Henry James: The Turn of the Screw, The Aspern Papers, and Two Stories

• ISBN-13: 9781593080433
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 8/1/2003
• Pages: 336

  Rich in his storytelling techniques and psychological insight, Henry James explores human character with an elegant realism. This collection offers four of his most popular shorter works: The Aspern Papers, The Turn of the Screw, "The Jolly Corner," and "The Beast in the Jungle." 
 In The Aspern Papers cultures, generations, and genders clash as a literary historian tries to pry a packet of letters, written by an important American poet, from the woman to whom they were sent many years earlier. The teasingly ambiguous The Turn of the Screw, perhaps the most sophisticated "ghost story" ever written, finds a governess haunted by spirits that seem connected to the children in her care. Are they truly supernatural beings, or projections of her own repressed feelings? As a critique of the popular spiritualism of the 1890's and an exploration of the subjective point of view in narrative, the story remains a fascinating classic of suspense. "The Jolly Corner" and "The Beast in the Jungle" also feature characters who encounter apparitions that may express aspects of their hidden selves. These four texts, published in James's middle and final periods, brilliantly illustrate his thematic concerns and stylistic range.

Whew, what a mouth-full for a title. Well, multiple titles really. This is not the first time I've read James's work, but these short stories are significantly different from The Bostonians, which I read before I went to Korea. (PS - total side note, I just bought my ticket for Japan - egads.) To me, The Bostonians was much less wordy and much more plot driven, but I suppose that makes sense, considering the fact that that was a novel and these are not.
 The first thing I noticed was that James seemed to be saying a whole lot without saying much. Much of the prose was extremely cerebral and rather danced around subjects without explicitly saying what he was talking about. That got a little annoying, and I found myself spacing out a couple of times, and not really missing much. I don't recommend doing that, though, because you might miss something important in the endless prose that might be the key to unlocking the mystery of the plot. What? Yes.
 The first story involved a rather selfish fellow that missed his opportunity at potential happiness. And we see that theme run through all the stories, although the characters manage to save themselves at times and to different degrees. These are The Aspern Papers, Jeffrey Aspern being a fictional poet of little to no importance that has caught the fascination of our protagonist and one of his friends. He goes to Italy to find Aspern's former lover on the assumption that she has papers from Aspern, and he rents out one of her rooms to get closer to her. The adventures ensue from there.
 Following this is The Turn of the Screw, a fairly unusual ghost story. Everything is vague, of course, being James. There is something going on between the children and some ghosts, but who knows what? I certainly don't, even by the end of the story. You have an idea, but I'm not going to tell you so you can revel in the speculation. And there's a lot of speculation.
 The final two stories echo the first two, although to a lesser extent as they are shorter. We have the man facing his own inner demons (i.e. himself) in the form of a ghostly haunting, and a man that is constantly waiting for some big event in his life, to the point where he misses said event. Rather depressing, that.
 James clearly was concerned with a few overriding themes, and I hope for hi sakes he got those issues hashed out.
 Overall: B
 The stories were interesting and had definite ideas to be absorbed, if one is willing to put in the work. If you aren't, though, be advised - this is not super light reading, despite being a collection of short stories.