carried away : Love, bly, and secrecy in Henry James\u27 The Turn of the Screw

The function of the prologue in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is decidedly ambiguous, as the characters in the prologue, much like the uncle of the main text, are seemingly never seen again. For this reason, the purpose of this prologue is much debated.1 As Rolf Lundén states in his article “‘Not in any literal, vulgar way’: The Encoded Love Story of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw,” “The openness of Henry James\u27 The Turn of the Screw has invited more analytical attempts, and more critical controversy, than most literary texts” (30). Lundén summarizes four schools of thought regarding the interpretation of James’ novella (30). The first is a metaphysical reading of the text, in which critics see the text as an actual ghost story. The second is a psychoanalytical interpretation of the novella, in which the Quint and Jessel function as a result of the governess’ sexually hysteric mind. A third, less popular, analysis of the text claims that Mrs. Grose is sabotaging the governess in order to take the governess’ position at Bly. The fourth reading of the text, according to Lundén, contends that Miles lives, and Douglas and Miles are in fact the same person. I will argue that the prologue of The Turn of the Screw also seems to serve as an epilogue, an explanation of what happens after the conclusion of the main text. Douglas, the holder of the governess’ written story, is the only character who knows or comes into contact with the governess after Miles’ ambiguous death scene. However, Douglas, though he has read a text that implicates the governess as a potential murderer, describes her as “the most agreeable woman I’ve ever known in her position; she’d have been worthy of any whatever” (24). This seeming confession to murder, in which “his [Miles’] little heart, dispossessed, had stopped” (120), thus does not appear to have any negative impact on Douglas’ opinion of the governess, engendering speculation as to what places the governess in his high regard. Douglas claims his association with the governess occurred over approximately one year, and “it was a beautiful one” (24). In this year, the two had, as Douglas casually puts it, “some strolls and talks in the garden—talks in which she struck me as awfully clever and nice” (24). These “some” talks and walks, as described, do not seem intimate enough to provide the governess with enough comfort to tell Douglas a story “she had never told anyone” (24), placing Douglas’ reliability as a narrator into suspicion.2 Therefore, it seems there must be more to the intimacy of the pair that is not shared with Douglas’ audience. This unrevealed closeness is further suggested in Douglas’ declaration of assurance that the governess had indeed never told this story to someone else; “I knew she hadn’t, I was sure; I could see” (24). Douglas’ ability to know the truth just by glancing upon the governess’ face thus provides even more evidence of the great amount of intimacy implicit between the two. It is also important to note neither the first nor last name of the governess is ever given in the narrative or by Douglas. Secrecy regarding her identity is thus seemingly of the utmost importance; her name must remain concealed even after her death. Furthermore, as Douglas reveals, he even carries the key to the locked drawer which contains the narrative with him at all times; “‘I shall have to send to town…I could write to my man and enclose the key; he could send down the packet as he finds it’” (23). His strong desire to protect the governess’ name and story is highly indicative of their suggested intimacy. Also, though Douglas himself did not write the narrative, he reveals that he does takes the impression of it; ““I took that here”—he tapped his heart. “I’ve never lost it”” (26). The seemingly permanent effect of this story on his heart highly suggests a personal involvement in it. The other characters of the prologue also speculate upon the relationship between Douglas and the governess. After insinuations of romance are made, one character claims, “She was ten years older,” to which another responds “Raison de plus” (25). Mrs. Griffin builds upon this idea, stating, “Well if I don’t know who she was in love with I know who he was” (25), for the reason the prologue’s narrator deduces why the governess had not told anyone this story is not because it implicates her as a murderer, but, rather, because “she was in love” (24). The major question by the end of the text thus remains: who was the governess in love with? Since she shares this story with Douglas, leaving him its written narrative, it seems as the governess is in love with Douglas. However, though the conclusion of The Turn of the Screw is as ambiguous as its prologue, what seems apparent is a romantic love that exists between the governess and her charge, Miles. In paralleling the seemingly reciprocated love that Douglas has for the governess with the governess’ love for Miles, I will argue that Douglas and Miles are the same person

Types of cooperation between preschool teachers and parents of children with disabilities

Suradnja između odgojitelja i roditelja djece s teškoćama u razvoju je izuzetno važna za pravilnu inkluziju djece i njihov pravilan rast i razvoj. U ovom radu pojašnjeni su oblici suradnje odgojitelja i roditelja djece s teškoćama u razvoju te su analizirana dosadašnja iskustva odgojitelja o suradnji s roditeljima. Kako bi odnos između odgojitelja i roditelja bio uspješan za obje strane, potrebno je izgraditi međusobno povjerenje. Odgojitelji trebaju uvažavati roditelje kao primarne skrbnike djece i maksimalno ih uključivati u odgojno-obrazovni sustav dok bi roditelji trebali uvažavati znanja i stručnost odgojitelja. Samo uspješna suradnja roditelja i odgojitelja može voditi k pozitivnoj inkluziji djece i njihovom uspješnom razvoju.Collaboration between educators, in this case governess, and parents of children with disabilities is very important for the proper inclusion, proper development and child growth. In this paper, the ways of cooperation between governess and parents are explained and also analyzed through the forms of mutual cooperation. In order for the parent-governess relationship to be successful it is necessary to build mutual trust. Governess should respect parents as the primary caregivers of children and maximally involve them in the educational system, while parents should respect the knowledge and expertise of the governess. Only successful cooperation of parents and educators can lead to positive inclusion and successful child development

The Turn of the Screw, December 7-11, 1989

This is the concert program of The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten performance on Thursday-Monday, December 7-11, 1989 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Haunting the House, Haunting the Page: The Spectral Governess in Victorian Fiction

The Victorian governess occupied a difficult position in Victorian society. Straddling the line between genteel and working-class femininity, the governess did not fit neatly into the rigid categories of gender and class according to which Victorian society organized itself. This troubling liminality caused the governess to become implicitly associated with another disturbing domestic presence caught between worlds: the Victorian literary ghost. Using Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw as a touchstone for each chapter, this thesis examines how the spectral mirrors the governess’s own spectrality – that is, her own discursive construction as a psychosocially unsettling force within the Victorian domestic sphere

The Ungovernable Governess:The Figure of the Governess in the Victorian Sensation Novel of the 1860s.

This dissertation will examine the figure of the governess in the Victorian Sensation Novels of the 1860s in order to determine if sensation fiction in this period was inevitably concerned with portraying the ungovernable side of femininity. The primary focus will be on the female protagonist in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret, Wilkie Collins Armadale, Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Behind a Mask,’ and Ellen Wood’s East Lynne.1 The effects of the moral and social climate of the nineteenth century and the influence the historical governess had on these works will be examined. The hypothesis that Braddon, Collins, Alcott, and Wood use the governess to depict various forms of female non-conformity in order to comment on the limitations and injustices of the woman’s position in a male dominated society will be considered, particularly in relation to the depiction of Victorian matrimony and the sexual double standard. Under discussion will be the liminal position of the governess and the way in which these villainous and deviant women use masquerade and their position in ways that tend towards deception. The motivation behind the actions of these transgressive females will also be discussed, particularly the significance of poverty and social position on their ungovernable behaviour, and the extent to which these texts and the governess figure can be seen as feminist will be explored.

Life in transit : travel narratives of the British governess

Life in Transit: Travel Narratives of the British Governess argues that on entering the profession of governessing, women embarked on a new, more mobile existence of travel and relocation on a local and global scale. At a time when gentlewomen rarely travelled far without a chaperone, governesses left home and travelled unaccompanied across counties, countries and even continents for the purpose of work. Some relocated to wealthy households in Britain, some toured with families on the Continent, and others voyaged out to the colonies to work for expatriates or members of the Eastern aristocracy. Previously, however, scholars have tended to consider the governess in light of her unusual social status between the middle and working class. Studies of this kind do much to highlight the complexity of the governess’s situation, but by developing new theoretical perspectives which focus on the governess’s mobility, this thesis demonstrates how the impact of travel is fundamental to this.Highlighting the interplay between the governess of fact and fiction, Life in Transit defines the ‘governess travel narrative’ as a literary strand present in the canonical novel, and a sub-genre of women’s travel writing. Beginning with a re-reading of the governess novel, it considers Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1848) to explore the governess’s journey in England. Moving its focus across the Channel, it then examines how the semi-autobiographical governesses of Anna Brownell Jameson’s Diary of and Ennuyée (1826) and Brontë’s Villette (1853) experience life on the Continent. Crossing the border of fact and fiction into the genre of travel writing, the thesis considers the work of the lesser-known Emmeline Lott and Ellen Chennells, and examines governess travel narratives produced at the height of the British Empire. Finally, it analyses the journeys of Sarah Heckford and Anna Leonowens, who travelling in the 1870s and 80s, reached as far as South Africa and Siam, extending the scope of women’s travel and pushing the boundaries of the governess profession.In this way, Life in Transit re-reads the governess’s plight as both a physical and psychological journey in which she attempts to understand her place in the world. Incorporating theories of travel, space, translation and ‘things’ into a framework through which to examine her experience, it builds on Marxist and feminist approaches to the governess’s position. Allowing for further analysis of the governess’s unusual status, this approach shows how, from within the liminal space of her displacement, the governess experiences her life through spatial above social relations, and provides a unique voice in nineteenth-century Britain’s conception of self and world

Gender Performance in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth

Gender is a social construct which binds the assigned members of society to perform particular acts appropriate to their gender. This study aims to analyze gender performance in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth, a Victorian English novel, to see Victorian English perspective on gender as a social construct. The characters in the narrative must perform particular traits and acts appropriate to their gender. The heroine, Ruth, is also judged by her gender performance and must bear punitive consequences when she is considered as violating the rules related to her being a female member of the society. Through her later conscious gender performance, Ruth eventually manages to gain her respectable place in society. From a fallen woman, she is later well thought-out as an angel of mercy. Ruth is judged by what she performs, and it is the performance of a respectable woman. Key words: gender, gender performance, social construc

De sacra militia contra iconomachos : civic strategies to counter iconoclasm in the Low Countries (1566)

Although the iconoclastic scare must have been enormous and the actual impact of the attacks of summer and autumn 1566 can hardly be exaggerated, the Beeldenstorm was not as comprehensive as it seemed to contemporaries and subsequent historians. Indeed, a considerable number of important cities in the Habsburg Netherlands actually managed to ward off destruction, but until now their role has hardly been studied. The aim of this article is twofold: first, it seeks to chart the cities in question. Second, it analyses the preventive measures that they took against the violence. In so doing, it nuances the idea of the Beeldenstorm as an all-destructive wave, and provides insights into the dynamics of the Iconoclastic Fury. More specifically, the cliché that the passivity of magistrates was the main reason for all losses seems in need of considerable revision