thoughts, two thirds of the way through The Turn of the Screw

[edenfalling]

Length, complexity, and a full range of punctuation do not necessarily signify a difficult or ill-constructed sentence -- indeed, many such sentences can be marvels of clarity -- but in The Turn of the Screw, Henry James, whatever his other good points, has forgotten or ignored the first tasks of a storyteller: namely, to advance his story and retain the attention and understanding of the reader, which tasks require, above all, that his sentences be clear; instead, his writing is opaque and incomprehensible, and his story, consequently, progresses at a stifling crawl.

*grin*

Also, I dislike his protagonist, I am uncomfortable with his casual expression of sexism and classism, and I vehemently disagree with his understanding and portrayal of children. I realize some of that is inherent in his time-period, and some may be the protagonist's views rather than his own, but, unlike Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn, James certainly hasn't dropped any hints that he might hold opinions that differ from those of his narrator.

Comments

[valles-uf.livejournal.com]

*grin*

*polite applause*

Unfortunately, I can't comment beyond that, since I've never even heard of the novel in question.

Sorry. ^_^;

Ja, -n

[edenfalling]

It's a fairly famous ghost story, actually, of a highly literary bent. (James always has a highly literary bent.) It's okay at building a mood, but it utterly fails the believability test, because I cannot picture actual human beings acting like the characters. *sigh*

[act-of-thought.livejournal.com]

Hello there! :)

After reading some of your stories on FF.net (all of which I adore) I thought I would stop by (wonderful LJ, by the way). You might know me as Scythe195 over there. Well, anyway, great work as always! ^^

P.S. I am going to add your LJ to my friends list, if it would be alright.

[edenfalling]

Sure, friend away -- I don't bite!

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

wow...
now that sentence there..that's exactly the kind of writing style I hate with the passion of athousand suns. remember the friend i mentiioend who used commas, semicolons, colons and dashes and stuff inparentheses(is henry usign that too? And thanks to yo uiremember her use of colons) anyway that's right what I mean. I' mglad he ddn't know the ellips. or atleast I hope so.

[edenfalling]

It's a writing style that's really better suited for nonfiction than for stories. With nonfiction, one wants to be precise. With stories, one wants the prose to move, and this style, frankly, doesn't.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

i hera its' acommon thingthoug hfor 17th and 18th century fiction.

[edenfalling]

I'm pretty sure James is 19th century, and anyway, a formal tone doesn't have to mean that the story is slow and hard to puzzle through; people who make that excuse are just being lazy writers. :-) (Jane Austin is a good example of how to write formal prose that nonetheless moves, and sometimes even sings.)

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

I thought that much . Iremember wuthering heights was interesting to read...