| The Turn Of The Screw |
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To further muddy the waters, her written account of the experience—a Frame Tale —is being read many years later at a Christmas house party by someone who claims to have known her. The account lends itself to many different interpretations, including those by Freudian psychologists and those trying to determine who or 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 at a Boarding School whilst his sister, Flora, is living at the country home 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 regarding them. The governess travels to her new employer's house and begins her duties. Shortly thereafter, the boy, Miles, turns up after being expelled from his school. For some mysterious reason, the headmaster feels that Miles is a threat to the other boys. The governess begins to see and hear strange things. 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 using the children to continue their relationship from beyond the grave. The governess takes action against the perceived threat, with tragic consequences. KEY THEMES Throughout his career James was attracted to the ghost story genre. But he was not fond of literature's stereotypical ghosts, the old-fashioned screamers and slashers. Rather, he usually created 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 ''. He certainly followed this formula in ''The Turn of the Screw''. In fact, some Critics have wondered if he didn't intend the "strange and sinister" to be embroidered only on the governess' 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, tribute must be paid to James' sheer storytelling ability. ''The Turn of the Screw'' leads up to its powerful climax with excellent pacing and many memorable scenes. It's an indication of the story's simple power to entertain readers that its hundred or so pages have generated thousands of pages of critical comment. CRITICAL EVALUATION The dispute over the reality of the ghosts has taken an actual toll on some critics, most notably Edmund Wilson . He was one of the first proponents of the insane-governess theory. But he was eventually forced to recant this view under fire from opposing critics who harped on the governess' point-by-point description of Quint. Then another commentator pointed out hints in the story that the governess might have gained previous knowledge of Quint's appearance in non-supernatural ways. So, Wilson recanted his original recantation and went back to his original view that the governess was unbalanced and the ghosts existed only in her imagination. While other critics haven't been caught up in such a tangle, ''The Turn of the Screw'' continues to be the subject of extensive critical comment. What nobody denies is James' technical mastery in the story, which remains one of his most popular works. In odd testimony to the story's power, a glimpse of the book was included at a key moment in ABC's Television show '' Lost ''. DERIVATIVE WORK An opera, '' The Turn Of The Screw '', was written by Benjamin Britten in 1954 . ''The Turn of the Screw'' has been filmed at least five times. The best regarded version, entitled '' The Innocents '', was directed in 1961 by Jack Clayton and starred Deborah Kerr . The story has also been converted into a ballet by William Tuckett. REFERENCES
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