American Fiction, Science & Technology - Fiction, Horror, Phases of Life - Fiction, Occupations - Fiction

Turn of the Screw

Name: Turn of the Screw
Author: Henry James
ISBN: 9783895082313

by Henry James

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Overview

A young governess is sent to a great country house to care for two orphaned children. At first Flora and Miles seem to be model pupils but gradually the governess begins to suspect that something is very wrong with them. As she sets out to uncover the corrupt secrets hidden in the house, she is increasingly convinced that something evil is watching her. Several other of Henry James’s most gruesome horror stories are also included, among them The Jolly Corner, Owen Wingrave, The Private Life, The Real Right Thing, and Sir Edmund Orme.

Synopsis

Whether viewed as a subtle, self-conscious exploration of the haunted house of Victorian culture, filled with echoes of sexual and social unease, or simply as "the most hopelessly evil story we have ever read," The Turn of the Screw is probably the most famous of ghostly tales and certainlythe most eerily equivocal. This new edition includes three rarely reprinted ghost stories from the 1890s, "Sir Edmund Orme," "Owen Wingrave," and "The Friends of the Friends," as well as relevant extracts from James's notebooks and journals.

About the Author, Henry James

Henry James (1843–1916) was a noted novelist and literary critic, as well as a pioneer in the genre of the short story. His works include the novels Roderick Hudson (1875) and The Wings of the Dove (1902), as well as the story

The Beast in the Jungle (1903).

Biography

Henry James (1843-1916), born in New York City, was the son of noted religious philosopher Henry James, Sr., and brother of eminent psychologist and philosopher William James. He spent his early life in America and studied in Geneva, London and Paris during his adolescence to gain the worldly experience so prized by his father. He lived in Newport, went briefly to Harvard Law School, and in 1864 began to contribute both criticism and tales to magazines. In 1869, and then in 1872-74, he paid visits to Europe and began his first novel, Roderick Hudson. Late in 1875 he settled in Paris, where he met Turgenev, Flaubert, and Zola, and wrote The American (1877). In December 1876 he moved to London, where two years later he achieved international fame with Daisy Miller. Other famous works include Washington Square (1880), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Princess Casamassima (1886), The Aspern Papers (1888), The Turn of the Screw (1898), and three large novels of the new century, The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904). In 1905 he revisited the United States and wrote The American Scene (1907). During his career, he also wrote many works of criticism and travel. Although old and ailing, he threw himself into war work in 1914, and in 1915, a few months before his death, he became a British subject. In 1916 King George V conferred the Order of Merit on him. He died in London in February 1916.

Author biography courtesy of Penguin Group (USA).