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The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories by Henry James
This collection contains four stories by Henry James: The Turn of the Screw, The Pupil, The Tree of Knowledge, and The Figure in the Carpet. Edited, with an afterword, a biographical sketch, notes on the stories, and a selective bibliography by John Felstiner.
- GenresLiterature
316 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1900
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17 people want to read
About the author
Henry James
4,599 books3,955 followersHenry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 17, 2020
The Turn of the Screw was a pretty good read, and definitely the strongest of the stories included in this volume. Unfortunately, the reader can probably find more commas than E’s on any given page. Henry James uses them like they were just invented and they were the hot new writing fad.
June 8, 2018
“The Liar”
The story begins interestingly, but as it unfolds, unfortunately it gets too slow, without movement, and even without the deepest insights, so present in other works of Henry James.
The central theme is the “lie”.
The narrative is about an artist painting portraits. He is invited to make a picture of an old man at his house. There he meets an old love, now married to that master's son. Her husband is an attractive, friendly person, but extremely lying. The girl knows how much the husband is compulsive in his lies, but he loves him above all else. And the artist gets lost in life and wants to understand all this, sentimentally and rationally, since he realizes that he still loves her.
James raises at the beginning of the narrative interesting questions about how we admire people, as in this dialogue:
"Do you think I appreciate people to the extent that they are false?
"I think we all do it until we find out," Lyon said.
Even more interesting is the judgment of a possible positivity of the "lie":
"He is a Platonic liar," Lyon said, saying to himself, "Do not lie in order to gain anything or to injure anyone." It is only a question of art for the sake of art. a clear inner vision of what should be, of what it should be, and work in good cause only in the substitution of tonality.It puts color where it should be.Isn't that what I do in my profession? "
In the unfolding of history, Lyon is changing of opinion in its contemplation of the lie. If at first he even finds some kind of poetics, he comes to understand that not always the justification of increasing a narrative does not really mean reinventing it.
Then he realizes that the act of lying can reach the sickly extremes of a complete fantasy, which even includes violence and an innocent accusation for a crime he has never committed.
All this by the simple maintenance of a false character of itself, that from so much lying, believes that the truth is the own lie.
And the other, an accomplice who sees the lies of his companion, justifies his complicity not because of his penance, but, believe it or not, for love.
____
"The Turn of the Screw"
An incredible narrative that makes every chapter shiver and fills us with more doubts than answers.
A book that points out more suggestions than affirmations, providing the reader have their own reflections, criticisms, and conclusions.
The chapters are short, the narration is full of ambiguous dialogues that are beyond verbal language: they also exist in descriptions about emotions, features and expressions of the characters that sometimes explain more than even their speech.
A scream, a cry, an escape, a hysterical laugh - all are elements of language that Henry James uses in an exceptional way.
The ambiguity is so present in this script that we start to be in doubt about what and who is indeed real or not.
The suggestions also surround up to the age and sexual gender of the characters. And there is still a subliminal questioning: a relationship between morality, sex, perversion, anger, hatred, chastity and religiosity.
Some dialogues are entirely suggestive in this sense and it is as if the author actually places the reader as agent of the novel. Henry James does this in an absurdly creative and engaging way. In some excerpts, for example, it is common to read dialogues like "you already know"; or "do you really already know everything?" or "are you sure about this?"
And it is marvelous to see how these questions receive different responses not only from readers, but from cinematographic adaptations, as for example "The Innocents", which has the script signed by none other than Truman Capote and where there is an interesting Freudian conjecture in his interpretations. "The Others" with Nicole Kidman is another great and scary film based on this book.
This is a wonderful example of how literature opens the relations between the fictional characters, the author and the reader, bringing ambiguity to the experience of reading, imagination and reality.
And also a doubt: woww maybe I saw something in that hallway. Is the result of my imagination or some kind of ghost? : )
The story begins interestingly, but as it unfolds, unfortunately it gets too slow, without movement, and even without the deepest insights, so present in other works of Henry James.
The central theme is the “lie”.
The narrative is about an artist painting portraits. He is invited to make a picture of an old man at his house. There he meets an old love, now married to that master's son. Her husband is an attractive, friendly person, but extremely lying. The girl knows how much the husband is compulsive in his lies, but he loves him above all else. And the artist gets lost in life and wants to understand all this, sentimentally and rationally, since he realizes that he still loves her.
James raises at the beginning of the narrative interesting questions about how we admire people, as in this dialogue:
"Do you think I appreciate people to the extent that they are false?
"I think we all do it until we find out," Lyon said.
Even more interesting is the judgment of a possible positivity of the "lie":
"He is a Platonic liar," Lyon said, saying to himself, "Do not lie in order to gain anything or to injure anyone." It is only a question of art for the sake of art. a clear inner vision of what should be, of what it should be, and work in good cause only in the substitution of tonality.It puts color where it should be.Isn't that what I do in my profession? "
In the unfolding of history, Lyon is changing of opinion in its contemplation of the lie. If at first he even finds some kind of poetics, he comes to understand that not always the justification of increasing a narrative does not really mean reinventing it.
Then he realizes that the act of lying can reach the sickly extremes of a complete fantasy, which even includes violence and an innocent accusation for a crime he has never committed.
All this by the simple maintenance of a false character of itself, that from so much lying, believes that the truth is the own lie.
And the other, an accomplice who sees the lies of his companion, justifies his complicity not because of his penance, but, believe it or not, for love.
____
"The Turn of the Screw"
An incredible narrative that makes every chapter shiver and fills us with more doubts than answers.
A book that points out more suggestions than affirmations, providing the reader have their own reflections, criticisms, and conclusions.
The chapters are short, the narration is full of ambiguous dialogues that are beyond verbal language: they also exist in descriptions about emotions, features and expressions of the characters that sometimes explain more than even their speech.
A scream, a cry, an escape, a hysterical laugh - all are elements of language that Henry James uses in an exceptional way.
The ambiguity is so present in this script that we start to be in doubt about what and who is indeed real or not.
The suggestions also surround up to the age and sexual gender of the characters. And there is still a subliminal questioning: a relationship between morality, sex, perversion, anger, hatred, chastity and religiosity.
Some dialogues are entirely suggestive in this sense and it is as if the author actually places the reader as agent of the novel. Henry James does this in an absurdly creative and engaging way. In some excerpts, for example, it is common to read dialogues like "you already know"; or "do you really already know everything?" or "are you sure about this?"
And it is marvelous to see how these questions receive different responses not only from readers, but from cinematographic adaptations, as for example "The Innocents", which has the script signed by none other than Truman Capote and where there is an interesting Freudian conjecture in his interpretations. "The Others" with Nicole Kidman is another great and scary film based on this book.
This is a wonderful example of how literature opens the relations between the fictional characters, the author and the reader, bringing ambiguity to the experience of reading, imagination and reality.
And also a doubt: woww maybe I saw something in that hallway. Is the result of my imagination or some kind of ghost? : )
June 8, 2018
“The Liar”
The story begins interestingly, but as it unfolds, unfortunately it gets too slow, without movement, and even without the deepest insights, so present in other works of Henry James.
The central theme is the “lie”.
The narrative is about an artist painting portraits. He is invited to make a picture of an old man at his house. There he meets an old love, now married to that master's son. Her husband is an attractive, friendly person, but extremely lying. The girl knows how much the husband is compulsive in his lies, but he loves him above all else. And the artist gets lost in life and wants to understand all this, sentimentally and rationally, since he realizes that he still loves her.
James raises at the beginning of the narrative interesting questions about how we admire people, as in this dialogue:
"Do you think I appreciate people to the extent that they are false?
"I think we all do it until we find out," Lyon said.
Even more interesting is the judgment of a possible positivity of the "lie":
"He is a Platonic liar," Lyon said, saying to himself, "Do not lie in order to gain anything or to injure anyone." It is only a question of art for the sake of art. a clear inner vision of what should be, of what it should be, and work in good cause only in the substitution of tonality.It puts color where it should be.Isn't that what I do in my profession? "
In the unfolding of history, Lyon is changing of opinion in its contemplation of the lie. If at first he even finds some kind of poetics, he comes to understand that not always the justification of increasing a narrative does not really mean reinventing it.
Then he realizes that the act of lying can reach the sickly extremes of a complete fantasy, which even includes violence and an innocent accusation for a crime he has never committed.
All this by the simple maintenance of a false character of itself, that from so much lying, believes that the truth is the own lie.
And the other, an accomplice who sees the lies of his companion, justifies his complicity not because of his penance, but, believe it or not, for love.
____
"The Turn of the Screw"
An incredible narrative that makes every chapter shiver and fills us with more doubts than answers.
A book that points out more suggestions than affirmations, providing the reader have their own reflections, criticisms, and conclusions.
The chapters are short, the narration is full of ambiguous dialogues that are beyond verbal language: they also exist in descriptions about emotions, features and expressions of the characters that sometimes explain more than even their speech.
A scream, a cry, an escape, a hysterical laugh - all are elements of language that Henry James uses in an exceptional way.
The ambiguity is so present in this script that we start to be in doubt about what and who is indeed real or not.
The suggestions also surround up to the age and sexual gender of the characters. And there is still a subliminal questioning: a relationship between morality, sex, perversion, anger, hatred, chastity and religiosity.
Some dialogues are entirely suggestive in this sense and it is as if the author actually places the reader as agent of the novel. Henry James does this in an absurdly creative and engaging way. In some excerpts, for example, it is common to read dialogues like "you already know"; or "do you really already know everything?" or "are you sure about this?"
And it is marvelous to see how these questions receive different responses not only from readers, but from cinematographic adaptations, as for example "The Innocents", which has the script signed by none other than Truman Capote and where there is an interesting Freudian conjecture in his interpretations. "The Others" with Nicole Kidman is another great and scary film based on this book.
This is a wonderful example of how literature opens the relations between the fictional characters, the author and the reader, bringing ambiguity to the experience of reading, imagination and reality.
And also a doubt: woww maybe I saw something in that hallway. Is the result of my imagination or some kind of ghost? : )
The story begins interestingly, but as it unfolds, unfortunately it gets too slow, without movement, and even without the deepest insights, so present in other works of Henry James.
The central theme is the “lie”.
The narrative is about an artist painting portraits. He is invited to make a picture of an old man at his house. There he meets an old love, now married to that master's son. Her husband is an attractive, friendly person, but extremely lying. The girl knows how much the husband is compulsive in his lies, but he loves him above all else. And the artist gets lost in life and wants to understand all this, sentimentally and rationally, since he realizes that he still loves her.
James raises at the beginning of the narrative interesting questions about how we admire people, as in this dialogue:
"Do you think I appreciate people to the extent that they are false?
"I think we all do it until we find out," Lyon said.
Even more interesting is the judgment of a possible positivity of the "lie":
"He is a Platonic liar," Lyon said, saying to himself, "Do not lie in order to gain anything or to injure anyone." It is only a question of art for the sake of art. a clear inner vision of what should be, of what it should be, and work in good cause only in the substitution of tonality.It puts color where it should be.Isn't that what I do in my profession? "
In the unfolding of history, Lyon is changing of opinion in its contemplation of the lie. If at first he even finds some kind of poetics, he comes to understand that not always the justification of increasing a narrative does not really mean reinventing it.
Then he realizes that the act of lying can reach the sickly extremes of a complete fantasy, which even includes violence and an innocent accusation for a crime he has never committed.
All this by the simple maintenance of a false character of itself, that from so much lying, believes that the truth is the own lie.
And the other, an accomplice who sees the lies of his companion, justifies his complicity not because of his penance, but, believe it or not, for love.
____
"The Turn of the Screw"
An incredible narrative that makes every chapter shiver and fills us with more doubts than answers.
A book that points out more suggestions than affirmations, providing the reader have their own reflections, criticisms, and conclusions.
The chapters are short, the narration is full of ambiguous dialogues that are beyond verbal language: they also exist in descriptions about emotions, features and expressions of the characters that sometimes explain more than even their speech.
A scream, a cry, an escape, a hysterical laugh - all are elements of language that Henry James uses in an exceptional way.
The ambiguity is so present in this script that we start to be in doubt about what and who is indeed real or not.
The suggestions also surround up to the age and sexual gender of the characters. And there is still a subliminal questioning: a relationship between morality, sex, perversion, anger, hatred, chastity and religiosity.
Some dialogues are entirely suggestive in this sense and it is as if the author actually places the reader as agent of the novel. Henry James does this in an absurdly creative and engaging way. In some excerpts, for example, it is common to read dialogues like "you already know"; or "do you really already know everything?" or "are you sure about this?"
And it is marvelous to see how these questions receive different responses not only from readers, but from cinematographic adaptations, as for example "The Innocents", which has the script signed by none other than Truman Capote and where there is an interesting Freudian conjecture in his interpretations. "The Others" with Nicole Kidman is another great and scary film based on this book.
This is a wonderful example of how literature opens the relations between the fictional characters, the author and the reader, bringing ambiguity to the experience of reading, imagination and reality.
And also a doubt: woww maybe I saw something in that hallway. Is the result of my imagination or some kind of ghost? : )
June 8, 2018
“The Liar”
The story begins interestingly, but as it unfolds, unfortunately it gets too slow, without movement, and even without the deepest insights, so present in other works of Henry James.
The central theme is the “lie”.
The narrative is about an artist painting portraits. He is invited to make a picture of an old man at his house. There he meets an old love, now married to that master's son. Her husband is an attractive, friendly person, but extremely lying. The girl knows how much the husband is compulsive in his lies, but he loves him above all else. And the artist gets lost in life and wants to understand all this, sentimentally and rationally, since he realizes that he still loves her.
James raises at the beginning of the narrative interesting questions about how we admire people, as in this dialogue:
"Do you think I appreciate people to the extent that they are false?
"I think we all do it until we find out," Lyon said.
Even more interesting is the judgment of a possible positivity of the "lie":
"He is a Platonic liar," Lyon said, saying to himself, "Do not lie in order to gain anything or to injure anyone." It is only a question of art for the sake of art. a clear inner vision of what should be, of what it should be, and work in good cause only in the substitution of tonality.It puts color where it should be.Isn't that what I do in my profession? "
In the unfolding of history, Lyon is changing of opinion in its contemplation of the lie. If at first he even finds some kind of poetics, he comes to understand that not always the justification of increasing a narrative does not really mean reinventing it.
Then he realizes that the act of lying can reach the sickly extremes of a complete fantasy, which even includes violence and an innocent accusation for a crime he has never committed.
All this by the simple maintenance of a false character of itself, that from so much lying, believes that the truth is the own lie.
And the other, an accomplice who sees the lies of his companion, justifies his complicity not because of his penance, but, believe it or not, for love.
____
"The Turn of the Screw"
An incredible narrative that makes every chapter shiver and fills us with more doubts than answers.
A book that points out more suggestions than affirmations, providing the reader have their own reflections, criticisms, and conclusions.
The chapters are short, the narration is full of ambiguous dialogues that are beyond verbal language: they also exist in descriptions about emotions, features and expressions of the characters that sometimes explain more than even their speech.
A scream, a cry, an escape, a hysterical laugh - all are elements of language that Henry James uses in an exceptional way.
The ambiguity is so present in this script that we start to be in doubt about what and who is indeed real or not.
The suggestions also surround up to the age and sexual gender of the characters. And there is still a subliminal questioning: a relationship between morality, sex, perversion, anger, hatred, chastity and religiosity.
Some dialogues are entirely suggestive in this sense and it is as if the author actually places the reader as agent of the novel. Henry James does this in an absurdly creative and engaging way. In some excerpts, for example, it is common to read dialogues like "you already know"; or "do you really already know everything?" or "are you sure about this?"
And it is marvelous to see how these questions receive different responses not only from readers, but from cinematographic adaptations, as for example "The Innocents", which has the script signed by none other than Truman Capote and where there is an interesting Freudian conjecture in his interpretations. "The Others" with Nicole Kidman is another great and scary film based on this book.
This is a wonderful example of how literature opens the relations between the fictional characters, the author and the reader, bringing ambiguity to the experience of reading, imagination and reality.
And also a doubt: woww maybe I saw something in that hallway. Is the result of my imagination or some kind of ghost? : )
The story begins interestingly, but as it unfolds, unfortunately it gets too slow, without movement, and even without the deepest insights, so present in other works of Henry James.
The central theme is the “lie”.
The narrative is about an artist painting portraits. He is invited to make a picture of an old man at his house. There he meets an old love, now married to that master's son. Her husband is an attractive, friendly person, but extremely lying. The girl knows how much the husband is compulsive in his lies, but he loves him above all else. And the artist gets lost in life and wants to understand all this, sentimentally and rationally, since he realizes that he still loves her.
James raises at the beginning of the narrative interesting questions about how we admire people, as in this dialogue:
"Do you think I appreciate people to the extent that they are false?
"I think we all do it until we find out," Lyon said.
Even more interesting is the judgment of a possible positivity of the "lie":
"He is a Platonic liar," Lyon said, saying to himself, "Do not lie in order to gain anything or to injure anyone." It is only a question of art for the sake of art. a clear inner vision of what should be, of what it should be, and work in good cause only in the substitution of tonality.It puts color where it should be.Isn't that what I do in my profession? "
In the unfolding of history, Lyon is changing of opinion in its contemplation of the lie. If at first he even finds some kind of poetics, he comes to understand that not always the justification of increasing a narrative does not really mean reinventing it.
Then he realizes that the act of lying can reach the sickly extremes of a complete fantasy, which even includes violence and an innocent accusation for a crime he has never committed.
All this by the simple maintenance of a false character of itself, that from so much lying, believes that the truth is the own lie.
And the other, an accomplice who sees the lies of his companion, justifies his complicity not because of his penance, but, believe it or not, for love.
____
"The Turn of the Screw"
An incredible narrative that makes every chapter shiver and fills us with more doubts than answers.
A book that points out more suggestions than affirmations, providing the reader have their own reflections, criticisms, and conclusions.
The chapters are short, the narration is full of ambiguous dialogues that are beyond verbal language: they also exist in descriptions about emotions, features and expressions of the characters that sometimes explain more than even their speech.
A scream, a cry, an escape, a hysterical laugh - all are elements of language that Henry James uses in an exceptional way.
The ambiguity is so present in this script that we start to be in doubt about what and who is indeed real or not.
The suggestions also surround up to the age and sexual gender of the characters. And there is still a subliminal questioning: a relationship between morality, sex, perversion, anger, hatred, chastity and religiosity.
Some dialogues are entirely suggestive in this sense and it is as if the author actually places the reader as agent of the novel. Henry James does this in an absurdly creative and engaging way. In some excerpts, for example, it is common to read dialogues like "you already know"; or "do you really already know everything?" or "are you sure about this?"
And it is marvelous to see how these questions receive different responses not only from readers, but from cinematographic adaptations, as for example "The Innocents", which has the script signed by none other than Truman Capote and where there is an interesting Freudian conjecture in his interpretations. "The Others" with Nicole Kidman is another great and scary film based on this book.
This is a wonderful example of how literature opens the relations between the fictional characters, the author and the reader, bringing ambiguity to the experience of reading, imagination and reality.
And also a doubt: woww maybe I saw something in that hallway. Is the result of my imagination or some kind of ghost? : )
April 14, 2025
I could only read two of the four stories. Some good writing, but the characters never say what they need to say. Frustrating...
October 4, 2010
Reread of Aspern Papers has drawn me back to this volume of the great Henry James, one of my favorite classical American/English authors. Probably best known for "The Turn of the Screw," and "The Golden Bowl," he has some wonderful short stories that are lesser known but no less insightful and beautiful. (Sigh...) I'm a groupie, I'll admit it....
October 1, 2024
Perfect tragic studies in disappointment.
Short stories usually disappointment me, but these disappoint the characters and thrill me to soft ecstatic gratitude.
and the ones about writing itself - and writing about writing! / ayay priceless
Short stories usually disappointment me, but these disappoint the characters and thrill me to soft ecstatic gratitude.
and the ones about writing itself - and writing about writing! / ayay priceless
November 2, 2008
Paricularly enjoyed the Aspern Papers. Ghost stories aren't my thing.
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June 22, 20104-in-1 Anthology
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews