henry james the turn of the screw and other stories

Is it a subtle, self-conscious exploration of the haunted house of Victorian culture, filled with echoes of sexual and social unease? Or is it simply, ‘the most hopelessly evil story that we have ever read’? The texts are those of the New York Edition, with a new Introduction and Notes. As she sets out to uncover the corrupt secrets hidden in the house, she is increasingly convinced that something evil is watching her. Jamess haunting masterpiece tells of a nameless young governess sent to a country. Like the other tales collected here - Sir Edmund. His most famous and influential supernatural tale, The Turn of the Screw, is considered by many including Stephen King to be the exemplar of the ghost story. But are the appearances what they seem? Is what appears to the governess a ghost or a hallucination? Who else sees what she sees? The reader may wonder whether the children are victims of corruption from beyond the grave, or victims of the governess's ‘infernal imagination’, which torments but also entrals her? ‘The Turn of the Screw’ is probably the most famous, certainly the most eerily equivocal, of all ghostly tales. The Turn of the Screw is one of the greatest ghost stories ever told. It is Peter Quint, the masters dissolute valet, and he has come for little Miles. Like the other tales collected here – ‘Sir Edmund Orme’, ‘Owen Wingrave’, and ‘The Friends of the Friends’ – ‘The Turn of the Screw’ is to all immediate appearances a ghost story. It is Peter Quint, the master's dissolute valet, and he has come for little Miles. She sees the figure of an unknown man on the tower and his face at the window. A young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children abandoned by their uncle at his grand country house.

Henry james the turn of the screw and other stories