In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

KILHAI{U ~AWYJjK Fictional Titles: A Classification The title of Henry james's celebrated ghost story The Turn of the Screw was ultimately derived from a figurative expression current in the author's day. (Dickens, it may be noted, had already appropriated the same idiom for a chapter title to Bleak House.) However, since the title phrase also appears within the text of james's narrative, its meaning is more closely circumscribed by its use therein. The title phrase, in fact, appears within the work in two seemingly unrelated contexts; first, at the beginning, in the narrative prologue to the ghostly tale, and then, near the end of the tale itself. The first usage is the more emphatic of the two and imprints itself firmly on the reader's mind. You may remember the context: a small group of house guests have gathered by the fire one Christmas Eve to tell ghost stories (Dickens, once again, is brought to mind). The company has just listened breathlessly to a story (purportedly true) of a child's encounter with a ghost. This rather disquieting twist to the plot of the conventional ghost story, we soon learn, is to be the screw upon which our narrative will turn. Of course, the prologue not only discloses the relevance of the title phrase. It also identifies the generic form of the tale (that is, a ghost story) and even effectively endorses the reliability of the written source (the governess's manuscript). Yet it has seemed so out of character for james, a staunch opponent of the obtrusive authorial hand, to manipulate the reader in such a determined way, that many readers and critics have been inclined to interpret the tale as an ingenious revision of the prologue's original claims. In any event, the recurrence of the title phrase in a context that falls outside the prologue would seem to lend support to such subversive readings. For, in citing the story title within the tale itself, james appears to be implying that its use in the prologue may not be authoritative, but rather should be expanded or even substantially revised to accommodate unforeseen developments in the tale. The only problem in this line of reasoning, in my view, is that when the title phrase does surface again much later in the narrative, its use seems incidental, of no real consequence to the greater meaning of the text. However, in Jamesian fiction one cannot dismiss such unobtrusive , seemingly insignificant references too quickly; they may in fact lie UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 60, NUMBER 3. SPRING 1991 HcnUNAL nTL~ 375 next to (if not at) the heart of the tale. I believe that this is the case with that second explicit allusion to the story title, as I shall attempt to demonstrate later in the essay. I also find, curiously, a third allusion to the title in the story, though in this instance the phrase is only implicitly recalled. This occurs just as the story is switching over from prologue to tale. Douglas is preparing to read to the assembled guests from the late governess's manuscript when he is interrupted with the following inquiry: 'What's your title?' Douglas replies that he has not got one, at which point the anonymous narrator of the prologue declares that he, on the other hand, has, even though he has not yet listened to the governess's tale. The anonymous narrator, however, does not reveal the title that then came to mind. But the reader, at this crucial juncture in the text, will surely recall the only title available, namely, The Turn of the Screw. What does that title really mean? There must be more to it than we initially supposed. In fiction, the relationship between the title and the narrative text can be quite intricate and revealing. But it seems to me there are only a limited number of basic forms that the relationship can take. Writers, I find (and here james is no exception), tend to favour one form of intitulation over another - one way, that is, of linking their title to their narratives. This noticeable preference in titling fiction may stem from the writer's...

pdf

Share