Re: Turn of the screw

[mirple.livejournal.com]

ok, cool. do you know what edition you have? i have an old '£1 classic' from penguin - ie the story and that's it.

Re: Turn of the screw

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I borrowed mine from the local library; it's an Everyman James edition, edited by Allan Lloyd Smith.