Talk:The Turn of the Screw

Article Needs Work

I put up the cleaunup notice on the article because I feel this article requires a lot of work before it does the book any justice. In particular I feel the section on the plot needs a lot of work, also see Wikipedia:Avoid peacock terms for the introduction. I would do this myself but I don't have the time right now, and I haven't read the book in some time. Rje 06:06, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Henry James and The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw was written by Henry James, originally published in serial form in 1898. He wrote the novella at a particularly down period of his life. He wrote "The Last of the Domville" for the theater, but it was not successful. When the actor on the stage said "I am the last of the Domville, my lord" somebody screamed "It's a bloody good thing you are!".

James, a sensible person, decided to abandon the theater. He wrote "The Turn of the Screw" to reach the same success he had obtained in 1876 with "Daisy Miller". James is not like Agatha Christie who liked to underline her superiority upon the reader (cfr. "The murder of Roger Ackroyd"). Instead he wrote with the same fair play that Wilkie Collins used in "The Woman in White".

James in the narration of The Turn of the Screw does not present as an omniscent God that already knows the solution to the enigma of Bly. He is in possession of just the same clues his readers have, and he prefers to leave much of the interpretation of this novel to his readers. Until now, no authoritative interpretation has been identified, and we still ask ourselves: is the governess mad or are the ghosts real? The Turn of the Screw is a most beautiful and frightening ghost-story.

See critiques and more information at http://www.turnofthescrew.com/

Neutrality?

It seems like this article is a bit too supportive of the novella, in particular the Key Themes section: it seems to want to sell the book. I will leave it in there for now until some consensus is reached. Benji 01:29, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

The Turn of the Screw doesn't need selling—it consistently ranks as James' bestseller on the Amazon sales rankings. The enormous volume of criticism generated by the story also indicates its enduring appeal. If you want to reword some of the language, Be Bold. But it's simple fact that the tale has fascinated several generations of readers. Casey Abell 02:08, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I toned down some of the more positive comments on the story's power to fascinate, so I removed the POV-check tag. I think the story is now sufficiently neutral in tone and content. Casey Abell 15:52, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, nice job. Previous version was a great example of peacock terms running rampant. -- PKtm 18:09, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

I think it's time take down the "Reads more like a review" notice. What's there now is clear and balanced and provides needed context about James' interest in ghosts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Killersax (talk • contribs) 14:47, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

The Others?

I always thought that the Nicole Kidman movie The Others was loosely based on this novel. I cant find it mentioned in this article or The Others article. [unsigned]

I saw part of that movie and there were definitely some overtones from James' story. Kids, hauntings, dead servants, etc. But just about any eerie story with kids in it will remind people of The Turn of the Screw. The twist ending pushes the movie away from the James story. I'll put a note in the article that the movie owed some elements to the James tale. Casey Abell 02:56, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

The Turn of the Screw Free Audio Book

An audio book has been released by librivox.org.

• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Total runtime: 5:43:20

Read by: Nikolle Doolin [unsigned]

"Ostensibly"

No way I'm getting into an edit war over one adverb. But there's really no need to call The Turn of the Screw "ostensibly" a ghost story in the article's second sentence. This immediately tips the balance of the article towards the anti-apparitionist point of view, which is well represented in the entry but shouldn't be presented as agreed-on by everybody. There's no question that "ghost story", minus any adverbs, accurately describes a tale which presents two ghosts in vivid detail, and this is the term that should be used in the second, simply definitional sentence. Whether the ghosts exist objectively outside the governess' imagination is, of course, extremely controversial, and the article does full justice to the dispute. In fact, the next two sentences introduce the controversy. So the straightforward term "ghost story", without any shading adverbs, seems preferable to lead off the article. Casey Abell 15:02, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Homosexuality

Should any mention be given to the homosexual relationships that could have taken place (Quint and Miles, Miles and the other boys at school, Flora and Ms. Jessel)? Although never confirmed, Peter Quint had been "too free with everyone", and Miles may have been expelled for flirting with or carrying out "improper" relations with the other boys at school. However, due to the social restrictions of the time period, Henry James could not explicitly state what had really happened. Firestorm 23:00, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

These would be the "weak specifications" that James deplored in the New York Edition preface to the story. The basic idea of The Turn of the Screw was to suggest all sorts of things but specify as little as possible. James wanted the reader to do much of the work:

Only make the reader's general vision of evil intense enough, I said to myself—and that already is a charming job—and his own experience, his own imagination, his own sympathy (with the children) and horror (of their false friends) will supply him quite sufficiently with all the particulars. Make him think the evil, make him think it for himself, and you are released from weak specifications. [unsigned]

Of course, many critics have found the real horror in the governess. Is she a "false friend"? People will argue and argue. Which may be exactly what James intended: make the critics think all sorts of horrors. By the way, "Ms. Jessel" is a horror of an anachronism. Casey Abell 03:25, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The Skeleton Key?

I didn't see any mention of it in the article, but I just saw this movie and it has very strong ties to Screw thematically with the servants carrying on their relationship first through the children then others through out time, and the "governess" role trying to piece it together. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.109.186.134 (talk) 18:11, August 26, 2007 (UTC)

New Criticism in the opening

I wonder whether New Criticism should be mentioned so prominently in the opening of this article, and I have already taken the step of removing the line to the effect that "new critics allege the story challenges the reader to determine whether the governess is mad; however, his letters suggest it really is just a ghost story" or whatever; it was better than that but there was nothing cited to support the claim about James's letters, and furthermore 1. the story really is clearly intentionally ambiguous on this issue - it's not like James set out to write a simple ghost story and the New Critics got it all mixed up for everyone forever by over-interpreting - which is what the line might have been taken to mean; and 2. in any case, these issues, which are manifestly contentious, require a more subtle and well-referenced discussion than can be done in the opening paragraph; and therefore I suggest that perhaps New Criticism be mentioned as one of the critical schools that have been concerned with James's story, without, however, making pre-emptive judgments about the validity of its claims; and, as a sidenote, that question, broached elsewhere, of whether queer or pederastic readings of the Turn of the Screw should be made note of, is not so peripheral as the replies to that discussion topic would suggest, but rather than stating something like "Miles may have been touching little boys...etc." it would be far preferable to say perhaps "certain critics have brought up the issue of such and such" with particular citations specified, in which case the additional remarking of these themes would be quite appropriate. (68.198.181.134 (talk) 04:57, 28 July 2008 (UTC))

Nationality

Was he American? ... ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.141.196.252 (talk) 16:50, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Wednesday Addams

Doesn't "The Others" owe something to TotS, too? TREKphiler ^{hit me ♠} 19:38, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Adapations section

I could find no evidence for a movie named "Turn" that "will be released in May 2008", so I removed it. The list of adaptations is probably incomplete anyway.

Added "The Others" though I couldn't find a source that said it was written based on TTotS though the article on The Others says this is true in part. Donimo (talk) 21:15, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Allusions in popular culture

I'm not sure why there's the reference to Deadwood in this article. Unless a clear connection can be made between the two young characters in the TV series and the novella can be made, I find the allusion to be erroneous. It could just as easily be an allusion to a number of Charles Dickens stories... I'm removing it. Kirkesque (talk) 05:14, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

The Ghosts in "The Turn of the Screw"

I've read the story; I've taught the story; despite James' elaborate framing technique and the numerous controversies about the novella, I maintain THE GHOSTS ARE REAL. AND THEY'RE SCARY. PERIOD. MacLennan123Maclennan123 (talk) 00:51, 26 April 2012 (UTC)