The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels - (Signet Classics) by Henry James (Paperback)

About the Book

This indispensable anthology collects the short novels of Henry James, offering readers the full range of his skill and vision. Includes the chilling title novel, along with "The Aspern Papers, The Altar of the Dead, The Beast in the Jungle," and other classics. Revised reissue.

Book Synopsis

By turns chilling, funny, tragic, and profound, this collection of six Henry James short novels allows readers to experience the full range of his skills and vision.

The title story, "The Turn of the Screw," is a chilling masterpiece of psychological terror that mixes the phantoms of the mind with those of the supernatural.

"Daisy Miller," the tale of a provincial American girl in Rome that established James's literary reputation, and "An International Episode" are superb examples of his focus on the clash between American and European values.

And in "The Aspern Papers," "The Alter of the Dead," and "The Beast in the Jungle," the author's remarkable sense of irony, his love of plot twists, and his view of male-female relationships find exquisite expression.

With an Introduction by Fred Kaplan

About the Author

Henry James (1843-1916) spent his early life in America but often traveled with his celebrated family to Europe. After briefly attending Harvard, he began to contribute both criticism and tales to magazines. Later, he visited Europe and began Roderick Hudson. Late in 1875, he settled in Paris, where he met Turgenev, Flaubert, and Zola and wrote The American. In 1876, he moved to London, where two years later he achieved international fame with Daisy Miller. His other famous works include The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Princess Casamassma (1886), The Wings of the Dove (1902), and The Golden Bowl (1904). In 1915, a few months before his death, he became a British subject.

Fred Kaplan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of The Singular Mark Twain, A Biography; Gore Vidal, A Biography; Henry James, The Imagination of Genius and Charles Dickens, A Biography. His Thomas Carlyle was a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award and was a jury-nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Other works include Sacred Tears: Sentimentality in Victorian Literature, Dickens and Mesmerism: the Hidden Spring of Fiction, and Miracles of Rare Device: The Poet's Sense of Self in Nineteenth-Century Poetry.