Comments on: And the James Version

By: ineed3

ineed3 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:35:11 +0000

Yeah, I have to say I had a little trouble getting into the world of the story when I read TOTS, but once I did I devoured every page. When I finally got to the last page, it was like, “WHAT!? No, that can’t be IT!” and kept turning pages, looking for more story because it couldn’t possibly END THAT WAY! The last page made me want to throw it against the wall, but up until then it was gripping. Also: OF COURSE there were ghosts. Only old men have the fantasy that sexually repressing a girl for years and years and years and years (until she reaches the ancient age of, say, 19 or 20 the way this girl probably was) would send her round the bend. Speaking from the perspective of someone who had plenty of celebrity crushes but didn’t actually date a guy until she was 18, I can tell you I did not hallucinate- at least, not to my knowledge! Thanks for rewriting this one, Jenny- I can’t wait to see it turn out good!

By: DownUnderGal

DownUnderGal — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:54:20 +0000

Okay, sorry to be the heathen in the group but the first sentence bored me to tears. As did the second. I didn’t read any further. I dont care if Henry James wrote it and I get its supposed to be “good” and real “literature but if I’d paid money for this I would have thrown it against the wall.
Give me this opener any day:
Once upon a time, Minerva Dobbs thought as she stood in the middle of a loud yuppie bar, the world was full of good men. She looked into the handsome face of the man she’d planned on as a date to her sister’s wedding and thought, Those days are gone.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:46:15 +0000

It ended up in moderation, Sharon. Did you use a different e-mail address or log-in? First time posters are the ones who get moderated. Anyway, it’s up now.

By: Sharon Bates

Sharon Bates — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:44:54 +0000

My comment must have gone into space-anyone find it?

By: sharon

sharon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:36:20 +0000

The works of Henry James and Edith Wharton are the books that drove me to romance novels! Winter is very depressing for me and I always made a long list of things to do to keep my mind and hands occupied during the long, dark days. We live out in the country so I would make lists of serious, important authors to read and get these books fro m the library in big sacks. Last winter I became even MORE depressed and decided that I could NOT read any more fiction about a character who was in worse mental shape than I. That’s when I discovered Jenny and I just lost myself in happiness. The cold, snow, ice and bad roads disappeared and I could spend the day worried about how to get and keep that man. The men are strong, goodlooking and the women are real-who could ask for more! Of course, I don’t just read Jenny-I have tried other romance writers. As we all know, there is a huge amount of romance literature out there so I can pick and choose. Some books I read are “keepers” to be read again and others are passed to friends. I will be happy to never read another regency romance in my lifetime nor do I care for westerns but as long as Jenny keeps writing I will be happy!

By: Micki

Micki — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:47:32 +0000

Just read The Yellow Wallpaper . . . whoa. There’s a link there where the author explains how she came to write that, and that is quite heartening. Brrrr. I can see why “they” invented ghosts — it’s much easier to examine that kind of problem from a distance . . . . Probably not as effective, though . . . .

By: Micki

Micki — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:03:03 +0000

Read a couple of essays, and have things pretty well straight in my head now. Yeah, Douglas (? I mean Unreliable Narrator) was also quite enthusiastic about the young man who hired the governess, too, even though in the narrative he is such a cold bastard. So I can see where he might think a charming sociopath would be . . . charming. I wonder why she sent the manuscript to Unreliable anyway? An echo of Miles, who went out to the lawn just to show he could be bad?

Miles or Flora . . . poor babies. I really don’t want to hear their POV. Too harrowing.

(-: OK, I’m going to leave it be for awhile. This is definitely a book that would benefit from a Henry James internet fan club. Reading it alone is not the way it was meant to be read, I think.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:49:09 +0000

You’re not alone, Micki. Volumes have been written on that sucker. I’m pretty sure James said the ghosts were real, but I’m also pretty sure the governess had gone round the bend at the end. Look on the bright side, “dispossessed” meant Miles was free of both Quint and the governess. It’s a win-win. Well, and a lose, but still.

The guy telling the Christmas story had been in love with her so he’s the classic Unreliable Narrator. Plus, she’s an unreliable narrator because she’s obviously justifying everything that happened, which is normal and human and in this case creepy.

Now imagine the story if Miles or Flora were telling it.

By: Micki

Micki — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:22:39 +0000

LOL, I felt very similar sentiments upon finishing The Count of Monte Cristo. Great adventure, craptastic ending. I want to set it in the far future, give the hero a sex-change, and end it Happily.

As for Turn . . . my first thought upon finishing (about 15 minutes ago) was, what the hell happened here? And that poor man . . . I can’t imagine how James went around with that, that, that *thing* in his head, getting it down on paper.

Still very confused. Was she just temporarily insane? Because the guy telling the Christmas ghost story seemed to think she was a pretty nice lady. And those kids . . . lost their folks, abused by Quint and Jessel . . . the nice kid act was protective coloring — I’ll be good, God, I promise — and to still be accused of trickery and evil tendencies by the mad governess . . . .

Ah well, joys of literature. Also, I’ve got a Halloween reader, and find it so curious that *Christmas* was so associated with Ghost Stories. Look at A Christmas Carol first, and then I’m sure there are a ton of others. Kind of makes sense — you need death before a re-birth — but so at odds with our modern conception of Christmas.

(-: rambling, sorry. I’m glad I read it, but not sure I’m up to reading it again so I can really understand it . . . .

By: Lori J.

Lori J. — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:35:54 +0000

There’s a 1989 British PBS version of The Yellow Wallpaper done years ago. Super creepy.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:45:36 +0000

Yeah, that’s the reason I first wanted to rewrite it, so the governess could get on the phone and say, “There are ghosts, get your selfish ass down here.” But of course, if she’d done that, it wouldn’t be Turn of the Screw.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:53:58 +0000

Wow, my shrimp chow mein is getting cold, but I finally figured out what has pissed me off so much about this story. I read it a hundred years ago, when I was reading all the other ghost stories and the Brontes and buying into the received wisdom of what was good.

But look here: a good-looking, selfish, smooth-talking tricky dude “seduces” an innocent young woman into heading off to an isolated spookhouse to take care of two kids with no input from anyone–certainly not from him because he just can’t be bothered. He’s busy with his job, after all. So she goes there and the kids drive her nuts or maybe there are ghosts, and mean ones. And I don’t remember how it comes out and I don’t have the time or interest to read the original, which is such a piss-off.

But look at that girl’s situation and how she got into it. Tell me–ISN’T THIS THE VERY THING THAT GOT BETTY FRIEDAN SO UPSET?

And I never should have said your book would be okay. It’ll be great, because you will overturn the gawdoffal situation of the original. And yes, I recall somewhere that James said the ghosts were real. But that doesn’t change the absolute selfishness of the man and the lack of–something–self preservation instinct? of the woman.

Okay. Off the soapbox and toward the microwave.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:35:31 +0000

It’s a famous book, and it’s going to get the Crusie touch, so it will probably be good.
But, um, that excerpt–no. Honestly, I can’t think of anything worse than being shut up in a country house with two strange (unfamiliar) children and no hunk in sight. Yes. I can. It’s having to read a book about it.
I am soooo glad to hear your description of the house as a clown car–now that sounds delish! That I would like. Lots.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a good read, AIR.
Now that you’ve said clown car I’m totally on board for this.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:36:33 +0000

The whole book is online at the link in the post. You can read it any time.

Another great one is The Yellow Wallpaper.

It’s a novella, so it’s all on one screen there.

By: RfP

RfP — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:34:51 +0000

Hmm, this might be a good book to bring back the snow globe collection…. Eerie snow globes, that is
(More by Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz)

By: Sheri

Sheri — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:20:32 +0000

I have never read this book, but now I have to admit it sounds–tantalizing. Thinking a trip to the library is in store for me today. Or maybe I will wait a little while until the weather here finally changes. Seems more a book to be read on a dark and stormy night with a hot toddy in hand, a fire in the hearth, and a dog curled at ones feet…

By: Micki

Micki — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:48:59 +0000

OK, I think I’ll do it! Can probably read it on line, even, I just realized. Now, I need something happy to “chase” it. Preferably with ghosts . . . Mary Roach’s Spook was very good (but non-fiction).

That whole era, the whole Spiritualism thing, has fascinated me since I was in elementary school. I’ve about come down on the “no ghosts” side, but I still enjoy a good ghost story.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:36:19 +0000

It’s actually very good, but it’s not an upper.
The big question with Turn of the Screw is whether there really are ghosts. James wrote it before Freud did his publishing on repression and projection, but the entire story can be read as a governess who is sexually repressed being sent into isolation in the country who slowly goes mad and thinks she sees ghosts. Or it can be read as the story of a governess who is sent into isolation in the country and finds herself in a haunted house. I swear I read a letter from James that said “Of course there are ghosts,” but I’ve never been able to find it again, so maybe not. I do think it’s an amazing story.

The big switch for me in writing AKMG is that the governess’s conflict arises in TotS because she’s so isolated. If she had somebody sane to talk to, if she could have gotten those kids out there, she’d have been okay. On the other hand, Andie would have been all right if she’d stayed isolated with the kids; instead the house becomes a clown car and every time she opens the door, somebody else comes in, and it’s all the roiling emotions and conflict that screw up her life.

If you’re looking for a good movie adaptation, the best is The Innocents. Black and white with Deborah Kerr. Screenplay by Truman Capote.

By: Micki

Micki — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:03:38 +0000

I sometimes get frustrated with this kind of meandering language, but there are a lot of delights to “chewing your food slowly.” The slow build-up, suddenly discharged by “and what did the former governess die of?”

(-: And now I want to read it! But I hate depressing works; is it quite unsatisfying, the ending? I read The Bostonians this year, and was OK with that. Should I take the plunge?

By: CrankyOtter

CrankyOtter — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:53:14 +0000

A word for your webmistress: I tried to print this out from MS explorer to read over lunch and the monkey and stars image in a giant blue square was in front of all the text at top and bottom of each page. While I like having the header print, it’s less useful as foreground.