31: Chs 2–3 Turn of the Screw

(Apologies although I blathered quite a bit anyway...) This week, chapters 2-3! More Amazing Crochet from Dawn, some victorian pruditry, more wonderful emails from y'all, how to be an ostritch rather than a governess, and a little background on our author. His dad was a Swedenborgian (say THAT three times fast) and I thought--when working through the "ghost" question--this quotation was ellucidating: Although James had rejected in the beginning of his career "spirit-rappings and ghost-raising", in the 1880s he become interested in the unconscious and the supernatural. In 1908 he wrote that "Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are not 'ghosts' at all, as we now know the ghost, but goblins, elves, imps, demons as loosely constructed as those of the old trials for whichcraft; if not, more pleasingly, fairies of the legendary order, wooing their victims forth to see them dance under the moon." Virginia Woolf thought that Henry James's ghost have nothing in common with the violent old ghosts - "the blood-stained captains, the white horses, the headless ladies of dark lanes and windy commons." Edmund Wilson was convinced that the story was "primarily intended as a characterization of the governess". Then there's the "corruption" question. Ah...the tangled web... ALERT: I just this second got this email from MaryBeth--right after uploading the 'Cast. Darnit. But it's worth noting here: Loved your comments on the Fog Index. I'm a technical editor, and I have the following quote by Melville on my wall at work: "A man of true science uses but few hard words, and only those when none other will serve his purpose; whereas the smatterer in science thinks that by mouthing hard words he proves that he understands hard things." Is that not brilliant?! I love Melville...but I'm not gonna do Moby Dick...not for a couple of years, anyway. See how I love you? Many thanks to Nikolle Doolin for her SEXY reading of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

Looking for a particular book? Here are the Start-of-Book episode numbers for you:

Pride & Prejudice 1–20	Turn of the Screw 30–39	A Tale of Two Cities 43–66	Tristan & Isolde 67–73
Frankenstein 74–89	Little Women 90–117	Jekyll & Hyde 119–123	The Scarlet Letter 123–148
Flatland 149–159	Persuasion 160–171	Connecticut Yankee 172–188	The Woman in White 192–220
Dracula 223–246	Gulliver's Travels 249–272	Jane Eyre 273–304	The Age of Innocence 305–330
North & South 331–365	Herland 366–377	Sense & Sensibility 378–401	The Count of Monte Cristo 402–474
Anne of Green Gables 477–500	Treasure Island 501–515	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 516–545	Northanger Abbey 546–561
The Leavenworth Case 562–580	Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc 581–609	The Three Musketeers 610–648	Emma 649–678
Cranford 679–694	Mr Harrison's Confession 695–703	Nancy Drew and The Secret in the Old Clock 704– present