The article demonstrates the long thought process Henry James had to go through to create this novella. Having this been one of his greatest, most popular stories, he has had many critiques on it. Nicole Smith, critic on Henry James's Turn of the Screw was one of the positives. The author wanted to point out that "instead of being a typical ghost story" there's more to the plot (Smith). She goes on claiming James has become a "paramount importance" from the narration in the novella (Smith). The structure goes a long way in this article. Every paragraph is the start of a chronological important event in the novella. This makes Smith's writings logical and easy to follow. Also compared to other articles on the same books, this article was much shorter and got to the point much quicker. The evidence Smith provides helps the article to achieve its purpose of praising James's work. She thought his ghost story was unique. The evidence was more typical than rare. Other articles argued the same and her statements were usual. Smith claimed his "active imagination" was what helped him be over the edge. But in reality it seems as if her evidence wasn't much of evidence (Smith). She also like that the narration was unreliable, which all together don't seem like a strong argument to begin with. The conclusions made by the author are made actually from the reader. She never really commits to saying anything that the article is based off of. Her purpose was claiming that the ghost story is actually different but no other conclusions were really believed. Some biases that could have developed prior were that she liked past books of Henry James and that James's ghost stories weren't familiar to her. The author explicitly states that the unreliable narrator is what made the story. With no unreliable narrator the story could have been a normal, boring old ghost story. James's Turn of the Screw changes the ghost story stereotype forever.
Smith, Nicole. "Turn of the Screw." Article Myriad. (2010).
Sheaffer-Jones, Caroline. "The Subject of Narration: Blanchot and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw." Colloquy: Text Theory Critique no. 10 (2005): 231.
Veeder, William. "The Nurturance of the Gothic." Gothic Studies 1.1 (1999): 47.
started by Melanie Reyes on 24 Jan 11
The structure goes a long way in this article. Every paragraph is the start of a chronological important event in the novella. This makes Smith's writings logical and easy to follow. Also compared to other articles on the same books, this article was much shorter and got to the point much quicker. The evidence Smith provides helps the article to achieve its purpose of praising James's work. She thought his ghost story was unique. The evidence was more typical than rare. Other articles argued the same and her statements were usual. Smith claimed his "active imagination" was what helped him be over the edge. But in reality it seems as if her evidence wasn't much of evidence (Smith). She also like that the narration was unreliable, which all together don't seem like a strong argument to begin with.
The conclusions made by the author are made actually from the reader. She never really commits to saying anything that the article is based off of. Her purpose was claiming that the ghost story is actually different but no other conclusions were really believed. Some biases that could have developed prior were that she liked past books of Henry James and that James's ghost stories weren't familiar to her. The author explicitly states that the unreliable narrator is what made the story. With no unreliable narrator the story could have been a normal, boring old ghost story. James's Turn of the Screw changes the ghost story stereotype forever.
Smith, Nicole. "Turn of the Screw." Article Myriad. (2010).
Sheaffer-Jones, Caroline. "The Subject of Narration: Blanchot and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw." Colloquy: Text Theory Critique no. 10 (2005): 231.
Veeder, William. "The Nurturance of the Gothic." Gothic Studies 1.1 (1999): 47.