Henry James

The Turn of the Screw Henry James

Publisher Marketing: The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion-an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him. It was this observation that drew from Douglas-not immediately, but later in the evening-a reply that had the interesting consequence to which I call attention. Someone else told a story not particularly effective, which I saw he was not following. This I took for a sign that he had himself something to produce and that we should only have to wait. We waited in fact till two nights later; but that same evening, before we scattered, he brought out what was in his mind. "I quite agree-in regard to Griffin's ghost, or whatever it was-that its appearing first to the little boy, at so tender an age, adds a particular touch. But it's not the first occurrence of its charming kind that I know to have involved a child. If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say to two children-?" "We say, of course," somebody exclaimed, "that they give two turns! Also that we want to hear about them." [...] Contributor Bio:  James, Henry Henry James was an American author, essayist, and critic known for his contributions to both literary criticism and the realist movement, which focused on presenting everyday life as it actually was. In creating realistic portrayals of life and society, James often included elements of social and political commentary in his works, notably his depiction of the feminist movement in The Bostonians, and the exploration of culture clash between America and Europe in Daisy Miller. James's best known works also include The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, and the novella The Turn of the Screw. American by birth, James spent much of his time in England and eventually moved to London. He became a British subject just before his death in 1916.