8/23: a mini Jamesian project

In 2007 I made a happy peace with Henry James. Before that, I felt like he baffled me, and I had a hard time with his books. In 2007 I read The Bostonians, and ever since James has been in my "favorite authors" list. One of the James pieces that had given me trouble before my 2007 break-through is The Turn of the Screw, and I recently picked up a copy of it, determined to give it another go. Last night Chris and I watched The Innocents, a 1961 film based on The Turn of the Screw and starring Deborah Kerr (we're on a bit of a Deborah Kerr kick). So today I've been sitting on the porch and reading James' novella, having fun comparing and contrasting the film and book in my mind. I'm still finding The Turn of the Screw's prose harder than other Jamesian writing, but now I'm beginning to see why a twisting style might be especially effective with this work.

1 comment:

Barbara said...

Youngest Daughter and I are planning a series of camping trips, our latest new thing. I told her we had to face the campground as competent women so we set up the tent in the living room -- in 10 minutes flat!