* Culler, Chapter 4 "Language, Meaning and Interpretation" (Monday)
* James, The Turn of the Screw (Wednesday & Friday)
Answer
ONE of the following...
1. In
Chapter 4, Culler writes that “language is thus both the concrete
manifestation of ideology...and the site of its questioning or
undoing” (60). Focusing on a specific passage in the story,
explain how James uses language to create an “ideology”--in other
words, a way of interpreting the plot or 'what is happening' in the
story. How much of this passage is how James (or the narrator) makes
us experience what is happening...and how much is what is actually
happening? Do you feel the passage is consciously using language to
create tension between what the narrator claims is
happening (the plot) and the events/occurrences themselves?
2. Looking
at the story from the perspective of poetics,
consider what assumptions James makes about the audience reading his
story. What might be the “horizon of expectations” (Culler,
p.63)? What elements of the story might be less frightening or
disturbing to us, but were obviously meant to be disturbing and
frightening? Or, you might also consider what Gothic elements have
aged well, and why we might still be his 'ideal audience'.
3. Looking
at the story from the perspective of hermeneutics,
how might we use Poe's stories and/or Freud's “uncanny” as a
“theory” to read aspects of The Turn of the Screw?
What relationships between the Gothic elements of Poe (frame
narration, the double, monomania, confessions) can be established in
James' story? Why might reading James after Poe be more useful than
reading James alone, without this crucial literary/historical
context?
4. Culler
warns us of the “intentional fallacy” in Chapter 4, since the
author's intentions can never be the “oracle” of all truth and
interpretation. Nevertheless, Peter G. Beidler offers valuable
biographical context (hermeneutics!) on James' life just prior to the
composition of The Turn of the Screw.
During this time, his sister had recently died, as had a devoted
female companion; to add insult to injury, his attempts to become a
successful playwright ended in failure and humiliation, forcing him
to return to writing novels—of which The Turn of the
Screw was the first. How might
these personal events be “read” in some aspect of the novel? Be
specific and cite a specific idea or passage to illustrate your idea.
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ReplyDelete3. Looking at the story from the perspective of hermeneutics, how might we use Poe's stories and/or Freud's “uncanny” as a “theory” to read aspects of The Turn of the Screw? What relationships between the Gothic elements of Poe (frame narration, the double, monomania, confessions) can be established in James' story? Why might reading James after Poe be more useful than reading James alone, without this crucial literary/historical context?
ReplyDeleteAn uncanny theory we can read in The Turn of the Screw would be the idea of an unreliable narrator. This also ties in with elements of the Gothic story. Not that an unreliable narrator is, in and of its self an uncanny event, but the events they could weave into the story as it is narrated could be a little more fantastic. An example would be the narrator seeing the specter outside the window. She attempts to hide the boy and he died in her arms. Could a naturalistic explanation be that she smothered the boy? This may seem like a Dupin answer, but it must be counted if we are looking at this story from a hermeneutical approach, with what we can see to be an unreliable narrator.
I believe some relationships can be seen in Poe’s monomania-based characters and the narrator’s obsession with the children. If we look back to stories like… Well, almost all of them, we see that the unreliable narrator provided an uncanny explanation for a death. Or, you know, offed the subject of the monomania (or the person attached to them.) I could see a similar pattern in the boy’s death and the narrator’s monomania with the children.
I think that we would, at least for a while, take the narrator at her word. There would be a much more shallow approach to the critical approach.
2) Life events always have an effect on someone's writings, whether it be consiously or subconsiously. In the case of The Turn of the Screw, it's quite explicit and noticeable. Since James had always wanted to be a successful playwright, he incorporated elements of plays into The Turn of the Screw. On page 48 the narrator is describing the ghost she saw and says to Grose, "He gives me a sort of sense of looking like an actor" (James). This is ironic, however, because as the narrator is describing the "actor" she herself seems to put on an act. Though she only saw the "actor" at a distant, the amount of details she was able to remember are astonishing.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator also mentions the terms "story-books" and "fairy-tales" on page 32, and asks herself, "Was n't it just a story-book over which I had fallen a-doze and a-dream?" (James, 33). She answers no, and then in the same paragraph tells herself that she "... was strangely at the helm!" This to me sounds like someone who is control of every second of her life (or story), and thus it makes me wonder whether or not she is telling the truth, or merely "acting".
4. Culler warns us of the “intentional fallacy” in Chapter 4, since the author's intentions can never be the “oracle” of all truth and interpretation. Nevertheless, Peter G. Beidler offers valuable biographical context (hermeneutics!) on James' life just prior to the composition of The Turn of the Screw. During this time, his sister had recently died, as had a devoted female companion; to add insult to injury, his attempts to become a successful playwright ended in failure and humiliation, forcing him to return to writing novels—of which The Turn of the Screw was the first. How might these personal events be “read” in some aspect of the novel? Be specific and cite a specific idea or passage to illustrate your idea.
ReplyDeleteThere is fairly strong evidence that James might be what we in modern time classify as a “closeted gay”; it would seem that James almost certainly had homoerotic longings for young attractive men. As far as we know James never did physically act on these longings. It could perhaps be argued that the governess in the “Turn of the Screw” represents the sexual repression of James in some way. Whenever the governess hears something related to sex she immediately tries to tune that out; she desires to be ignorant of such things (perhaps because she feels that her sexual desires are forbidden by society). More compelling is the fact that she's constantly trying to shield the children from corrupting influences (sexual ideas). “"To contaminate?"—my big word left her at a loss. I explained it. "To corrupt."” (“Turn of the Screw” Kindle Locations 333-334) “She stared, taking my meaning in; but it produced in her an odd laugh. "Are you afraid he'll corrupt YOU?" She put the question with such a fine bold humor that, with a laugh, a little silly doubtless, to match her own, I gave way for the time to the apprehension of ridicule.” (“Turn of the Screw” Kindle Locations 335-336) She isn't just satisfied with maintaining her blissful ignorance of sex but she wants others to be that way as well.