THE TURN OF THE SCREW

Is this 1898 ghost story by the great American writer Henry James the best ever? I don’t think so. Since American writer Henry James spent most of his life writing his stories in England, I taste some of the boring droplets of the seventeenth century English writers, such as John Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress ) and John Milton (Paradise Lost ). I would have thought that James would have been greatly influenced by Charles Dickens, a more contemporary author to emulate. I would submit Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel, The House of the Seven Gables (see my review of 11/17/2012) as a spookier novel. I’m not saying that James’s novel wasn’t a quality story, but it was put together rather strangely. First of all, we have an unknown narrator telling the story of someone else reading a manuscript from a governess (he says that he knows her) to some friends sitting around a fire. The manuscript tells of her encounter with two ghosts while in charge of an eight year old girl, Flora, and a ten year old boy, Miles. Most of the novella’s composition is in the form of very long and semi-boring paragraphs with very little discourse amongst the characters. I didn’t nod off, but I thought about it. Wow, I must think that I’m the numero uno reviewer to disparage a classic work by a masterly writer like Henry James. I didn’t say that I didn’t enjoy the novella; it’s just that I looked forward to reading this book, and it wasn’t as great as I expected it to be. No harm, no foul. We all know that the ageless writers can sometimes be a tad boring. They tend to want to teach us something while telling the story, like Herman Melville in Moby Dick wanting to educate us on whales and harpoons. While some writers like Mark Twain just wanted to tell us a good old fashion yarn, like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (see my review of 12/17/2012). Anyway, enough said about that.

Since I didn’t think this novella was very scary (don’t get mad, I liked the story), I did some research on the scariest ghost novels and would you believe that this Henry James story keeps popping up on everybody’s list. So there you go...how much can this reviewer know? Charles Dickens’s, A Christmas Carol didn’t show up on everybody’s list. Go figure. I think that the narrator being unknown and telling the story of Douglas (who is sitting around the fireplace with whomever) recounting his friend’s (the governess) manuscript is kinda odd. First of all, I don’t remember if the governess even had a name, although we find that the ghost governess is Miss Jessel. It kinda reminded me of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel, Rebecca, who didn’t have a name until she married. Anyway, I guess this kind of novel is intriguing but a bit awkward. The rich Uncle in charge of the children wants no part in the kids and turns them over to the above nameless governess in his country estate, known as Bly. She strikes up a friendship with the main housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The new governess occasionally sees a strange man and woman on the property. Mrs. Grose reveals that it is likely the previous governess (who died) and the children’s Uncle’s valet, Peter Quint, who had a sexual affair with Miss Jessel and also died. Is Mrs. Grose suggesting that there maybe ghosts on the property? I’ll bet you are so scared that you are ready to poop in your pants. Anyway, what are the ghosts doing there and have they come for the children? And why did the seemingly lovely ten year old Miles get kicked out of school? Are the children in cahoots with the ghosts? What is eight year old Flora holding back from the governess? And lastly (thank God), how does Mrs. Grose fit in this story? Okay, no more questions. I know that I "whet your whistle" and scared you to death, but I’m not revealing anymore of the story. Buy your own copy of this ghost story and get all the answers to my questions. 

While his prose is excellent, Henry James has a style that is unique to himself compared to the other great writers of the time. Most of the writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Charles Dickens were descriptive writers. James seems to put more emphasis on elongating the paragraphs so the reader could better understand what was happening in the story, while not really caring if the reader knew what the character looked like or how they dressed. When James began his career, most of the descriptive writers were deceased or soon to be. I read that James was the leader of Literary Realism (I’m not fully enlightened), but it must be of the style that I just recognized above. I haven’t read any other Henry James stories, but I did thumb through his short story The Beast in the Jungle, and it was written in the same manner as The Turn of the Screw. While I prefer the descriptive writers whilst I’m reading nineteenth century literature, I did enjoy this novella and (no) it didn’t put me to sleep.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Now what is my favorite ghost story? How about Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol? Who could forget Ebenezer Scrooge being confronted by his former business partner Jacob Marley, now a ghost, in heavy chains warning Scrooge about his miserly past. He says he will be visited this Christmas Eve by three ghosts: past, present and yet to come. As Scrooge sees his life unfold, he realizes that he has been unfair to his office worker Bob Cratchit, who has a invalid son, Tiny Tim. Will Scrooge see his mistakes and turn his life around before it’s too late? You know the rest, unless you haven’t seen the seemingly dozen movies in the month of December concerning this book. Also it was published on my birthday, 12/19, but in 1843.

How about the movie and T.V. series, Topper ? I loved that show that ran from 10/9/1953 to 7/15/1955, starring Leo G. Carroll as Topper. A very conservative bank vice president, Cosmo Topper and his darling wife buy a house in L.A. that was previously owned by the now deceased George and Marion Kerby and their martini loving St. Bernard, Neil. The couple haunt Topper into funny situations, who is the only person who could see them. I don’t know why this show only lasted two years...it was funny.

Lastly, I loved the 1947 film, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Recent widow (Gene Tierney) moves into a seaside cottage against the advice of relatives. Apparently the home is haunted by a benign sea captain (Rex Harrison). Although Mrs. Muir moves in with her daughter (Natalie Wood), she is the only one that see the sea captain ghost (like Topper). The movie was fabulous.

From the T.V. series, Topper: