ISLE: L14: Victorian Age III

Henry James - The turn of the screw

What did the Victorian Era look like in the US?

1. American civil war (1861-1865)

2. Reconstruction era (1865-1877)

3. The gilded age (1870s-1890s)

What is the reconstruction era

A period of rebuilding the south after the civil war with efforst to integrate formerly enslaved people into society. The 14th and 15th amendmends expanded voting rights.

What happened during the gilded age

A rapid expansion of factories, railroads and large corporations and a growth of major industries such as steel, oil and manufacturing

How did cities change during the Gilded Age?

They expanded rapidly due to urbanization. Immigration and movement from rural areas caused population growth in US cities, most of the immigrants came from Europe.

Who was Henry James

• A writer who was born into a wealthy and intellectual family in the US.

• His father was a theologian and his brother William was known as the father of American psychology

• He grew up traveling between the US and Europe, he became a naturalized British citizen

• He wrote short stories and ltierary criticism in the 1860s before writing novels

What is “psychological realism”?

A style focusing on characters’ inner thoughts and feelings.

What does “show, not tell” mean?

Writers should reveal meaning through scenes and actions, not explanation.

What is the turn of the screw

A novel by Henry james that was first published as serialized fiction in a magazine

What are the three main interpretations of the turn of the screw

• Supernatural reading: The ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel haunt the Bly mansion and the children

• Supernatural reading: The children are evil and caused the deaths of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, who now appear as ghosts

• Psychological reading: The governess may be hallucinating or mentally unstable

What was the dominant literary genre in the late 19th century?

The novel, that was mainly published as serialized works or ‘three-deckers’

What does the realist novel depict?

A large, contemporary social world with different classes, settings, characters and plotlines. It is about individuals vs society, opportunity and class mobility

What is realism in literature?

Creating an illusion of objective reality. Realism is not truly objective because writers shape and interpret reality.

Characteristics of (late) realism

• Questioning the illusion of reality. What is an objective and a subjective experience of reality

• Influenced by Melodrama and popular theatre

• Experiments with storytelling and form

What role does melodrama play in late realism

It creates strong emotional highs and lows. Writers take inspiration from scientific discourse and are influenced by new scientific discoveries in the 19th century.

Why is late realism seen as a precursor to modernism

It experiments with form and challenges the idea of objective truth. The key difference is that modernism breaks the illusion of reality more radically.

What does the frame narrative suggest about the turn of the screw

It suggests that the story has been reinterpreted and constructed. After the frametale we to the manuscript of the Governess, which plants seeds of doubt througout the story. She herself questions the state of her own mind which suggest subjectivity and enforces her unreliability.

What new field developed in the late 19th century?

Scientific study of psychology and mental illness. It explored trauma, repression, and the unconscious mind

What was “female hysteria”?

A diagnosis given mainly to women for emotional and mental instability. It is often explained through gendered assumptions about women’s emotional and biological fragility

What were the symptoms of female hysteria

• Anxiety

• emotional instability

• hallucinating

• fainting

• nervous disorders

What does psychoanalysis suggest about mental illness?

Developped by sigmund freud who said that symptoms of hysteria could come from repressed memories, desire or trauma stored in the unconscious mind.

Psychological disturbances were expressions of hidden internal conflicts rather than purely physical ilness

What is “the uncanny”?

something which is recognizable, is in some way altered or placed in a context that makes it strange and unnerving as explained in Das Unheimliche by Sigmund Freud

What is the uncanny often associated with?

• repetition/deja vu

• doubles/mirrored identities

• blurred boundaries between imagination and reality

• return of repressed thoughts or fears

What is the need of the frametale in the turn of the screw

Introducing the governess, who is described as psychologically invulnerable

What did children usually symbolize in 19th-century literature?

Innocence and purity. When children behave in ways that seem secretive, knowing, or emotionally
detached, this can create an uncanny effec

Why are uncanny children unsettling?

Their behaviour may appear ambiguous: are they naïve, manipulative, or
influenced by unseen forces?

How are Miles and Flora first presented in the turn of the screw?

They appear angelic yet sometimes display unsettling calmness, secrecy, and awareness. This ambiquity creates the question of if they are victims of supernatural influence or projections of the governess’ fear and imagination.

What style is Henry James known for

Psychological realism, a focus on characters’ thoughts and inner experiences.

What type of point of view does James often use

A limited point of view, which restricts the reader’s knowledge. Narrators are often unreliable because they interpret events rather than state objective facts

Relevant themes for Henry James and literary realism

• Perception vs reality

• Innocence vs corruption

• Ambiguity and interpretation