Comments on: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

By: raych

raych — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:26:14 +0000

Not that anyone cares, but ‘apparitionists’ and ‘non-apparitionists’ are the technical terms for the ‘It’s ghosts, fools’ and ‘Bitch is crazy’ camps, respectively.

Also, if the story-tellers had returned at the end, that might have said one way or the other if it was ghosts or madness, and what makes the story so frightful is that you can’t decide either way, so you have to contend with BOTH. Ack.

Also, the governess ended up just fine. She was Douglas’ sister’s governess, you may recall, so her reputation obviously wasn’t tainted by the MYSTERIOUS EVENTS AT BLY!

Also, I just wrote a paper on how the frame narrative is what makes the story so ambiguous, and I feel like my Pedantic Switch is stuck in the ‘on’ position. *rinses brain in beer*

By: Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:18:49 +0000

“This is one of those books where nobody will ever know if it’s really a ghost story or if the narrator is nuts. ” In a college English class, we watched two movies that interpreted this movie. One went one way, the other the other. Both were totally freaky.

I need to read it again, as I can’t remember which way I thought intially. I’m not into ghosts, so I probably thought the lady was crazy.

By: Serena (Savvy Verse & Wit)

Serena (Savvy Verse & Wit) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:41:19 +0000

I have not read Henry James in a long while. And I haven’t read this one either, though you have me intrigued…maybe its Halloween.

By: PolishOutlander

PolishOutlander — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:37:46 +0000

I loved this when I read it it high school. I always wondered if it was the inspiration for that Nicole Kidman movie The Others.

By: Nymeth

Nymeth — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:46:43 +0000

As much as I dislike the psychoanalystics, I went with the madness hypothesis too, simply because it’s what disturbed me the most.

By: Kristen M.

Kristen M. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:21:03 +0000

This is sitting on the top of my TBR pile and ALMOST made it into the RIP Challenge but I ran out of time.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:13:27 +0000

I didn’t know Henry James wrote stuff like this. I want to check it out.

By: Jenners

Jenners — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:07:48 +0000

This is one I’ve always meant to read … a lot because of the title!

By: Mel u

Mel u — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:13:11 +0000

Nice review of Turn of the Screw-Daisy Miller is another good choice for your challenge-