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In 1860, with the outbreak of the Civil War, The James family moved back to the United States and settled in Newport. James was unable to enlist in the Union army with his two younger brothers due to a back injury he received when putting out a fire. In 1863, James and his older brother William attended Harvard. James did not complete his studies to pursue his writing career.
William graduated from Harvard and became one of the most prominent American philosophers and psychologists of his time. James began his professional writing career with book reviews for the North American Review. His first short story, "The Story of the Year, " appeared in Atlantic Monthly in 1865. In 1866, the James family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. James had his first novel, Watch and Ward serialized in Atlantic Monthly in 1871. In 1877, James wrote The American, while visiting Paris and Rome.
In 1878, The Watch and Ward appeared in book form, and James wrote French Poets and Novelists (criticism), and The Europeans (novel). While visiting Paris and Italy in 1879, he wrote Daisy Miller (novella), An International Episode; the critical biography, Hawthorne; and The Madonna of the Future and Other Tales. The following year, he wrote the novel, Confidence, while traveling in Italy. In 1881, James wrote the novels, Washington Square and The Portrait of a Lady. He traveled back to the United States due to his mother's weakening health. James's mother died in February of 1882.
His father died shortly after in December of the same year. He returned to the United States for a short period to settle family matters before leaving to establish permanent residence in England. In 1883, James published his first collected edition of novels and tales in fourteen volumes in The Siege of London (tales) and Portraits of Places (travel). In 1886, James published the novels The Bostonian's and The Princess Casamassima. In the same year, he leased a flat in Kensington, England. In 1887, James traveled around Switzerland and Italy in the company of Constance Fenimore Wilson, a novelist, and grandniece to James Fenimore Cooper.
In 1888, he published Partial Portraits (criticism), The Aspen Papers (tales), and The Reverbrator (novel). James published A London Life (tales) in 1889 and the following year published The Tragic Muse (novel). James wrote two un produced plays called Theatricals. In 1898, James's The Turn of the Screw was serialized in Collier's Weekly January through April and was also published in book form.
Between the years of 1899 and 1910, James published The Awkward Age (1899 novel), The Soft Side (1900 tales), The Sacred Front (1901 supernatural novel), The Wings of the Dove (1902 novel), The Ambassadors (1903 novel), William Wetmore and his Friends (1903 biography), The Better Sort (1903 tales), The Golden Bowl (1904 novel), The English Hours (1905 travel), The American Scene (1907 travel), The High Bid (1908 drama), Views and Reviews (1908 criticism), Julia Bride (1909 novella), Italian hours (1909 travel), and The Finer Grain (1910 tales). In 1904, James visited the United States for the first time since 1883. He suffered from a nervous disease in 1909. In 1911, James received an honorary degree from Harvard and returned to England. The following year, he earned one from Oxford University. In 1913, James wrote his autobiography entitled A Small Boy and Others.
The following year, he wrote Notes on Novelists with Some Other Notes (criticism) and another autobiography entitled Notes of a Son and Brother. Deeply disturbed by World War I, as James was with all wars, James did refugee and hospital work during the war. In 1915, James became a citizen of Great Britain. On December 2 nd of the same year, James suffered from a stroke. After receiving the Order of Merit from King George V, the following year, James died in Chelsea on the 28 th of February. His ashes are buried with his family's in Cambridge Massachusetts.
In 1917, an unfinished autobiography was published entitled, The Middle Years. " (Heller) The Turn of the Screw is a story related by a young governess, who describes the haunting events that took place while she was caring for two children in an English country house during the 1840 s. The Turn of the Screw can be divided into main parts: "a short prologue by an unnamed narrator and an autobiographical narrative by an unnamed governess. " (Heller p. 8) In the prologue, a group gathered for Christmas is telling stories. One of the people tells a ghost story about the experiences of his sister's governess. He was a friend of the governess, and she had given him her written documentation about the events, which he read to the group. "The governess's story concerns her first job. When she is about twenty, she accepts the position of governess to a pair of orphans, ten-year-old Miles and eight-year-old Flora. " (Heller p. 9) Their uncle gives the governess specific instructions never to bother him, no matter how big the problem might be. At first his unusual wish makes her doubtful about taking the position, but becomes infatuated with him and accepts in an effort to please him.
While the first impression of the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose; the house; and the children are all delightful, she eventually, discovers that two ghosts are haunting the children. From the governess's descriptions of the apparitions, Mrs. Grose identifies them as two deceased employees, Miss Jersey, the former nanny; and Peter Quint, the valet of the children's uncle. Mrs. Grose suspects that they had been lovers and that the "children were in some undefined ways participants in this illicit relationship" (Heller p. 9) The governess believes that the spirits have returned to haunt and posses the children in order to continue their wicked deeds. "For the love of all evil that, in those dreadful days, the pair put into them [the children].
And to ply them with that evil still, to keep up the work of demons, is that what brings the others back. " (James p. 47) The governess tries to protect her charges, but it is difficult to find a way to discuss the situation with them, because she suspects the children are willingly receptive to the ghosts. "Furthermore, despite much circumstantial and inferential evidence, she is never perfectly sure that the children communicate with the ghosts. She loves Miles and Flora dearly and is unwilling to introduce them to thoughts of evil if she is mistaken in her interpretation of what she has seen. " Finally convinced that the children see the apparitions, the governess confronts each child. She feels that if the children confess, it will free them from the ghosts' influence. Both children deny ever seeing the ghosts. Flora becomes feverish and the governess sends her away with Mrs.
Grose. She remains with Miles, and will not let him leave her until he confesses that he sees the ghosts also. The governess forced Miles to admit that he saw Quint in the window and he died suddenly and mysteriously. It is left to the reader to decide whether the governess scared Miles to death, or if he was overtaken by the evil ways of the ghosts. There are two different interpretations of The Turn of the Screw.
One interprets the novel as a legitimate and very literary ghost story. The other theory says that James meant to c...
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Research essay sample on Turn Of The Screw Cambridge Massachusetts
