Henry James, página 14 de 58

The Turn of the Screw, originally published in 1898, is a gothic ghost story novella written by Henry James. Due to its original content, the novella became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive. Many critics have tried to determine the exact nature of the evil hinted at by the story. However, others have argued that the true brilliance of the novella comes with its ability to create an intimate confusion and suspense for the reader (font: Wikipedia)

IntroductionThe litigation seemed interminable and had in fact been complicated; but by the decision on the appeal the judgement of the divorce-court was confirmed as to the assignment of the child. The father, who, though bespattered from head to foot, had made good his case, was, in pursuance of this triumph, appointed to keep her: it was not so much that the mothers character had been more absolutely damaged as that the brilliancy of a ladys complexion (and this ladys, in court, was immensely remarked) might be more regarded as showing the spots. Attached, however, to the second pronouncement was a condition that detracted, for Beale Farange, from its sweetnessan order that he should refund to his late wife the twenty-six hundred pounds put down by her, as it was called, some three years before, in the interest of the childs maintenance and precisely on a proved understanding that he would take no proceedings: a sum of which he had had the administration and of which he could render not the least account.

La jaula a la que alude el título de esta novela es la oficina de correos en la que una humilde joven se halla confinada, despachando sellos y telegramas a lo más florido del elegante distrito londinense de Mayfair. Para su clientela, naturalmente, la chica no tiene mas sentimientos que un buzon; pero en los oscuros textos de sus telegramas ella es capaz de adivinar terribles secretos e intimidades. Publicada en 1898, el mismo año que Lo que Maisie sabia y Otra vuelta de tuerca, En la jaula es, como estas, una leccion magistral sobre el arte del punto de vista, y una ocasion extraordinaria para conocer un Henry James social, moviendose en los abismos de las clases asalariadas como en los de las clases ociosas, sin merma de soltura ni de penetracion.

Considerada una de las mejores novelas de Henry James," El retrato de una dama" una" historia sencilla" gira en torno a la joven y atractiva Isabel Archer, quien se ve obligada a trasladarse a Inglaterra desde su Estados Unidos natal. Una vez alli, establece distintas relaciones con otros americanos trasplantados, asi como con la sociedad britanica. La belleza y distincion de las que hace gala no pasan inadvertidas y son varios y de distinta laya los que la pretenden. Su eleccion final la llevara, paradojicamente, a poner de manifiesto toda su grandeza.

Publicada por primera vez hace más de cien años, Otra vuelta de tuerca sigue siendo la historia de fantasmas por excelencia. Planteada como un relato que se narra al calor de un fuego en la chimenea la novela cuenta la historia de una institutriz instalada en una mansion victoriana al cuidado de dos niños. Dias despues de su llegada la vision de dos espectros la trastoca. Sirviendose de un equilibrio exquisito entre lo que se dice lo que no se dice, lo que se ve, lo que se imagina y lo que se insinua, la novela perturba al lector. Ana Juan, Premio Nacional de Ilustracion y reconocida colaboradora de publicaciones como The New Yorker responde y sugiere al inquietante Henry James.

Reunidos por primera vez en español, Londres recoge los textos que el autor americano dedicó a la capital británica, "el lugar preciso del mundo que con más fuerza comunica la sensación de estar vivo".Con un estilo inimitable y la precision de un fino observador, James desliza la mirada sobre multiples aspectos de la gran ciudad y de sus habitantes. Todo pasa por su lupa, todo tiene cabida en su prosa: desde los efectos del hollin en el paisaje urbano, hasta la supuesta unanimidad de los ingleses; desde el verdor de los parques o la presencia salvifica del Tamesis, hasta la vida en los suburbios; desde las aglomeraciones en ciertas esquinas o, hasta la soledad que se experimenta en verano y que uno debe compartir con exconvictos, vagabundos y gentes de mal vivir.todo lo hace James reelaborando el modelo de retrato, el concepto de narracion, la idea del viaje, que conforme se acerca a su fin deja tras de si la estela de una perdida.El lector tiene en las manos un libro que invita al viaje, a revisitar esta "tenebrosa y moderna Babilonia", si, pero tambien a la reflexion, a la critica de la contemporaneidad y, sobre todo, a la gran literatura.

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasionan appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him. It was this observation that drew from Douglasnot immediately, but later in the eveninga reply that had the interesting consequence to which I call attention. Someone else told a story not particularly effective, which I saw he was not following. This I took for a sign that he had himself something to produce and that we should only have to wait. We waited in fact till two nights later; but that same evening, before we scattered, he brought out what was in his mind.

A Volta do Parafuso - The Turn of the Screw, de Henry James enquadra-se bem no genero novela, em que o autor foi particularmente bem-sucedido, constituindo um paradigma desse formato. Em seu aparecimento - em quatro partes, nos primeiros meses de 1898 - foi considerado um dos maiores triunfos literarios do autor, mas foi tambem tido como seu trabalho mais enigmatico e controvertido. Fez enorme sucesso e tornou-se um dos trabalhos mais populares do autor. Mas, A Volta do Parafuso provocou polemica, porque nunca ficou claro se a preceptora, que narra a historia de um casal de crianças possuido pelos espiritos de um criado de quarto e uma antecessora de sua funço num casaro antigo em Bly, interior da Inglaterra, eram reais ou apenas fruto de uma imaginaço obsessiva. Pelo vies da analise freudiana da reprimida sexualidade da era vitoriana, a preceptora, cheia de romantismo exaltado e sem experiencia sexual alguma, podia ser vista como narradora altamente suspeita. A nova ediço bilingue, em sua segunda ediço, conta com a apurada traduço do jornalista, escritor e critico de cinema Chico Lopes, que resgatou a historia poderosamente sugestiva e que pode ir sendo descascada, camada por camada, sem que um miolo univoco seja atingido. Entre as intençes de James e as interpretaçes que a novela suscitou, ha um abismo curiosamente jamesiano.

Henry James''s great masterpiece, now in a stunning Penguin clothbound edition designed by the acclaimed Coralie Bickford-Smith.When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy her freedom, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. Then she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond. Charming and cultivated, Osmond sees Isabel as a rich prize waiting to be taken. In this portrait of a ''young woman affronting her destiny'', Henry James created one of his most magnificent heroines, and a story of intense poignancy.This edition is based on the earliest published copy of the novel: this is the version that was read first and loved by most readers in James''s lifetime. It also includes an introduction, notes and other editorial materials by leading James scholar Philip Horne.Henry James was born in 1843 in Washington Place, New York, of Scottish and Irish ancestry. In addition to many short stories, plays, books of criticism, autobiography and travel, he wrote some twenty novels, the first published being Roderick Hudson (1875). They include The Europeans, Washington Square, The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, The Princess Casamassima, The Tragic Muse, The Spoils of Poynton, The Awkward Age, The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl.Philip Horne is Professor of English at University College London.

This early work by Henry James was originally published in 1888 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Henry James was born in New York City in 1843. One of thirteen children, James had an unorthodox early education, switching between schools, private tutors and private reading.. James published his first story, 'A Tragedy of Error', in the Continental Monthly in 1864, when he was twenty years old. In 1876, he emigrated to London, where he remained for the vast majority of the rest of his life, becoming a British citizen in 1915. From this point on, he was a hugely prolific author, eventually producing twenty novels and more than a hundred short stories and novellas, as well as literary criticism, plays and travelogues. Amongst James's most famous works are The Europeans (1878), Daisy Miller (1878), Washington Square (1880), The Bostonians (1886), and one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, The Turn of the Screw (1898). We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

A besta na xungla apareceu en 1903 dentro da recompilación intitulada The Better Sort. É un dos escasos textos que James non publicou na prensa ou en revistas. Trátase dunha novela curta que xira ao redor da ambigua relacion que xorde tras o reencontro de John Marcher e May Bartram, logo dunha decada sen saber nada o un do outro. O seu corte simbolista, e por momentos abstracto, forma parte da estratexia narrativa do autor, que se esmera en mergullar o lector nun labirinto psicoloxico, imprescindible para afondar nos sentimentos mais intimos e etereos. Existe un libro que rexistra as delicadas emocions dun home ao que nada lle ocorre, A besta na xungla, a meta da novela psicoloxica, afirmou Borges desta historia aberta a multiples lecturas e que invita a encher os espazos de indeterminacion.Esta pequena obra mestra aborda as relacions de dependencia talvez o amor, sublimado e inaprensible; posible reflexo da relacion do enigmatico e versatil Henry James coa tamen escritora Constance Fenimore Woolson grazas a unha carga considerable de reflexion, a dous unicos personaxes catalizadores e a suxestiva imaxe da besta, que, acazapada na xungla, asexa.

The apparition had reached the landing half-way up and was therefore on the spot nearest the window where, at the sight of me, it stopped short''Oscar Wilde called James''s chilling The Turn of the Screw ''a most wonderful, lurid, poisonous little tale''. It tells of a young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something malevolent is stalking the children in her care. But is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence, or something else entirely? The Turn of the Screw is James''s great masterpiece of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension.Part of a series of new Penguin Classics editions of Henry James''s works, this edition contains a chronology, further reading, notes and an introduction by David Bromwich examining the carefully maintained ambiguity of James''s work and the inseparability of narrative from point-of-view.