Turn of the Screw

[whatausername]

Have you read it? What did you make of the narrator and her story?

I love it. So chilling, so clever. Imo you get to decide what you think, or be open to the possibilities. What did you decide?

It frightened me to death the first time I read it, as an adult in a busy library! I remember trying to get my chair back up against a barrier because I was so unnerved and transported that if someone had come up behind me to say hi, I’d have shrieked out loud. For me it’s a deliberate exercise in ambiguity. James was consciously not giving the reader anything that might conclude the ghosts are ‘supernatural’ in that they are the malevolent spirits of the dead, or that they are hallucinations of the governess.

On balance, I think the governess has mental ill health and the children's actions (perceived or otherwise) are reactions to that.

Edit: I think the governess' mentality reflects the Victorians sometimes hysterial and obsessive attitude towards morality and the demands they placed on their children.

SPOILER - although I assume everyone here has read it

For me it’s a deliberate exercise in ambiguity. James was consciously not giving the reader anything that might conclude the ghosts are ‘supernatural’ in that they are the malevolent spirits of the dead, or that they are hallucinations of the governess.

Oh definitely very ambiguous, in which case she has presumably murdered little Miles herself!

I think it's one of, if not the, best ghost story ever. His others are good too.

There is an old b/w movie of it which is brilliantly atmospheric, it's called The Innocents with Deborah Kerr and Peter Wyngard.

She is sexually repressed/frustrated. She has a huge crush on the children's uncle and is maybe hoping he will be impressed by how well she looks after the children, even though he's obviously not much interested in them.

To the extent that she has conjured up ghosts and this dramatic threat to the children's safety? Hmm my initial reaction is surely not and that sexual repression is such a cliche. I'm open to hearing why you think that though, I'm aware my initial reaction will be filled with my own biases.

Edit:
(Did that sound blunt? Apologies if it did, I'm particularly emotionally drained tonight which makes my ND tendancies harder to manage)

@TonTonMacoute I must see if I can get hold of the film.

IA with what everyone has said re. the ambiguity. It's extremely well done and I listened this second time purely to see if I could form a stronger opinion and also to look more closely at how the ambiguity is created.

Did you ever get the chance to see the BBC adaptation with Jodhi May and Colin Firth? It is so brilliantly menacing. Peter Quint is terrifying in it.

There’s an opera adaptation y Britten too, which is brilliantly eerie.

No, I've only heard the wonderfully read audiobook, narrated by Emma Thompson. I avoided all screen adaptations until I knew the book. I'll have a look for some TV & film options. One thing is for sure, James wrote an intriguing book!

Hmm my initial reaction is surely not and that sexual repression is such a cliche.

Maybe, but clichés have a basis in reality. The whole story is dripping with sex whichever interpretation you choose to believe. People at that time were sexual beings in exactly as we are now, but any sex other than between married couples was frowned upon.

The sexual repression theory isn't mine, although I think it is a pretty obvious (rather than clichéd) one, and is hinted at even in the introductory section. The critic Edmund Wilson wrote a book called The Ambiguity of Henry James in which he clearly advocates the theory that the narrator is 'a neurotic case of sex repression' who has conjured up the whole story to attract the attention of the handsome guardian, with whom she admits she had been 'carried away' when she met him.

However, the ghost story is equally compelling. The relationship between Quint and Miss Jessel, as described by Mrs Grose, is clearly sexual, as well as being abusive and controlling (in todays terms) and she is clear that he was a malign influence on the young woman and on the children. Miles behaviour is worrying, why is he sent home from school? We never find out, it's obviously something bad but no one will state openly what it is, the implication is strong that it's as a result of him being exposed to corruption, or 'grooming' by Quint.

SPOILER

Either narrative can be accepted as being the truth but the fact is that Miles dies. Is it because an evil ghost has taken him? It's a ghost story, why not? If not then the narrator must be responsible for his death in some way - both alternatives are horrific, that's the strength of the story, and why it's so brilliant