Due to having company over and having Too Much Fun, blogging had to take the backburner for a few days. BUT I'm back now and let's resume our normal schedule.
I just finished reading Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. It both scared the hell out of me and really, really irritated me. The complete irrationality of the governess and the lack of any real semblance of evil at Bly House made me sit down at my computer and write a grumpy email to my big brother, who has a PhD in Gothic Literature. It went something along the lines of "Just finished "Turn of the Screw"; please enlighten me because it's going to be with me for a loooooong time."
My current basic opinion is that the Governess was simply crazy and hallucinated the whole haunting. I want literary theory to back me up. Or the Britten opera, which I've never seen or heard before, but which currently fascinates me.
4 comments:
give me a bit of time - have seen it and read it so long ago that I have forgotten what i thought.
you have, I suppose, seen the new promo video on the Decca site of JK's lieder recitals? (Came out yesterday just as I finalised a ticket for his recital in Graz in February......this means being able to afford only rice and beans to eat until then, but so be it.......)
each of his songs is like a mini opera......love the way his whole scalp moves on high notes............talk about total physical involvement......
And the wonderful Helmut: they're almost like one person now.
@shapta-dakini: I did see the video! I have to admit to being more interested in opera than lieder, but I really liked the video. The only thing I noticed was that he seemed less excited than he has in other interviews on the same subject. Maybe it was filmed just before his surgery? But yes, I loved how into the music he was.
Congrats on Graz! I'm going to be seeing him here next week-I'm living in abject terror that I'll run into him at the big fabulous bookstore near the Konzerthaus, since that's practically next door to my German classes. Probably a silly thing to fear, but the likelihood of it happening? Not as slim as you would first think. I'd probably just faint dead away. :)
I love this story (and I love the fact that your elder brother has a Ph.D. in Gothic literature...!) My first time reading it, I was struck by the question of "But what if it's all in her head?" and then read the introduction which informed me that this was a raging scholarly debate. Ha. But if it is in her head, where do those ghosts come from, for her? Do we connect it to her feelings for the mysterious guardian? And what does his role (or lack thereof) signify for the children?
The question which I think Britten so fascinatingly raises is: what do the ghosts represent? What are their different meanings for the children and the governess? And can we, the audience, decide who is right? I thought this summer's performance and Glyndebourne was brilliant, and highly recommend the DVD.
@Lucy: As I was reading, I kept thinking, "She's seeing things! She's the one really going mad!" But that does leave the question of the ghosts: I'm not sure she could have come up with them so perfectly on her own. I really don't know. As far as I gather, James never left any notes as to whether or not there were ghosts, or whether the poor woman was just insane. I'm going to go to one of the big libraries here tomorrow and look for the dvd recording.
And yes, my brother is a Ph.D in Gothic Lit. He's also a professor, and almost single-handedly responsible for turning me into one of the biggest nerds in the family. :)
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