"Complete, authoritative text with biographical and historical contexts, critical history, and essays from five contemporary critical perspectives."

Includes bibliographical references.

Pt. 1. The Turn of the Screw: The Complete Text -- Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts. The Complete Text -- From the Preface to Henry James's 1908 Edition -- Pt. 2. The Turn of the Screw: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. A Critical History of The Turn of the Screw. Reader-Response Criticism and The Turn of the Screw. "He began to read to our hushed little circle": Are We Blessed or Cursed by Our Life with The Turn of the Screw? / Wayne C. Booth. Deconstruction and The Turn of the Screw. "The grasp with which I recovered him": A Child Is Killed in The Turn of the Screw / Shoshana Felman. Psychoanalytic Criticism and The Turn of the Screw. "Red hair, very red, close-curling": Sexual Hysteria, Physiognomical Bogeymen, and the "Ghosts" in The Turn of the Screw / Stanley Renner. Feminist Criticism and The Turn of the Screw. "What then on earth was I?": Feminine Subjectivity and The Turn of the Screw / Priscilla L. Walton. Marxist Criticism and The Turn of the Screw.

"They don't much count, do they?": The Unfinished History of The Turn of the Screw / Bruce Robbins.

This edition of James's classic novel presents the 1908 New York Edition along with five critical essays - newly commissioned or revised for a student audience - that read The Turn of the Screw from five contemporary critical perspectives. Each critical essay is accompanied by a succinct introduction to the history, principles, and practice of the critical perspective and by a bibliography that promotes further exploration of that approach.

In addition, the text and essays are complemented by an introduction providing biographical and historical contexts for James and The Turn of the Screw, a survey of critical responses to the novel since its initial publication, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.