Henry James, The Turn of the Screw

Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1898

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella
Story

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The Turn of the Screw

has recently been called “the greatest ghost story ever written” (Barbara Everett,

TLS

, December 23 & 30, 2005). An unnamed governess, at Bly (a country house in Essex), is seemingly confronted by two former employees – the master’s valet (called Peter Quint) and the previous governess (a Miss Jessel) – who, she comes to believe, have returned from the dead to reclaim the two children (Miles and Flora), now put in her charge (along with that of the housekeeper, Mrs Grose). The story ends calamitously for the children, with, it would appear, the girl driven to something like madness, and the boy frightened to death. The governess’s career, nevertheless, seems not to have been prevented from resuming unscathed.

The Turn of the Screw was written (or rather

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1865 words

Citation: Cornwell, Neil. "The Turn of the Screw". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 January 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7993, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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Henry James, The Turn of the Screw

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