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    The Turn of the Screw: Classic Tales Edition
    The Turn of the Screw: Classic Tales Edition
    The Turn of the Screw: Classic Tales Edition
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Turn of the Screw: Classic Tales Edition

    Written by Henry James

    Narrated by B. J. Harrison

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A country governess is hired to raise two orphaned children in a lonely estate in Essex. But mystery surrounds the house, the grounds, and the children.

    P<>Haunting questions arise, and Henry James pens one of the most famous American ghost stories.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherB.J. Harrison
    Release dateJun 9, 2012
    ISBN9781937091446
    The Turn of the Screw: Classic Tales Edition
    Author

    Henry James

    «No había nada que James hiciera como un inglés, ni tampoco como un norteamericano –ha escrito Gore Vidal -. Él mismo era su gran realidad, un nuevo mundo, una tierra incógnita cuyo mapa tardaría el resto de sus días en trazar para todos nosotros.» Henry James nació en Nueva York en 1843, en el seno de una rica y culta familia de origen irlandés. Recibió una educación ecléctica y cosmopolita, que se desarrolló en gran parte en Europa¬. En 1875, se estableció en Inglaterra, después de publicar en Estados Unidos sus primeros relatos. El conflicto entre la cultura europea y la norteamericana está en el centro de muchas de sus obras, desde sus primera novelas, Roderick Hudson (1875), Washington Square (1880; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. CXII) o El americano (1876-1877; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. XXXIII; ALBA MINUS núm.), hasta El Eco (1888; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. LI; ALBA MINUS núm.) o La otra casa (1896; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. LXIV) y la trilogía que culmina su carrera: Las alas de la paloma (1902), Los embajadores (1903) y La copa dorada (1904; ALBA CLÁSICA MAIOR núm. II). Maestro de la novela breve y el relato, algunos de sus logros más celebrados se cuentan entre este género: Los papeles de Aspern (1888; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. CVII; ALBA MINUS núm. ), Otra vuelta de tuerca (1898), En la jaula (1898; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. III; ALBA MINUS núm. 40), Los periódicos (1903; ALBA CLÁSICA núm. XVIII) o las narraciones reunidas en Lo más selecto (ALBA CLÁSICA MAIOR núm. XXVII). Fue asimismo un brillante crítico y teórico, como atestiguan los textos reunidos en La imaginación literaria (ALBA PENSAMIENTO/CLÁSICOS núm. 8). Nacionalizado británico, murió en Londres en 1916.

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    Reviews for The Turn of the Screw

    3.5/5

    2,166 ratings111 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I thought I would never make it through the first chapter, but I did and enjoyed finishing it. I made it through 2 books that were 400 pages + during the same time it took me to finish this 120 page book. Tedious, very difficult to read but enjoyable once I got into it. It has since made any semi-difficult read a breeze.
    • 3/5
      It was better than I thought it'd be.
    • 4/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; (4*)I certainly enjoyed this mildly spooky Victorian gothic tale. And I found that I quite like the writing style of Henry James.The story is about an orphaned brother & sister taken in by an uncle or some such male relation. He is a very minor player withing the scheme of the book as he hires a governess/tutor to care for the children at his country manse. The one stipulation upon her hiring is that she not bother him with anything to do with the children.When the governess arrives she finds that the male child is away at boarding school so she just has the girl child at first. She finds the little girl beautiful & angelic in every way. She is bright and quick to learn, has lovely manners, is obedient and the governess enjoys her very much.But soon the little boy is returned to the home, having been quitted from the school never to return and the governess & housekeeper (who have become friends) are never to know specifically why. The child never speaks of it so all they can do is wonder. He has the same positive traits as his sister and in the beginning all is well and everyone appears to be happy. "Appears to be" are the key words here.For we find that the owner of the manse & their employer had a houseman who has died and that the previous governess has died as well. There begin to appear apparitions of both of these persons: The governess to the little girl albeit the new governess can also see her and the houseman to the little boy with the governess able to see his apparition as well.Thus begins the tug of war between the governess & the housekeeper against the two apparitions who want the children.I thought this a very good though short novella & I can highly recommend it. It is my first Henry James and I found myself seeking out others of his work immediately upon finishing this one.
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is billed as a psychological thriller. It is the story of an unnamed governess who agrees to care for two children at their uncle's estate, Bly. Her story is told through her journal entries. Her charges are "darlings" until one day while walking she meets menacing apparitions. I wanted to love this book as I do the classics. However, the writing was convoluted and this reader was very much distanced from the characters and felt like a passive bystander. It's saving grace was that is was only 131 pages. 2 1/2 stars
    • 2/5
      I just didn't get it? It didn't get me? It literally did not pull me into the story or hold my true interest. Perhaps a second reading/listening in the future.
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is billed as a psychological thriller. It is the story of an unnamed governess who agrees to care for two children at their uncle's estate, Bly. Her story is told through her journal entries. Her charges are "darlings" until one day while walking she meets menacing apparitions. I wanted to love this book as I do the classics. However, the writing was convoluted and this reader was very much distanced from the characters and felt like a passive bystander. It's saving grace was that is was only 131 pages. 2 1/2 stars
    • 1/5
      I suppose it's because of how old the story is, that I found the mystery/ story unsuspenseful. I've never seen so many unnecessary words used to describe the simplest of things! My mind was left strained and uncaring towards the end.
    • 2/5
      A ghost story with a horrific overtone.Victorian obscurity in expression, so not to say anything that could be objectionable. Took me a while to figure out what was worrying the governess.220
    • 4/5
      I chose this chilling short story by Henry James as the 2nd of my three annual Halloween choices. It is the story of a young governess who is hired to take care of two orphaned children, Miles and Flora, at a large manor house in the Essex countryside. The children have been handed over to their estranged uncle, who wants little to do with them or any contact with them. The governess whom he hires is more than happy to adopt the two innocent youngsters as her own, and grows to love them dearly. However, she begins to see strange things happening about the house where she now lives, and continually sees a mysterious man and woman lingering about the estate. Both the man and woman have a horrifying, terrible expression and atmosphere to them, and when she describes them to her friend Mrs. Grose, the woman recognizes them instantly. They were lovers who once lived at the house, but they both died a few years ago, even though no one knows how. The governess becomes convinced that the ghost couple is after little Flora and Miles, though she can't understand why. The children insist that they do not to see the ghosts, but the governess is convinced that they are lying due to how frightened they appear whenever she questions they about it. The harder that the governess tries to protect her charges, the farther distanced from her they become.I very much enjoyed this brief, chilly tale, and I loved the antiquated way that it was written, which really gave it a cold, "ghost story" air that more modern writing simply cannot capture.In the beginning of the story, it didn't occur to me that the governess' ghosts may not be real, but by the middle of the book, I was convinced that they were simply figments of her imagination. However, at the very end, I didn't know what to think.I love stories that end just when the plot isn't quite closed out yet, leaving the reader to wonder - what happened? This story was certainly one of those, and I still can't decide if the heroine was crazy, or if the "horrors," as she called them, were really there. Perhaps they were, only they were real flesh and blood people who she wanted to think of as ghosts. Miles and Flora play their part well as the innocent, helpless little children who are very in need of protection as they drift obliviously toward horrific danger.Nowadays, every horror movie seems to cast an obligatory child, but when Henry James wrote "The Turn of the Screw," such themes weren't yet common.I especially loved Miles, who is a more filled out character than his younger sister Flora. He is a charming boy, who wants very badly to be "bad," in spite of how good he is. He even stages an event where he goes outdoors at night, and schemes at how to get the governess to witness his little crime, in an attempt to show her how "bad" he is.However, Miles is also a very wise character. Even though he never exactly tells his governess anything - he is always frustratingly vague - his little hints at deep, perceptive topics make him even more interesting.The unnamed main character was a bit annoying, and I felt that she was at times contradictory. She is normally terrified of the ghosts she is seeing (which is understandable), while at other times she speaks of them lightly and does things that make it seem as if she doesn't fear them at all.Her fierce protection of Miles and Flora was touching, and I couldn't help but wonder what made her care for them so much and so quickly, as if they really are her own family. Was she abandoned as a child? Did she always want children, but never got married? Speaking of speculation - there is much of it to be done within James' short story. There is, of course, the matter of the alleged ghosts. Are they imaginary? Real people mistaken as spirits? Or are they ghosts, after all? I think that everyone will ask these questions, but there are so many more to wondered about, if you look deeper.For instance, it seems apparent by the end that Miles and Flora are extremely afraid of (or even hateful toward) the governess herself. The governess seems to think that this is because the ghosts are controlling the children's minds, while Mrs. Grose hints that it is because the children have been influenced by an evil presence. But what if the evil presence is actually the governess, and she simply doesn't know it? Perhaps this is a bit too M. Night Shyalman, but could the governess have been a ghost herself?All of Miles' vague speeches, in which he is always saying things to the governess such as "you know what I mean..." could also be hints of this. Maybe she doesn't know what he means, and they are both talking about completely different things. In the middle of the story, I even thought that Miles had a schoolboy crush on his guardian, which was what he kept referring to, even though the governess assumed he was speaking about ghosts. If you read their conversation with this possibility in mind, it would actually fit quite well, though toward the end I had mostly dismissed this idea.All in all, I believe that I will keep wondering about "The Turn of the Screw" for a long while, and being so short, maybe I will re-read it again in hopes of unlocking further clues that may help me solve the mysteries I found there.This was a great Halloween read, though I would recommend it for anytime of the year.
    • 4/5
      Read with Shutter Island.
    • 3/5
      This was my first Henry James story and I really enjoyed it. It was a short novel that can be characterized as a classic psychological thriller or ghost story from the 19th century. The story itself was not particularly scary, but I really enjoyed James' writing style and how he got inside the head of the main character as she starts to lose it later in the story. I will certainly read more of Henry James.
    • 3/5
      Having read this, I stared at the last page on my Kindle, trying to decide how I felt about it. And I'm not sure. I enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed the slow unfurling of the menace of it. I liked the ambiguity, being unable to ensure if the governess were going mad or whether there really were ghosts. And I loved the starkness of the ending.

      At the same time, I don't know, there was something lacking. I got to the end and felt -- is that it? Is that all the pay off we're going to get? And yet, at the same time, I didn't think there was anything more that needed to be added. A strange, strange feeling.
    • 3/5
      I really struggled to stay engaged in this one. Emma Thompson did a great job narrating but the language made it difficult for me. There were some intense parts and I did mostly enjoy the tale.

      2.5 rounded up for Goodreads.
    • 4/5
      A true classic, creepy and enthralling and elegant. I find the lush old language to be almost comforting.
    • 4/5
      I reread this one for my library book discussion group. I found this classic to be a bit more risqué than my first read of it several years ago. A good discussion was had about the children and the ghosts and their influence on their young lives. Just what did they do to these children?!Briefly discussed the governess and her imagination but we agreed the ghosts were real. The author’s excessive use of punctuation aside, it’s a pretty good ghost story.
    • 4/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a 2012 Duke Classics publication. (Originally published in 1898)I’ve been reading classic ‘horror’ novels during the month of October for the past couple of years, and it was so fun, I decided to make it a tradition. I have watched several movie versions based on this short story, but, of course, movies tend to take liberties, so I wanted to read the book this year and see it through a fresh lens…I was surprised to see this classic has only earned a tepid rating average on Goodreads, though. I understand why someone today would find it rather bland if they are expecting modern day theatrics, though. That’s unfortunate because the atmosphere, nuances, allegory, and subtlety are what made the ambiguous tale the fodder for so much debate- which continues on even today. I doubt anyone, one hundred years from now, will still be debating ANYTHING written today. So, there’s that. That said, the writing is hard to follow. It is too wordy- and the capitalization of nearly every pronoun was annoying. Even so, I still managed to read the book in one sitting-as it is a short story. Despite its age, I did find it effective, as I prefer this slow build up over the cheap thrills so prominent today. I could see where readers would experience some chills and thrills back in 1898- and to be honest, I felt a few shivers here and there, too. Does the story live up to the hype, though? Well, if I had entered the book with overblown expectations, I might have felt disappointed, or at the very least, confused by all the fuss surrounding this book, which has garnered so much attention in movies, television, and even on the stage. But because I was somewhat familiar with the premise, and knew it was meant to be a psychological exercise, I was fine with it. It’s a book that one might want to read multiple times before one could settle on an opinion about the validity of the ghosts, or any other message one might find buried in the text. It did not, when first published, come without its criticisms either- but some of that seems ridiculous to me. Maybe the book was simply meant to be unsettling- meant to challenge one’s own perception of the events described- which is what I think. The only debate I’ll step into is the one that argues the ‘Gothic’ category the book often falls into. Yes, it has some ‘Bronte-esque’ Gothic tones- but in my opinion, it is not a pure Gothic novel, therefore I would not categorize it as such. Overall, I thought the story was thought-provoking- though the atmosphere was tainted a bit by my struggles with the writing. Someday I might read it again, and maybe take a closer look at some of the suggested allegory of the story when I have more time to study it.I think a book that has this kind of staying power, is still popping up on television, and is still the topic of much debate says a lot about the impact of what might have been a simple ghost story. For that reason alone, it deserves at least a four-star rating.
    • 3/5
      I found nothing to appeal in this famous story and quite a lot of it's artistry was of itself and to an end for which I was largely indifferent if not hostile. The governess's certainties about her charges were particularly repulsive as was the 3rd handed really 4th - taking no responsibility presentation of the narration. The drawn out, undeciphered causality and the classism and rigid but relativistic moralism inherent as the basis for the situation are additional turnoffs.
    • 3/5
      A very strange story of a governess that accepts a post taking care of two children who are in the care of their Uncle. He tells her he wants her to take charge of them and not bother him about anything. She arrives at his estate and immediately begins seeing strange ghostly visions and hearing strange tales about the previous valet and governess from the housekeepers. She becomes convinced that the ghosts of the deceased governess and valet are bent on harming the children, who may be consenting to their "possessing" them. Or is this just a tale told by a crazy woman who was making it all up? I had a hard time processing the language it was written in and finding a connection to any of the characters.
    • 4/5
      I can understand the fear this story engendered when it came out. My daughter had to read this for Lit class & hated it. The language, the pacing, the lack of real fear. I thought it was much better & can see how, at the time it was quite a scary story. Of course, I took it as its base level & didn’t have to dissect the text.
    • 1/5
      I am going to just be immature here and say it was stupid.
    • 2/5
      One of those classics where you dont quite understand why its a classic. I can appreciate its contribution to the horror sub genre of the governess vs the supernatural but honestly its not scary and I found the protagonist incredibly annoying. Also the children didnt even do anything evil.
    • 2/5
      I read this for a second time in 2021. The first time I did not even rate it, which usually means that I think I didn't get it. Well, at least I didn't get this second time. English is not my native language but usually I don't have problems reading in English. However, the long sentences and some unfamiliar vocabulary made reading this book a struggle. It didn't help that the story and the characters were somewhat flat. I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I really didn't see how skillfully the story was built and how I wasn't able to enjoy the beautiful ambiguity of the plot. (The same would be true also for Daisy Miller, which I read after this.)
    • 3/5
      I got this book because of the TV series "The Haunting of Bly Manor". The Netflix series is loosely based on the book.From my perspective the book is about average. I didn't get a sense of menace, nor was there a well-planned storyline. Then, it ended.
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw was a quick delve into what was considered one of the first ghost stories. Henry James delivered this novella in serial version in the late 1880's and his writing takes some getting used to, what with the constant clarifications and interjections between the commas. For example: "I could only get on at all by taking “nature” into my confidence and my account, by treating my monstrous ordeal as a push in a direction unusual, of course, and unpleasant, but demanding, after all, for a fair front, only another turn of the screw of ordinary human virtue." It's an elaborate style but seems to add to the tale being told by an unnamed governess given the charge of two young children , Flora and Miles. Their uncle, her employer, has no desire to raise his newly orphaned niece and nephew, and in fact wants no communication from her on how it's going. Soon she discovers that Miles has been expelled from school and more shockingly, there seem to be visions of two dead, former employees of the country house known as Bly. From here the story explores the governess' struggle to try and wrest the children away from the pull of these ghosts. The most interesting aspect of the novel is the dueling consideration whether this is a horror story or a character study of mental illness. Are the ghosts real or a figment of her imagination? You choose. LinesThere was nothing in me there that didn’t meet and measure him. . . . I had, thank God, no terror. And he knew I had not.” The best way to picture it all is to say that I was off my guard. They gave me so little trouble—they were of a gentleness so extraordinary. I used to speculate—but even this with a dim disconnectedness— as to how the rough future (for all futures are rough!) would handle them and might bruise them.I daresay I fancied myself, in short, a remarkable young woman and took comfort in the faith that this would more publicly appear. Well, I needed to be remarkable to offer a front to the remarkable things that presently gave their first sign.He has red hair, very red, close-curling, and a pale face, long in shape, with straight, good features and little, rather queer whiskers that are as red as his hair. His eyebrows are, somehow, darker; they look particularly arched and as if they might move a good deal. His eyes are sharp, strange—awfully; but I only know clearly that they’re rather small and very fixed. His mouth’s wide, and his lips are thin, and except for his little whiskers he’s quite clean-shaven. He gives me a sort of sense of looking like an actor.”It was like fighting with a demon for a human soul, and when I had fairly so appraised it I saw how the human soul—held out, in the tremor of my hands, at arm’s length—had a perfect dew of sweat on a lovely childish forehead.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars

      This is a perfect ghost story. It slowly and continuously gets more creepy and has that vague way of doing things to keep you guessing even after it's over.
    • 3/5
      This was a fairly difficult read, with dense prose and antiquated terms. It felt much longer than it was. Great story though and I see why it's a classic. There is a lot of depth to the short story. Is the governess crazy? Are there ghosts? Are the kids possessed or merely acting out?

      While I struggled with this, it was a very rewarding read.
    • 3/5
      I need to acknowledge the presumptuousness of reviewing a book considered a “classic,” but I’d also like to know who, exactly, sits in judgement of all books everywhere, labeling some classics while discounting others. If you know the answer to this, please enlighten me.Onward.I listened to this book on audio, which I borrowed from my library via Libby. This edition is narrated by Simon Vance and Vanessa Benjamin, whose narration is emotive and engaging. Their ability to bring life to the characters held my attention and kept me entertained.But here’s a truth: Had I sat down to read this book myself, I doubt I’d have made it halfway.This book was first published in 1898. Yes, it’s old, the language is formal, and so on. But Henry James, even for his time, was a writer of (too) many words, all of them flowery and overly… everything. He uses 50 words to describe an emotion that could easily be narrowed down to two or three. Then we go round and round again, so that, oftentimes, an entire chapter could’ve been condensed to a paragraph or two.Because it’s so overdone and wordy, I didn’t feel the expected eeriness, much less the acclaimed gothic horror. I wanted to read this because I loved The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is the recent Netflix adaptation of this book. The thread leading from the book to the TV series is tenuous at best, but makes for an interesting comparison.
    • 4/5
      Narrated by Emma Thompson, I enjoyed re-reading this classic, gothic novella for the third time.

      I know many readers are not impressed by this book, but I enjoyed it, (again). I know it's rather verbose, especially considering the length of the book, but I found more than a few of the sentences to be outright chilling.

      I've always loved psychological horror and ambiguous stories, so this one hits most of the marks for me. My original rating of the book, at 4 stars, stands.
    • 3/5
      Disappointed after hearing all the praise of this novella, possibly was more shocking in its day and I’ve now become jaded by ghost stories. Lots of gothic atmosphere, tension and uncertainty. While the language wasn’t all that difficult, the style and manner of writing made it a bit difficult to get through. Long sentences with many clauses served to confuse me and lose the gist at times. Not really an enjoyable read so it felt longer and I was glad when it ended. Can’t recommend, but glad I filled in the gap of my reading of classic literature.
    • 3/5
      This started with a lot of promise - young woman starts a job as a governess at a country estate, sees ghosts and is very worried about her two young orphaned charges. It took way too long to read for a short novel, because it had too many words, if you know what I mean.