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The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers (Penguin Classics)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780141439907
ISBN: 0141439904
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: September 30, 2003
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: September 30, 2003
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Editorial Review: In these two chilling stories, Henry James shows himself to be a master of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension. The Turn of the Screw tells of a young governess sent to a country home to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a sense of intense evil within the house, she soon becomes obsessed with the belief that malevolent forces are stalking the children in her care. Obsession of a more worldly variety lies at the heart of The Aspern Papers, the tale of a literary historian determined to get his hands on some letters written by a great poet-and prepared to use trickery and deception to achieve his aims.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Two for one
This omnibus collects two of James's best and most well-known shorter works, The Aspern Papers and The Turn of the Screw. Both allow the work of James to live up to its reputation of being very dense and operating on multiple levels at once. He had the ability, as did Hawthorne, to make very short works seem extremely long -- although, at least in this reviewer's humble opinion, James did it much better and more successfully. The Turn of the Screw, in particular, though very short for a novel, is ... Read More
Rating: - A Suspensful Read
This is an early examination of a deterioration of the human psyche. It's a dark psychological thriller told by a woman who finds herself scattered by fleeting emotions and unseen torments. From the start, the protagonist's mind seems to flow in several different directions, showing the portrait of a very insecure woman. I think that the purpose of the lengthy language is to serve as her very personal outlook on the situation, on herself. Henry has put himself fully in her position to achieve the ... Read More
Rating: - The Art of Fiction
Well these are my two favorite works by Henry James. In both James displays his very neatly honed talents for creating fine fictional universes and architecturally perfect stories where all seems to be just right but of course it isn't. James is writing in the still young American tradition of letters but he has cleared away much of the romanticism that was so evident in Hawthorne and Melville. The romanticism still exists but it is not in the writers brain, it exists in the characters alone. James was ... Read More
Rating: - Two of James's Best
These are two of James's most haunting stories. It is amazing how he uses his mastery of narrative technique to unsettle the reader. It is never clear in the "Turn of the Screw" whether the ghosts actually exist or whether the narrator herself is deluded. Similarly, in "The Aspern Papers" the narrator seems to be eminently reasonable and civilized, but his actions are anything but. This story, in its quiet, "boring" fashion, throws a very disturbing light on literary ... Read More
Rating: - you need time,patience,and Jack Daniels to enjoy this
mix the Jack Daniels with seltzer if you like. The story is in first person. If I ever actually met a person who spoke to me (or anyone) in the tone adopted by the lead character, I would think he was a pompous braggart. If your'e a little drunk, the book is funnier
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