The Turn of the Screw

Infobox Book |
name = The Turn of the Screw


image_caption = Cover of 1999 Norton edition of "The Turn of the Screw"
author = Henry James
country = United Kingdom, United States
language = English
genre = Novella, Gothic fiction
publisher = William Heinemann, London
The Macmillan Company, New York City
release_date = 13 October 1898 (USA) & (UK)
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 310 pp (US first edition)
393 pp (UK first edition)
Both editions also included the story "Covering End"
isbn = 978-0-393-95904-8

"The Turn of the Screw" is a short novel or a novella written by American writer Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story that has lent itself well to operatic and film adaptation. Due to its ambiguous content and narrative skill, "The Turn of the Screw" became a favorite text of New Criticism.

The account has lent itself to dozens of different interpretations, often mutually exclusive, including those of a Freudian nature. Many critics have tried to determine what exactly is the nature of evil within the story.

Plot summary

An unnamed narrator listens to a male friend reading a manuscript written by a former governess whom the latter claims to have known and who is now dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who has found himself responsible for his niece and nephew after the death of their parents. He lives in London and has no interest whatsoever in the children. The boy is attending a boarding school whilst his sister, Flora, is living at the country home in Essex where she is cared for by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. He gives the governess full charge of the children and makes it clear he never wants to hear from her again. The governess travels to her new employer's country house and begins her duties. Shortly thereafter, the boy, Miles, having been expelled from his school, turns up at the house. The governess infers that the headmaster feels that Miles is a threat to the other boys.

The governess begins to see the figures of a man and woman whom she does not recognize, and does not believe can really be present, around the property. She learns that her predecessor, a Miss Jessel, and her lover Peter Quint (another former servant of the household), a clever but abusive man, died under curious circumstances. Gradually, she becomes convinced that the pair are somehow manipulating the children, perhaps using them to continue their relationship from beyond the grave. The governess takes action against the perceived threat, eventually culminating in the apparent death of Miles.

Major themes

Throughout his career James was attracted to the ghost story genre. However, he was not fond of literature's stereotypical ghosts, the old-fashioned 'screamers' and 'slashers'. Rather, he preferred to create ghosts that were eerie extensions of everyday reality—"the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy," as he put it in the "New York Edition" preface to his final ghost story, "The Jolly Corner".

"The Turn of the Screw" is no exception to this formula. In fact, some critics have wondered if he didn't intend the "strange and sinister" to be embroidered only on the governess's mind and not on objective reality. The result has been a long-standing critical dispute over the reality of the ghosts and the sanity of the governess.

Beyond the dispute, critics have closely examined James's narrative technique in the story. The framing introduction and subsequent first-person narrative by the governess have been studied by theorists of fiction interested in the power of fictional narratives to convince or even manipulate readers.

The imagery of "The Turn of the Screw" is reminiscent of the gothic genre. The emphasis on old and mysterious buildings throughout the novella reinforces this motif. James also relates the amount of light present in various scenes to the strength of the supernatural or ghostly forces apparently at work. The governess refers directly to "The Mysteries of Udolpho" and indirectly to "Jane Eyre", evoking a comparison of the governess not only to "Jane Eyre"'s protagonist, but to Bertha, the madwoman confined in Thornfield.

Literary significance and criticism

The dispute over the reality of the ghosts has had a real effect on some critics, most notably Edmund Wilson, who was one of the first proponents of the insane governess theory. However, he was eventually forced to recant this view under fire from opposing critics who pointed to the governess's point-by-point description of Quint. Then John Silver ("A Note on the Freudian Reading of 'The Turn of the Screw'" "American Literature", 1957) pointed out hints in the story that the governess might have gained previous knowledge of Quint's appearance in non-supernatural ways. This induced Wilson to recant his recantation and return to his original view that the governess was unbalanced and that the ghosts existed only in her imagination.

William Veeder sees Miles's eventual death as induced by the governess, but he traces the governess's motive back through two larger strands: English imperialism (based on the oblique reference in the introduction to India, where the parents of Miles and Flora died) and the way patriarchy raises its daughters. Through a complex psychoanalytic reading, Veeder concludes that the governess takes out her repressed rage toward her father and toward the master of Bly on Miles.

Other critics, however, have defended the governess strongly. They point out that James' letters, his "New York Edition" preface, and his "Notebooks" contain no definite evidence that "The Turn of the Screw" was intended as anything other than a straightforward ghost story. James's "Notebooks" entry indicates that he was originally inspired by a tale he heard from Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This unconventional source, like almost everything else about the story, has generated critical commentary.

Besides the dispute over the reality of the ghosts, critics have also tried to trace possible sources for characters in the tale. For instance, some critics have suggested that Quint, given his very Irish description, was inspired at least partly by George Bernard Shaw. Again, there is no evidence in James' letters or his other comments on the story to support or refute such speculation.

"The Turn of the Screw" continues to be the subject of extensive critical analysis. It has also remained one of James's most popular works for the general reader. In an odd testimony to the story's appeal, a glimpse of the book was included at a key moment in ABC's television show "Lost".

Allusions/references from other works

Film

*"The Turn of the Screw" has been filmed many times with the best regarded version being Jack Clayton's 1961 film entitled "The Innocents", co-written by Truman Capote and starring Deborah Kerr.
*The 1972 movie "Dr. Phibes Rises Again", which shares the topic of a relationship beyond death with James' novel, depicts the character Baker reading a copy of "The Turn of the Screw & The Aspern Papers" before being killed.
*Michael Winner's "The Nightcomers" (1972) purports to be a prequel that concerns itself with the relationship between Quint (Marlon Brando) and Miss Jessel (Stephanie Beacham).
*Italian splatter director Lucio Fulci's 1981 film "House by the Cemetery", regarded by some as a cult classic, also features several allusions to James' novella, including a mansion with a vague but notorious history, children terrorized by its menace, and a concluding quote attributed to James: "No one will ever know if the children are monsters or the monsters are children."
*The 2001 movie, "The Others", echoes some elements of characterization and setting from "The Turn of the Screw", though the movie eventually develops in a very different direction.
*The film "In a Dark Place" (2006) is a modern interpretation of the story.
*A short film, "Turn," inspired by the novella was in development at Lai Khe Film Productions in early 2008. "Turn" will be released in May 2008.

*The Quentin storyline and the Gerard storyline from the American soap opera "Dark Shadows" (1966) borrowed some elements from James' fiction.
*An episode of "", first broadcast May 6, 2004, was titled "Turn of the Screws" and contained several references to James's work.
*The third episode of the second season of Lost refers to a film reel hidden on a shelf behind the book titled "Turn of the Screw".

*Other versions include an early live television play "The Turn of the Screw" (1959) directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Ingrid Bergman; Dan Curtis's well-regarded TV movie "The Turn of the Screw" (1974) with Lynn Redgrave; a 1974 adaptation for French TV; "The Turn of the Screw" (1982), which is actually a German-made operatic adaptation; a 1989 adaptation for Shelley Duvall's "Nightmare Classics" starring Amy Irving; Rusty Lemorande's "The Turn of the Screw" (1994) with Patsy Kensit and Julian Sands, which updated the story to the 1960s; the TV movie "The Haunting of Helen Walker/The Turn of the Screw" (1995) starring Valerie Bertinelli; a theatrical adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher in which one woman plays the governess and a man fills the rest of the roles; "Presence of Mind" (1999), an acclaimed Spanish-made adaptation with Sophie Ward and Harvey Keitel; and a British TV adaptation "The Turn of the Screw" (1999) with Jodhi May and Colin Firth.

*An opera, "The Turn of the Screw", was written by Benjamin Britten in 1954. The story has also been converted into a ballet by William Tuckett.

Literature

*Joyce Carol Oates' story "The Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly" (featured in the collection ) is a retelling of the novel from the point of view of the ghosts.
*In Muriel Spark's "The Public Image" (1968), the protagonist's husband writes a play to which the protagonist comments, "It resembles 'The Turn of the Screw'."
*There is also a modern adaptation of the novel in Toby Litt's "Ghost Story", published in 2004.

References

* "The Turn of the Screw: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism" edited by Deborah Esch and Jonathan Warren (New York: W.W. Norton & Company 1999) ISBN 0-393-95904-X
* "The Tales of Henry James" by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1984) ISBN 0-8044-2957-X

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/209 Project Gutenberg text of "The Turn of the Screw" (1898 book version)]
* [http://www.online-literature.com/henry_james/turn_screw/ "The Turn of the Screw" reproduced online]
* [http://www.henryjames.org.uk/prefaces/text12_inframe.htm Author's preface to the "New York Edition" text of "The Turn of the Screw" (1908)]
* [http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=63&section=notes Note on the various texts of "The Turn of the Screw"] at the Library of America web site
* [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=2457687530 Henry James Readers' Group (on Facebook)]
*imdb title|id=53384|title=The Turn of the Screw (1959)
*imdb title|id=55018|title=The Innocents (1961)
*tcmdb title|id=79253|title=The Innocents (1961)
*imdb title|id=209440|title=The Turn of the Screw (1999)
*imdb title|id=0211577|title=Presence of Mind (1999)
*imdb title|id=230600|title=The Others (2001)