The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
By Henry James
()
About this ebook
Henry James was born in the United States, in New York City, on April 15, 1843 and is considered an American writer, though he spent most of his life in England and, a year before his death in London on February 28, 1916, became a British citizen. He is regarded as one of the key literary figures of the 19th century.
James is known especially for the novels in which he portrays Americans encountering Europeans. His style of writing, often verbose and indirect, can make him difficult to read. Often, too, he writes from the point of view of the characters within a tale, exploring issues related to consciousness and perception.
His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue, and narrators who were not necessarily reliable, brought depth and interest to his fiction. The Aspern Papers is one of his most notable short novels, along with The Turn of the Screw. In addition to fiction he published articles,books of travel, autobiography, biography, criticism, and plays. Among his masterpieces are Daisy Miller (1879), The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), What Maisie Knew (1897), The Wings of the Dove (1902), and The Golden Bowl (1916), several of which are available in this series, Classics Condense by Cowley.
Henry James
Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.
Read more from Henry James
The Bostonians Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Europeans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gothic Novel Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roderick Hudson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry James: The Complete Novellas and Tales (Centaur Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Turn of the Screw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Feminist Masterpieces you have to read before you die (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Golden Bowl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oxford Book of American Essays Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gothic Classics: 60+ Books in One Volume Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30 Occult & Supernatural masterpieces you have to read before you die (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beast in the Jungle Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Badass Prepper's Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Prepare Yourself for the Worst Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bushcraft Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Wilderness Survival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Daily Henry James: A Year of Quotes from the Work of the Master Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest American Short Stories: 50+ Classics of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw and Other Short Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wings of the Dove Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Italian Hours: “The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.” Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Masterpieces of Occult & Supernatural Fiction Vol. 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Related ebooks
The Turn of the Screw & the Aspern Papers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Turn of the Screw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essential Henry James Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw (Diversion Classics) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Turn of the Screw (movie tie-in "The Turning ") Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw (movie tie-in "The Turning "): An Eerie Tale of Haunting Suspense - Journey into the Unknown Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw and Other Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Turn of the Screw (Illustrated) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Complete Tales of Henry James (Volume 10 of 12) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw: The Original 1898 Unabridged and Complete Edition (A Henry James Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw: A Chilling Ghost Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Crespigny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Collection of Classic Ghost Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeidi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw & Shadows Against the Dark: Collected Tales of Horror Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeart Of Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Modern Broods; Or, Developments Unlooked For Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Birds' Christmas Carol Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWinter Fun Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKipps Annotated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife's Little Ironies: A set of tales with some colloquial sketches entitled A Few Crusted Characters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMargaret Ogilvy: "Life is a long lesson in humility" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiracle Gold (Vol. 3 of 3) A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Yellow Fairy Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chaperon (1891) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Female Short Story. A Chronological History: Volume 9 - Alice Dunbar Nelson to Katherine Rickford Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lathe Of Heaven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - Henry James
THE TURN OF
THE SCREW
by Henry James
1.jpgAdapted by
JOSEPH COWLEY
38277.pngTHE TURN OF THE SCREW BY HENRY JAMES
Copyright © 2015 Joseph Cowley.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book meets the requirements for ESL students reading at level 4 of the ladder word series.
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
ISBN: 978-1-4917-8375-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4917-8374-0 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015919246
iUniverse rev. date: 12/08/2015
Contents
Opening
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
For Bernice
Opening
The story held us breathless, except for the remark that it was as gruesome as a strange tale should be. I remember no other comment till somebody said it was the only case he knew in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
The case was that of an apparition in just such an old house as this in which we had gathered—a sight dreadful to a small boy sleeping in the room with his mother, waking her in terror that she might see the sight.
I can see Douglas standing there before the fire, his hands in his pockets, staring down at us.
Nobody but me, till now, has ever heard it. It’s quite too horrible.
This, naturally, gave the tale the utmost price, and our friend, with quiet art, prepared his triumph by saying, It’s beyond everything. Nothing I know touches it.
For sheer terror?
I remember asking.
He said it was not as simple as that, and that he was at a loss what to call it—for ugliness and horror and pain.
Well then,
I said, just sit right down and begin.
He turned round to the fire, gave a kick to a log, watched it an instant, and then, as he faced us again, said, I can’t begin. I shall have to send to town.
There was a groan at this, and much reproach, after which, in his preoccupied way, he explained.
The story’s written. It’s in a locked drawer—it has been there for years. I could write to my man and he could send it down.
It was to me he appeared to propose this. The others resented his putting it off, but it was just his sense of right and wrong that charmed me. I suggested he write by the first post and to agree with us for an early hearing; then I asked him if the experience had been his own.
Thank God, no!
he declared.
Then your story—?
Is in old, faded ink, in the most beautiful hand.
He hung fire again. A woman’s. She has been dead these twenty years. She sent me the pages before she died.
They were all listening now, and of course there was somebody to draw the meaning of this.
She was a charming person, but she was ten years older than I. She was my sister’s governess,
he said. "She was the most agreeable woman I’ve ever known in her position. It was long ago, and this episode was long before then. I was at Trinity, and I found her at home on my coming down the second summer.
I was much there that year—it was a beautiful one; and we had, in her off-hours, some strolls and talks in the garden—talks in which she struck me as awfully clever and nice. Oh yes; don’t grin: I liked her very much and am glad to this day to think she liked me, too. If she hadn’t she wouldn’t have told me the story. She never told anyone. It wasn’t simply that she said so, but that I was sure she hadn’t. You’ll easily judge why when you hear.
Because the thing had been such a scare?
He continued to fix me.
You’ll easily judge,
he repeated: YOU will.
I fixed him, too.
I see. She was in love.
He laughed for the first time.
You ARE sharp. Yes, she was in love. That is, she had been. That came out—she couldn’t tell her story without its coming out. I saw it, and she saw I saw it; but neither of us spoke of it. I remember the time and the place—the corner of the lawn, the shade of the great beeches and the long, hot summer afternoon. It wasn’t a scene for a shudder; but oh—!
He quitted the fire and dropped back into his chair.
You’ll receive the package Thursday morning?
I asked.
Probably not till the second post.
Well then; after dinner—
You’ll all meet me here?
He looked us round again.
Mrs. Griffin expressed the need for a little more light.
Who was it she was in love with?
The story will tell,
I took upon myself to reply.
Oh, I can’t wait for the story!
The story WON’T tell,
said Douglas; not in any ordinary way.
More’s the pity then. That’s the only way I ever understand.
Won’t YOU tell, Douglas?
somebody else asked.
He sprang to his feet again.
Yes—tomorrow. Now I must go to bed. Good night.
Quickly catching up a candle, he left us slightly at a loss. From our end of the great brown hall we heard his step on the stair; whereupon Mrs. Griffin spoke.
Well, if I don’t know who she was in love with, I know who HE was.
She was ten years older,
said her husband.
"Raison de plus—at that age! But it’s rather nice, his not telling."
Forty years!
Griffin put in.
With this story he’ll tell all at last.
This telling all,
I returned, will make a great occasion of Thursday night;
and everyone so agreed.
I knew the next day that a letter had gone off to his London apartments. The manuscript reached him on the third day after that, and he began to read to our hushed little circle on the night of the fourth.
The written statement took up the tale at a point after it had, in a manner, begun. The fact to be in possession of was that his old friend, the youngest of several daughters of a country parson, had, at the age of twenty, come up to London, a bit anxiously, to answer an advertisement for a governess and private teacher for two small children.
This person who placed the advertisement proved, on her presenting herself at a house in Harley, a gentleman, a bachelor in the prime of life, such a figure as had never been seen, save in a dream or an old novel, by a fluttered, anxious girl out of a Hampshire vicarage.
One could easily fix his type; it never, happily, dies out. He was handsome, bold, and pleasant, off-hand, gay, and kind. He struck her as gallant and splendid, but what took her most and gave her courage was that he put the whole thing to her as a kind of favor, an obligation he would be grateful if she took on.
She saw him as rich, but fearfully extravagant—saw him all in a glow of high fashion, of good looks, of expensive habits, of charming ways with women. He had for his town residence, a big house filled with the spoils of travel and the trophies of the chase; but it was to his country home, an old family place in Essex, that he wished her to proceed.
He had been left, by the death of their parents in India, guardian to a small nephew and niece, children of a younger, military brother, whom he had lost two years before. These children were, for a man in his position—a man without the right sort of experience or patience—very heavily on his hands.
It had all been a great worry and, on his own part doubtless, but he pitied the poor chicks and had done all he could; had in particular sent them down to his other house, the proper place for them being of course the country, and kept them there, from the first, with the best people he could find to look after them.
The awkward thing was that they had practically no other relations and that his own affairs took up all his time. He had put them in possession of Bly, which was healthy and secure, and had placed at the head of their little establishment—but below stairs only—an excellent woman, Mrs. Grose, whom he was sure his visitor would like, and who had formerly been maid to his mother.
She was now house-keeper and was also for the time taking care of the little girl, of whom, without children of her own, she was, by good luck, extremely fond. There were plenty of people to help, but of course the young lady who should go down as governess would have full authority. She would also have, in holidays, to look after the small boy, who had been for a term at school—young as he was, but what else could be done?—and who, as the holidays were about to begin, would return any day.
There had been for the two children at first a young lady whom they had had the bad luck to lose. She had done for them quite beautifully—she was a most respectable person—till her death, the difficulties of which had left no alternative but school for little Miles.
Mrs. Grose, since then, in the way of manners and things, had done as she could for Flora; and there were, also, a cook, a house-maid, a dairy-woman, and an old gardener, all likewise respectable.
So far had Douglas presented his picture when someone asked, And what did the former governess die of?—of too much respectability?
Our friend’s answer was prompt.
That will come out. I don’t anticipate.
In her successor’s place,
I suggested, I should have wished to learn if the office brought with it—
Any danger to life?
Douglas completed my thought. "She did wish to learn, and she did learn. You shall hear in due cause what she learned. Meanwhile, of course, the prospect struck her as slightly grim. She was young, untried, and nervous: it was a vision of serious duties and little company, of great loneliness.
She hesitated—took a couple of days to consult and consider. But the salary offered much exceeded her modest measure, and on a second interview she faced the music, she engaged for the position.
Douglas, with this, paused, which moved me to throw in, "The moral of which is, of course, that she was led astray by the young man. She surrendered to