Ghost Stories of Henry James

By Henry James, David Stuart Davies (editor),

Book cover of Ghost Stories of Henry James

Book description

With an Introduction and Notes by Martin Scofield, University of Kent at Canterbury.

Henry James was arguably the greatest practitioner of what has been called the psychological ghost story. His stories explore the region which lies between the supernatural or straightforwardly marvellous and the darker areas of the human psyche.…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Ghost Stories of Henry James as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Are there any ghosts in the most famous ghost story of all time, "The Turn of the Screw"? Fans have been debating that for over a century. I am awed and frequently challenged by James’ prose style, in which so much is rendered carefully ambiguous.

In his greatest offerings—"The Jolly Corner," "The Real Right Thing," and, a personal fave, "The Friends of the Friends"—he was able to elevate Gilded Age ghost stories to the realm of high art. Among his most central gifts was a Hawthorne-inspired interest in the nature of guilt, self-deception, and the spectral world inside…

From William's list on both literary and gothic.

A friend found a first edition of this book in one of my favorite used bookstores. It has a gorgeous purple cover, reminiscent of horror movie posters from the 1930s, and it collects many, if not all, of James’s haunting stories beyond the typical The Turn of the Screw.

As a horror fan who all-too-often must give up a measure of aesthetic satisfaction for genre conventions, it’s nice to refresh myself with these.

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