Henry James's Modernity In The Turn Of The Screw

In the history of American literature, Henry James (1843-1916) certainly occupies a quite prominent position. This is not only because of his being one of the greatest American novelists and critics, but also because of his later experimentation on novel writing which shows a clear departure from his previous realistic style. Many scholars regard it as the early sprout of modernism. Yet, most studies on James's modernism is based on the literary works of his last phase, his literary works around the 1890s have already shown a clear modernistic tendency. The Turn of the Screw is just one of the novels James wrote around the 1890s. It is the most frequently read, taught, and discussed piece of fiction and its exquisite technique of art is said to betoken the forthcoming of the twentieth century psychological novels.This thesis is to discuss the modernity of Henry James in The Turn of the Screw by mainly taking a narratology perspective. The thesis falls into three chapters.The First Chapter expounds the modernity of representation. It demonstrates how James made use of the dramatic method to serve the novel writing by the application of scenario to the novel design. On the one hand, the scenario would apply compensation and solutions to the settings and the development of plots. On the other hand, it could help to construct a complicated but a brief structure for his characters to walk onto the stage and act thoroughly. So, the application of scenario enriches the novel writing and demonstrates that James treated the novel in a serious way. Moreover, the thesis, through the discussion on the restricted point of view, studies James's modernity of representation. James thinks that the reader's strong sense of the author's presence detracts from the story its dramatic vividness, while the author's detachment adds to the work the effect of objectivity. The restricted point of view of the governess and absence of the author from the text makes the novel dramatic and ambiguous.The Second Chapter expounds the modernity of technique through the discussion of the opening end and multiple narrative levels and perspectives. The adoption of opening end breaks the conventional finality of fiction and creates a sense of ambiguity. And the application of multiple perspectives breaks the monopoly of vision, creates the effect of"cubic observation,"and thus well enlightens the shift of vision and polyphony technique is commonly found in the twentieth-century western novels. Meanwhile, the multiple points of view technique deepens the isolation of self, which is just what modernists think of the human condition.The Third Chapter expounds James's modern consciousness through the demonstration of James's sense of multi-reality, and the sense of non-identity and crisis. Henry James's definition of reality is quite different from that of the traditional realists. Its concern transferred from the objective reality to the subjective reality, from the external reality to the internalized reality. Besides, this thesis argues that James's sense of non-identity and crisis sourcing from his alien stance can be regarded as his modern feelings.Finally, on the basis of the discussion above, we can draw a conclusion that James displayed his modernity in both narratological technique and the consciousness represented in the creative use of the narratological technique. Henry James plays a pivotal role in the development of modern western literature.