The Turn of the Screw (1898) is a novella by Henry James. A young governess, alone in charge of two children at a remote English country house, becomes convinced that they are haunted by the ghosts of two former servants. Whether the ghosts are real has been debated ever since.
The story
At a Christmas gathering, a guest reads aloud the manuscript of a woman who was once governess at Bly, a country house, to the orphaned Miles and Flora. Their uncle, who hired her, has forbidden her to contact him.
She sees a strange man and a pale woman around the house and learns that they resemble Peter Quint, the former valet, and Miss Jessel, the former governess, both dead. Convinced they want to possess the children, she fights to save them, with tragic results.
Publication
The story was serialised in Collier's Weekly in 1898 and published the same year in a volume called The Two Magics, with another story. James had heard the germ of the story from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson.
James called it 'a fairy-tale pure and simple' and a 'pot-boiler', but it became one of his most read works.
Two readings
For much of the twentieth century critics debated whether the ghosts are real or whether the governess is imagining them; the critic Edmund Wilson argued in 1934 for a psychological reading.
The ambiguity is part of its power. It inspired Benjamin Britten's opera (1954) and the film The Innocents (1961).
Anecdotes
A story from an archbishop
In January 1895 Archbishop Benson told James a story he had heard, about servants who were evil and children in danger from them. James noted it in his notebook that very evening.
A turn of the screw
The title comes from the story's prologue: a ghost story with a child gives 'another turn of the screw', and one with two children gives two turns.
Frequently asked questions
Are the ghosts real in The Turn of the Screw?
James never says. Some readers believe in them; others think the governess imagines them.
Who are Peter Quint and Miss Jessel?
A former valet and a former governess at Bly, both dead, whose ghosts the governess believes she sees.
Where was the story first published?
In Collier's Weekly, an American magazine, from January to April 1898.