The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers (Penguin Classics)

Book Description

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:

Two for one.......2003-09-22

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 almost startlingly complex -- practically begging for multiple close readings and a thorough overview of the subsequent literary criticism. I won't go into a detailed analysis or overview of that story itself here; for that, please refer to my review of the stand-alone book containing The Turn of the Screw.

Specifics aside, both of these stories are also masterful exercises in suspense. The Aspern Papers manages to work up a general feeling of expectancy and apprehension, while The Turn of the Screw conjures up dark and sinister vision of intrigue. They manage to keep the reader reading -- and reading -- and re-reading. Both of them are filtered, of course, through James's characteristically ambiguous narrative. It has been well-said that James surrounds a narrative and illuminates parts of it with a flickering light, rather than pinning it down. The endings of both of these stories, at least one of which is positively shocking, leaves many elements unresolved. James forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. This aspect of his writing style, along with his generally unique style, makes for great reading material for the dedicated reader. Here are two of his best stories here for our enjoyment.

A Suspensful Read.......2003-08-22

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 purpose of forcing the reader to do so as well.
I tend to dislike films or books that depict mental illness as an organized or curable disorder. Something that can be easily fixed by medical advances or hope alone. The truth of the matter is much more dark. Insanity is not something to romanticize about, although there is certainly speculation of mental illness furthering artistic insight. (an example would be Virginia Wolff, or Vincent van Gogh) But Henry James does not view the woman's hallucinations with hope for her recovery.
The author has always shown particular interest in insanity, not from the vantage point of an onlooker or professional...but from the direct and unaltered view of the person suffering the hallucinations.
There actually are ghosts in this book, but the kind that are much more sinister and real in that they only exist to this one woman. She's alone in her hallucinations, completely unable to share the nightmare that has taken over her mind, left to bare it by herself. I think that's truly more frightening than the thin plot of any other 'ghost' story.
I recommend this book for several reasons; it has an intriguing plot, is an exploration of psychological aspects, and ends with a suspenseful finale.

The Art of Fiction.......2001-10-05

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 the first to really write at a remove from his characters. He tells each tale with no authorial comment to sway your opinion of his characters one way or another, he lets the reader make his own observations and draw his own conclusions based on the characters behaviour and thoughts. That authorial distance allows him to simply relate the story, not explain it, and James stories are each as intricate as the psychologies that occupy them. In these two stories he creates very intriguing and complex situations. Both are mysteries and both perhaps have no easy solution or resolution because James lets the complex minds and psychologies of his characters subjectively grapple with a web that they have themselves woven and any resolution would mean an unraveling of their entire character. These are story long webs which can be baffling(Aspern Papers) or terrifying(Turn of the Screw), the psychological webs these characters weave can lead them to frightening extremes(Turn of the Screw) or can serve as a necessary support for the fragile psyche that created them(Aspern Papers). The real thrill of reading James is in how controlled a manner all is told. There are no obvious clues just psychological gradations and patterns which begin adding up to an overall impression. It can seem after finishing one of his stories that nothing much has happened at all, and yet a psychology has all the while been examined and quite thoroughly. Through his stories much is revealed about what lies just beneath the facade of life and what motivates our most basic perceptions, our identity, and our societal or world view. It has been said that James brought the insight of a psycholgist to his stories. But his insights are much more profound than a mere clinicians notes. In James we get a highly discerned character in a highly discerned context and the discerning reader will be entertained and enlightened and inspired to contemplate the workings of ones own intricate structure.

Two of James's Best.......2000-06-10

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 biographers. In fact, this is one of James's trademarks, the ability to probe the dark side of refined, genteel people.

you need time,patience,and Jack Daniels to enjoy this.......1999-10-01

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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A Great Listen

The Aspern Papers
Henry James
Manufacturer: BMA Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Wings of the Dove (Classic Literature with Classical Music)

ASIN: 0966340175

Product Description

One of Henry James's best known shorter works, The aspern Papers is based on a story he heard about a collector of the great poet Shelley's manuscripts who attempted to acquire valuable but coveted letters from a mysterious old woman living in Florence. Read with sophisitication and intelligence by Jonathan Epstein, Henry James's tale of suspense and romance transports the listener down the canals of Venice and inner chambers of a bygone era. 3 CDs, 3.5 hrs

Customer Reviews:

A Great Listen.......2007-01-13

"When I listen to Jonathan Epstein read the Aspern Papers, it's clear
that he has one of the few great Shakespearean-quality voices of our
generation, as well as the brains and talent to carry off the lyrical
quality of Henry James. Mr. James would be immensely gratified to hear
this CD."
- Susan Arbetter
Host/Producer of WAMC NPR's The Roundtable Show"

The Aspern Papers and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

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One of the Master's Very Best
Civilization and Its Discontents
Reader and Writer in "The Aspern Papers"
Brilliant and also heartbreaking
Intense story about a manipulative publisher

The Aspern Papers and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)
Henry James
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192836161

Book Description

An American editor with an enthusiasm for the works of Jeffrey Aspern, a romantic poet of the early 19th century, goes to Venice to acquire the letters that Aspern wrote to his mistress, a Miss Bordereau, whom he called "Juliana." Under an assumed name he rents a suite in the ancient palace
where she lives in poverty and seclusion with her niece, Miss Tina. He finds that the old lady is shrewd and haughty and accepts him as a lodger only to put aside money for the future of Miss Tina, a timid, unattractive spinster much in awe of her aunt. During his residence with them, the editor
wins the friendship of Miss Tina, to whom he reveals his mission. Leaving Venice for a fortnight, he returns to find that Miss Bordereau has died. Miss Tina, who is clearly in love, welcomes him expectantly, but confesses that she could only give him the papers if he were "a relative."

In addition to "The Aspern Papers," this collection contains "The Private Life," "The Middle Years," and "The Death of the Lion," as well as prefaces by Henry James, a chronology of his life, and editor's notes.

Customer Reviews:

One of the Master's Very Best.......2006-08-23

"The Aspern Papers" is one of Henry James's very best works, which makes it one of the best works in all of American literature. A lovely, slightly Gothic, highly evocative novella, it floats along on James's prose like a gondola upon one of Venice's less trafficked canals. It should be as well-known as "Daisy Miller" or "The Portrait of a Lady." Back in the day (that means the 1990's, to all you tragically unhip), this would've made a great Merchant-Ivory movie.

Civilization and Its Discontents.......2005-12-17

The Aspern Papers is a brilliant story that concentrates everything great about Henry James in one brisk addictive read. James had such a deep feeling for the ornate social niceties of his day that he was able to poke fun of them while still respecting their essential decency--he seemed to understand the greed and brutality they kept in check. Our unnamed narrator's quest to outfox a great poet's elderly mistress and lay ahold of her onetime lover's papers unfolds in a languid world of gondolas, decaying Venetian palazzos, hot evenings in overgrown gardens, and above all a comfortable leisure that allows the smallest social gestures to take on earth-shaking significance.

James had an uncanny ability to make that world come alive, bringing you into its subtleties and rites, while at the same time taking you behind the elegant façade to expose the aggression, cupidity, and naked power politics that lurk just beneath the impeccable manners. Our narrator wants the papers; the mistress wants money for her niece, and the niece ... well, order this book and read on to find out. You won't be disappointed--it's one of James's best.

Reader and Writer in "The Aspern Papers".......2000-09-19

I enjoyed this book, if only for the different manners in which they approached the role of writer and reader(or non-reader in the case of "The Death of the Lion"). The four stories "The Aspern Papers", "The Middle Years" and "The Death of the Lion" revolve around the extreme devotation of a reader and their relationship with the author. All of these devotees have given up a portion or all of their lives for the author of their admiration. The question is what are their (the admirers') true motives in seeking contact with the authors, and in the case of "The Middle Years" and "Death of the Lion", what is the purpose of the admirer for the author. In "The Aspern Papers" the narrator fights to get ahold of the author's private papers, supposedly guarded by Aspern's one-time mistress. Like "Death of the Lion", it discusses to what extent the narrator or main character can rightfully claim ownership of an author and his or her works. In "Death of the Lion", told from the perspective of an expoitive newspaper man who fell in love with the author and his works, the role of the writer and reader is broken into opposing admirers: Those who admire the writer for his works, and those who admire him for the social status he can offer them. It asks the question who is most deserving of the author's time and respect, if anyone is at all. The Middle Years switches perspectives to that of the author who only now, when the time remaining for him is shorter, has he really learned how to right. He gains a devotee who he sees as a provider of an extension. The story discusses the relationship between the two. Finally is "The Private Life", which revolves around contrasting roles. It discusses characters and whether or not their outward appearances are the true personality.

Brilliant and also heartbreaking.......2000-02-12

The title novella here is one of the finest examples of the entire genre. The questions underlying the narrator's intended crime (such as the problems of literary propriety, the "hauntedness" scholars feel from their literary subjects) are exquisitely handled... yet even so this story wouldn't be nearly so memorable if its expert treatment of Miss Tina's anguish weren't rendered so vividly. Her confession scene ("I can't go on... I'm too ashamed!") is one of the most moving things James ever wrote, equalled only by her strange surmounting of that anguish later in the book and by the narrator's rueful closing words.

Intense story about a manipulative publisher.......1999-10-02

This is a fascinating, somewhat mystifying story about an American publisher who wants findsome long lost papers of an almost forgetten poet Jeffrey Aspern. The narrator finds his long ago mistress living in poverty in Venice. The reader is not only treated to this rather mysterious tale about the mistress Juliana Bordereau and her equally strange niece,Tina, but to a wonderful picture of l9th centurey Venice. The narrator behaves in a hypocritcal fashion, tryimg to get the papers of Aspern away from these two women. Henry James is his usual rather verbose mode of writing,but I found the book's tale pushing me to the end. 99bjb@mediaone.net

The Aspern Papers (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Assault on past memories
Superbly Written and Psychologically Astute
who is using who?
an excellent introduction to Henry James and his style
Short sharp Henry James shocker.

The Aspern Papers (Dover Thrift Editions)
Henry James
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486419223

Book Description

With a decaying Venetian villa as a backdrop, an anonymous narrator relates his obsessive quest for the personal documents of a deceased Romantic poet, one Jeffrey Aspern. Led by his mission into increasingly unscrupulous behavior, he is ultimately faced with relinquishing his heart's desire or attaining it at an overwhelming price.

Customer Reviews:

Assault on past memories .......2007-05-09

This is one of the best short novels by James, luxuriantly set in Venice. The young and unnamed narrator is an American who has developed sort of a monomania on the life and work of the deceased poet Jeffrey Aspern. He one day learns that Aspern's old mistress, Juliana, is living in Venice, in an old castle, with a niece of hers. There is word that this Juliana keeps important and revealing papers, possibly including some lost poems by Aspern and about his life. Other attempts by letter having failed, the man decides to travel to Venice in order to retrieve those treasured papers, whatever the cost. The two spinsters live in total solitude and utter poverty, so he tempts them by presenting an offer to rent a room, at a high price. Reluctantly, the women accept, and he starts then a shrewd strategy to win them into his favor, by doing things like remodelling the abandoned garden and sending them flowers every day. Little by little, he concentrates on the younger, shy, and insecure woman, until he gets her out to Saint Mark's piazza. No more will be revealed about the plot, but suffice it to say that his strategy is based on emotional assault, on the merciless and continuous smothering of every barrier the women have been building to protect their intimacy, their memories, and their secrets. Other reviewers have correctly pointed out the immorality of these moves, and it should also be said that they are depicted with a cruel sense of humor.

James shows here his great skills as a narrator, his ability to transform an apparently frivolous incident into a game of chess, deceit, pure and cold manipulation, in the magnificent scenario of old Venice. Both women are perfect characters: the decrepit, wicked and also manipulative Juliana, and the niece, devoid of will, without knowledge of the world, with nothing to hold on to. In the end, the question is who is manipulating who. The main character acts with total amorality, but great intelligence. As said before, the lush depictions of Venice give the final touch to this story by one of the masters of literature.

Superbly Written and Psychologically Astute.......2005-10-09

This story of an unnamed narrator ingratiating himself into the household of a elderly lady, once the mistress of a famous poet with whom the narrator is obsessed, and her middle-aged niece, in order to obtain papers written by the poet is superbly written and psychologically astute. As often is the case with the works of Henry James it is an exegesis on how people use other people. Often times it isn't exactly clear who is using whom more. The Aspern Papers is an excellent introduction to Henry James for those first approaching The Master's work. It is a novella, approximately 100 pages in length. The writing style is elegant and clear, unlike his style in later works like "The Wings of the Dove" and "The Golden Bowl" which tend to be convoluted and vague.

who is using who?.......2004-06-11

what a breath of fresh air this is to james' turn of the screw. the writing is so much clearer and easier to read. it makes the flow of the story much better thereby adding to the suspense. at the same time it contains some of the same ambiguities.

is the narrator amoral? yes his intentions are to become a boarder in the home of a former lover to the famous poet john aspern in order to get the letters he wrote to her. he does this through subterfuge. yet he has his limits. he won't court the spinster niece in order to get her help. he is actually quite honest and up front with her regarding his intentions when the time for deceipt comes. he also refuses to force her to do what she cannot.

the question becomes--is he the duper or the dupee? the actions of the women can easily be interpreted to reflect that they are willing to use the letters to entrap him to "become part of the family". he is continually induced to stay on by inference of help from the neice. the aunt also is part of a potential plot. she teases him with visits and a picture of aspern. does he get what he wants when he marries the niece?

as in the turn of the screw, this turn in the story is not made clear until the end. in order to find out who gets what, you'll have to read the book.

this story is good enough to make me think again about reading more james.

an excellent introduction to Henry James and his style.......2001-08-19

"The Aspern papers" is a surprisingly short, sexy and suspenseful novel. It will completely change your opinion of Henry James; he shows himself to be an master of suspense and well played out drama instead of the ambiguous pussyfooting plodder that most people think him to be. There is a definite touch of evil in this novella. It takes place in a stuffy interior world dominated by an old sinister woman in a green shade. The narrator's intentions are quite amoral and evil. The narration is deftly created through sure touches of insecurity and self pity. The trick of the unreliable narrator is used to great effect. And at no point does it seem anything other than a seamless and effective method of narration.

Short sharp Henry James shocker........2001-06-21

Such is his facility with the essentials of theatre - concentrated narrative action; lengthy, dramatic scenes of dialogue; vivid characterisation; pointed use of interior space, exits and entrances, and the revealing image - you wonder why James failed as a playwright.

Of course, there is a defining element of James' art that is impossible in the theatre - narration. The nameless narrator of 'The Aspern Papers' is one of the greatest monsters in James' teeming gallery of inglorious masculinity - the editor of a revered American literary poet, who tries to wheedle important documents from a celebrated lover, the now-decrepit Juliana, by installing himself as a lodger, and flattering her aging spinster niece. Like most James heroes, who treat life like a selfish game, he has no idea what emotional havoc he is wreaking on the woman.

The tale has all the drive and tantalising delay of a crime story - the hero is both detective and criminal, and the suspenseful climax suggests what a great genre writer James could have been. As with Stendhal, just as exciting are the intricate, agonising dialogues between the narrator and the niece, each wildly misunderstanding the other.

But if 'Aspern' is a crime story, than the the criminal is of the order of Freddie Montgomery in Banville's 'The Book of Evidence', a brilliant, charming, frighteningly amoral man, whose check of social scruples is dicarded with shocking ease. His seemingly over-detailed account is full of gaps, self-defence, self-pity, evasion, vagueness, misremembering, disarming honesty and wild misinterpreations of others' characters and motives. He is a man who can't see beyond his own narrow goal, behind whom we always sense an unseen, all-seeing eye.

He is the forerunner to a second modern anti-hero, 'Pale Fire''s Charles Kinbote, another literary editor whose devotion to his subject has become mad and murderous. In a Victorian age full of cant about the ennobling power of art, James asserts, disturbingly, the opposite - repeated exposure to sublime poetry (and the book is full of ironic references to religion and glorious war) has only made the narrator emotinally dead, unable to respond to the humanity of others. This 'portrait' of an aging muse, malevolent and concupiscent is a stark warning to literary idealisers, and a sad study of human decline, but should also be seen as a reflection of the narrator's own desires.

Book Description

Joseph Conrad once said of his friend Henry James, “As is meet for a man of his descent and tradition, Mr. James is the historian of fine consciences.” As it turns out, James was also incredibly gifted at writing exceptional ghost stories. This collection—including “The Beast in the Jungle” and “The Jolly Corner”—features James’s finest supernatural tales, along with criticism, a discussion of the legacies of James’s writing, and provocative study questions.

Customer Reviews:

A great introduction to James.......2003-09-23

Henry James is one of the most celebrated, and infamous, authors in the whole of literature -- worshipped by critics and literary scholars, but often befuddling to the general reader. This wonderful omnibus collects four of his works: the short novels The Aspern Papers and The Turn of the Screw, which are often bundled together, and two short stories: The Beast In the Jungle and The Jolly Corner. The two short novels are quintessential James -- ambiguous yet somehow suspenseful narratives, wordy and fascinating psychologically-descriptive prose, and open to interpretation. Each are simple stories on the surface; but the dedicated reader, if he or she delves deeply into the texts, will be rewarded with some of the most subtly-satisfying short works ever pinned. The Turn of the Screw is, perhaps, the greatest ghost story ever written, a superb psychological drama which yields many treasures to the Freudian literary sleuth (as, indeed, do all four stories.) For more detailed analyses of these two stories, one may refer to my reviews of them in separate editions. Suffice it to say here that, if one is interested in reading these two stories, this volume is the place to do so, because it also contains...

The two short stories. As short as these two works are, they both yield a myriad treasures to the dedicated reader. They are two superb psychological dramas, finely crafted. The Beast In the Jungle, in particular, is, in many ways, epitomizes James. He takes a very simple, almost clichéd premise and transforms it into something uniquely his own. His prose is very wordy, but not flowery: it functions to convey the depth of emotion felt by the protagonist and also manages to plumb the depths of his mind. These two short works are great reads for the James fan, and the introduction to the book manages to tie them in to the longer works in this volume.

Anyone who has decided to take the plunge into the James canon would do well to start here. In addition to this volume's containing the four aforementioned works, it must also be stated that the Barnes & Noble Classics editions are extremely nice. In addition to usually containing multiple works, which mostly cannot be found together anywhere else, they also boast a variety of supplementary materials which simply cannot be found anywhere else: a nice, substantial introduction addressing all of the works contained within, adequate but not overbearing notes, a sampling of critical and popular opinion on the works, and even a list of questions for discussion and a page with quotes from the book. On top of all this, they are extremely affordable. Very highly recommended.

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The Aspern Papers
Henry James
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1419152769

Book Description

...had taken Mrs. Prest into my confidence; in truth without her I should have made but little advance, for the fruitful idea in the whole business dropped from her friendly lips. It was she who invented the short cut, who severed the Gordian knot.

The Aspern Papers (Penguin Popular Classics)

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The Aspern Papers (Penguin Popular Classics)
Henry James
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Burning the Aspern Papers (Miami University Press Poetry Series)

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Burning the Aspern Papers (Miami University Press Poetry Series)
John Drury
Manufacturer: Miami University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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DAISY MILLER THE ASPERN PAPERS THE TURN OF THE SCREW THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE

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DAISY MILLER THE ASPERN PAPERS THE TURN OF THE SCREW THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE

Manufacturer: Book-of-the-Month Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000BKCURA

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THE ASPERN PAPERS
HENRY JAMES
Manufacturer: SECKER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SBM4KU

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