Turn Of the Screw
by James, Henry
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The Turn Of The Screw is a gothic novella by British author Henry James in which an inexperienced young governess, a parson's daughter, takes a position at a country house looking after two children. The master of the house, their uncle, gives her full authority, wanting no communication about the children.
Her welcome to the house by the housekeeper, Mrs Grose, is genuine, and she is immediately taken with the little girl, Flora. Her brother Miles arrives a few days later, inexplicably dismissed from his boarding school: he seems to be a delightful boy.
Things change when the unnamed governess spots first a man (who is apparently the ghost of the master's valet, Peter Quint) and then a woman, the ghost of the previous governess, Miss Jessel. From just their gaze, she discerns that these two are after the children.
She manages to drag information about them and their relationship from the reluctant Mrs Grose and, between them, they decide they have to protect the children from the harm they believe the apparitions intend. Her vigils yield more sightings of the two, and the governess is even more certain of their ill intent.
As time progresses, though, the governess begins to wonder if it is too late: the children seem to already be happily in the thrall of these two. Should she, against instructions, contact their uncle?
For a twenty-first Century reader, this classic, however well written, will likely be a chore to read, a characteristic of the dense nineteenth Century prose being verbosity: why use one word when ten or fifteen will do, and the small print doesn't help the reader's search for the relevant point in each sentence.
For example, "Yet when he at last arrived the difficulty of applying them, the accumulations of my problem, were brought straight home to me by the beautiful little presence on which what had occurred had as yet, for the eye, dropped neither stain nor shadow" is a sentence that might be distilled into a few words, if only the meaning could intuited, but really, life's too short to bother. In this case, maybe the movie will be better than the book.
The Turn Of The Screw is a gothic novella by British author Henry James in which an inexperienced young governess, a parson's daughter, takes a position at a country house looking after two children. The master of the house, their uncle, gives her full authority, wanting no communication about the children.
Her welcome to the house by the housekeeper, Mrs Grose, is genuine, and she is immediately taken with the little girl, Flora. Her brother Miles arrives a few days later, inexplicably dismissed from his boarding school: he seems to be a delightful boy.
Things change when the unnamed governess spots first a man (who is apparently the ghost of the master's valet, Peter Quint) and then a woman, the ghost of the previous governess, Miss Jessel. From just their gaze, she discerns that these two are after the children.
She manages to drag information about them and their relationship from the reluctant Mrs Grose and, between them, they decide they have to protect the children from the harm they believe the apparitions intend. Her vigils yield more sightings of the two, and the governess is even more certain of their ill intent.
As time progresses, though, the governess begins to wonder if it is too late: the children seem to already be happily in the thrall of these two. Should she, against instructions, contact their uncle?
For a twenty-first Century reader, this classic, however well written, will likely be a chore to read, a characteristic of the dense nineteenth Century prose being verbosity: why use one word when ten or fifteen will do, and the small print doesn't help the reader's search for the relevant point in each sentence.
For example, "Yet when he at last arrived the difficulty of applying them, the accumulations of my problem, were brought straight home to me by the beautiful little presence on which what had occurred had as yet, for the eye, dropped neither stain nor shadow" is a sentence that might be distilled into a few words, if only the meaning could intuited, but really, life's too short to bother. In this case, maybe the movie will be better than the book.
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The Turn of the Screw: the Aspern Papers
by Henry James
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Published
- 1935
- Binding
- Hardcover
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Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, GBR
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$7.26
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The Turn of the Screw
by James, Henry
- Condition
- Used - Very Good with No dust jacket as issued
- Edition
- Limited Edition. First Printing
- Published
- 1949
- Binding
- Hard Cover
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Palatine, Illinois, USA
- Item Price
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$50.00
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The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
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- New
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
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- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- Published
- 2022
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- Hardcover
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St Albans, Hertfordshire, GBR
- Item Price
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$122.78
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The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Published
- 1915
- Binding
- Hardcover
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Birsay, Orkney, GBR
- Item Price
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$301.46
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The Turn of the Screw
by James, Henry
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Published
- 1957
- Binding
- Hardcover
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Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
- Item Price
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$9.95
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The Turn of the Screw (Everyman) (Everyman Paperback Classics)
by James, Henry
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- Used - Acceptable
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- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780460872997
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GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
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$12.65
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The Turn of the Screw
by James, Henry
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Published
- 1949
- Binding
- Hardcover
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Wichita, Kansas, USA
- Item Price
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$46.00
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The Turn of the Screw
by James, Henry
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- Used - Good
- Published
- 1947
- Binding
- Softcover
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- 1
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Almere, NLD
- Item Price
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$10.81
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The Turn of the Screw; The Lesson of the Master
by Henry James
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- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- 2nd Thus
- Published
- 1940
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- 1
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Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Item Price
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$10.50
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The Turn of the Screw: the Aspern Papers (Everyman's library)
by Henry James
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- Used - Good
- Published
- 1935
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- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
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Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
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$6.44
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THE TURN OF THE SCREW
by JAMES, Henry
- Condition
- Used - Spine mildly sunned, rubbed. About Fine, lacking the slipcase
- Published
- 1949
- Binding
- Hardcover
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- 1
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Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, USA
- Item Price
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$43.80
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The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
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- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- First
- Published
- 1949
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- 1
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Washington, District of Columbia, USA
- Item Price
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$48.00
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The Turn Of The Screw
by Henry James
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Good+
- Published
- 1948?
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San Francisco, California, USA
- Item Price
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$15.00
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The Turn of the Screw (The Miniature Classics Library)
by James, Henry
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- Used - Fine
- Published
- 2003
- Binding
- Hard Cover
- ISBN
- 9788483728512
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Seattle, Washington, USA
- Item Price
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$50.40
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The Turn of the Screw; The Lesson of the Master
by James, Henry
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- Used - Very Good
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- Reprint
- Published
- 1930
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- Hardcover
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- 1
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Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Item Price
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$17.00
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The Turn of the Screw (WDL Books. no M 937.)
by James, Henry
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- Used - vg+
- Published
- 1960
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Westbury, Wiltshire, GBR
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$8.73
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The Turn Of The Screw
by Henry James
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- Used - Very Good
- Published
- 1949
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Suwanee, Georgia, USA
- Item Price
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$59.99
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The Turn of the Screw And Other Stories (Modern Classics)
by James, Henry
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- Used - Good
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- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780140030266
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GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
- Item Price
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$1.26
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The Turn of the Screw: A Norton Critical Edition
by James, Henry
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- Used - Very Good
- Edition
- Later printing
- Published
- 1966
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- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780393096699
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Montmorillon, FRA
- Item Price
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$5.02
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The Turn of the Screw
by JAMES Henry:
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- Used
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Thornhill, GBR
- Item Price
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$3.64