UNUSUAL ROME

Back home in the middle of the morning. No, no , I'm OK. Only that after we started our lessons this morning, it became, little by little, like this outside!

We live near Rome, in the mountains, and it was even worse. So the Mayor decided it was better to leave our kids free to enjoy this rare beautiful snowy landscape and closed all schools!

(pictures from http://www.virgilio.it/)

THROWBACK THURSDAY - THE HUMAN COMEDY BY WILLIAM SAROYAN (1943)

Good read from the past.

It’s been some time since I last read pages from this novel with my students. And this is one of my favourite American novels ever. I got to hear of it during a beautiful show dealing with words, good books & music I saw on Tv and, since then, I’ve tried to read at least part of it to as many young people as I have been able to. Not in the last three years, though.

It’s a story built on very simple facts, very ordinary people, very simple words which aims at transforming history and reality into unheroic epic mythology. That of everyday battles and sufferings. It is a story set in California in the time of WWII but it is actually a story beyond space and time. There is a Homer ( the 16 year old protagonist )and a Ulysses (his little brother) and a Marcus (his elder brother at war). They live in Ithaca, San Joaquin Valley. They’ve got a sister and a mother. But there are no heroes. The Macauleys’ struggles and dreams reflect those of America’s second generation immigrants but-  and especially- also  those of any human being at any time in any place. No , they are not heroic epic figures but real life protagonists of  THE HUMAN COMEDY.

My favourite character is Homer, the protagonist, in his teen, determined to become the fastest telegraph messenger in the West, happy to be the man of the family in a difficult moment. Happy to ride his bycicle in the wind. But it’s wartime. Time to grow – up for him. Childhood ends when we realize sufference and death exist and are there inescapably for all of us. Homer becomes aware of that little by little: he is a messenger of death. A mother opens the door, he gives her a telegram and …

“It wasn’t Homer fault. His work was to deliver telegrams. Even so, he felt awkward and almost as if he alone were responsible for what had happened (… )He was on his bycicle suddenly, riding swiftly down the dark street, tears coming out of his eyes, his mouth whispering crazy young curses. When he got back to the telegraph office the tears had stopped, but everything else had started and he knew there would be no stopping them” (pp.26/28)

(Homer and Ulysses playing)

But the passage I like best in this novel is Marcus’s letter from the front to his younger brother Homer. Unforgettable. Touching.

“Dear Homer: First of all. everything of mine at home is yours – to give to Ulysses when you no longer want them : my books, my phonogram, my records, my clothes when you’re ready to fit into them, my bycicle, my microscope, my fishing tackle, my collection of rocks from Piedra, and all the other things of mine at home. They’re yours because you are now the man of the Macauley family of Ithaca. The money I made last year at the packing house I have given to Ma of course, to help out. It is not nearly enough, though. I don’t know how you are going to be able to keep our family together and go to high school at the same time, But I believe you will find a way. My army pay goes to Ma, except for a few dollars that I must have, but this money is not enough either. It isn’t easy for me to hope for so much from you, when I myself did not begin to work until I was 19, but somehow I believe that you will be able to do what I didn’t do.

I miss you of course and I think of you all the time. I am OK and even though I have never believed in wars – and know them foolish even when they are necessary – I am proud that I am involved, since so many others are and this is what’s happening. I do not recognize any enemy which is human, for no human being can be my enemy. Whoever he is, he is my friend. My quarrel is not with him, but with that unfortunate part of him which I seek to destroy in myself first.

I do not feel like a hero. I have no talent for such feelings. I hate no one. I do not feel patriotic either, for I have always loved my country, its people, its towns, my home, and my family. I would rather I were not in the Army. I would rather there were no War. I have no idea what is ahead, but whatever it is I am resigned and ready for it. I’m terribly afraid – I must tell you this – but I believe that when the time comes I shall do what is right for me. I shall obey no command other than the command of my own heart. (…)

More than anything I want to come back to Ithaca. I want to come back for Mary and a family of my own. We leave soon – for action, but nobody knows where the action will be. Therefore this maybe my last letter to you for some time. I hope it’s not the last of all, but if it is, hold us together. (…) I am glad I am the Macauley who is involved in this War, for it would be a pity and a mistake if it were you.

I can say in a letter what I could never say in speech. You are the best of the Macauleys. Nothing must stop you. Now I’ll write your name here, to remind you: Homer Macauley. That’s who you are. I miss you. I can’t wait to see you again. God bless you. So long. Your brother, Marcus” (pp. 166 -168)

So simple, so compelling.

I can’t say exactly why,  but it moves me to tears. Each time. Each time I read it silently. Each time I ask one of my students to read it loud. Even now… typing it here for you.

THE WILLIAM SAROYAN SOCIETY

 

WILLIAM SAROYAN

 

THE HUMAN COMEDY (novel)

 

THE HUMAN COMEDY (film)

Throwback Thursday is hosted at Takemeaway

WEDNESDAY NIGHT MISCELLANEOUS POSTING

1. A NEW AUSTEN CHALLENGE!

JA Challenge 2010

Rules:

• Anyone can participate. This challenge is hosted by The Life (and Lies) of an Inanimate Flying Object

Levels:

• Newbie 2 books by J. Austen & 2 re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors)

• Lover 4 books by J. Austen & 4 re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors)

• Fanatic 6+ books by J. Austen & 5+ re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors)

-Challenge books can overlap with other challenges.

-Any format counts: bound book, e-book (check online for free downloads of J.A’s copyright-free books), audio book, or any other thing you can think of.

-You can change which level you read!

-Challenge runs January 1st 2010—December 31 2010.

From now on, I'm going to post for this Challenge   on MY JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB.

This month I'm re-reading Northanger Abbey for my reading group at the library, or MY JA BOOK CLUB,  in order to be ready for our meeting on 27th February. Since I'm going to post about NA from time to time till the end of the month, I'll consider all the posting work part of this challenge. Then of course, I'll go on with the other major novels and, finally, I have to choose some Austen-based books and ... my list is done. Let's say I'll try to take part for the Lover level . Here's my first post for this challenge : NORTHANGER ABBEY: A FEMINIST NOVEL? TROUBLED PUBLICATION & QUIZZES

 

 

2. I GOT A NEW BOOK SIGNED BY THE WRITER

This could be the first book in the list for this challenge among the re-writes, sequels, Austen - based fiction. Yesterday I found Carrie Bebris "The Intrigue at Highbury" in my mail box, with a dedication of the author, a kind note by the same in Italian (!!!) on a lovely   Pemberley card, some leaflets showing all her works published by TEA in Italy. GREAT!!! I was so happy! I had won this copy of the book at Stephanie's Written Word some time ago.

I also posted about it. Do you remember? (Here)

3. A NEW AWARD

Thank you Ana, at ANECA'S WORLD. You've just made my day ! I love receiving awards! Indeed.

A Prolific Blogger is one who is intellectually productive… keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content.

1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!

2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.

3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to this post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.

4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners. (Click here for the Mr. Linky page.)

I am going to pass this award on to the following greatly prolific bloggers:

1.Jane GS

2. M.Gray

3.Meredith

4. MrsThorntonDarcy

5. Katherine

6. Stephanie

7. Lunarossa

ELIZABETH I (2005) - DVD REVIEW

This miniseries is awesome. Helen Mirren’s performance is powerful, stunning, compelling. Supported by a stellar cast including Jeremy Irons (Earl of Leicester) , Hugh Dancy (Earl of Essex), Toby Jones (Robert Cecil) , Patrick Malahide (Sir Francis Walsingham) Simon Woods (Gilbert Gifford) , she is Elizabeth I.

The two episodes focus on one motif: “the hardest thing to govern is the heart”. So we see Queen Elizabeth Tudor in her most human feeble aspect: the search for true love, loyal relationships, friendship and tenderness. As proud as she was of her independence – she never married – and her power , she suffered for her being doomed to solitude. She was capable of sublime tenderness as well as defying acts, of falling deeply in love as well as of stately insults. Her sharp intelligence and sense of humor, her stubborness and refined education, her strength and her humanity made of her the Queen with the heart and the stomach of a king and one the most beloved sovereigns in history.

Part I deals with her troubled but close relationship with her old friend and loyal advisor, the Earl of Leicester . Their love/friendship survives her contemplating marriage with the relatively young and handsome Duke of Anjou,  a war with Spain, his secret (to the Queen) marriage to Lady Essex, his exile from court after her rage, her troubled "decision" to execute Mary Stuart. Jeremy Irons is incredibly good as Robin of Leicester.

My favourite scenes in Part I are

1. the moving farewell between the Queen and the Duke of Anjou. Mirren pronounces Elizabeth's lines from On Monsieur's Departure ( did you know the queen also wrote poetry?):

I grieve and dare not show my discontent,

I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute but inwardly do prate.
I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned,
Since from myself another self I turned.
My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
His too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest.
Some gentler passion slide into my mind,


For I am soft and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind.
Let me or float or sink, be high or low.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die and so forget what love ere meant.

2. the meeting between Elizabeth and her prisoner and cousin, Mary Stuart Queen of Scotland  in which Mirren pronounces a truthful line: "We are both prisoners of our time". Though this meeting has inspired fictional works, it never took place in real life. Friederich Schiller, for instance, imagined it in his tragedy Mary Stuart (1800).

Part Two follows Elizabeth through her later years, during which she has a passionate affair with the stepson of the Earl of Leicester, the much younger Earl of Essex, whose political ambitions frequently clash with his devotion and loyalty to the monarch. Elizabeth will suffer greatly for her weaknesses to the handsome fascinating Robin of Essex.

 

This series won Emmy, Peabody and Golden Globe Awards in 2006. In the same year Helen Mirren was also THE QUEEN , Elizabeth II , and dominated the Awards scene.

 

Among the historical inaccuracies, the screenplay explicitly mentions that Gilbert Gifford (Simon Woods) attempted to murder Elizabeth I by stabbing (in the first part of Episode One Leicester saves her life on this occasion). He is then seen being tortured and interrogated, but reappears in the second part of the episode to play his real historical part in the Babington Plot. This part of the episode even includes a scene where Gifford meets the Queen and she acknowledges him as the perpretator of the failed murder seven years before. The murder attempt never happened and, if it had, would inevitably have resulted in the perpetrator's execution.

 

I watched this two-part miniseries just yesterday and I'm so glad I did it. I was completely absorbed while watching it and ... it was rather dangerous ... Can anybody guess why?

I had seen and loved the two movies starring Cate Blanchett. She was brilliant. But Helen Mirren and the entire cast of this 2005 TV production surpassed my expectations.

Have you seen ELIZABETH I? Did you like it? If you haven't and love this historical figure as much as I do, you must get this DVD and watch it. 

ELIZABETH I (2005) at imdb

ANNOUNCING THE GIVEAWAY WINNER - INTIMATIONS OF JANE AUSTEN BY JANE GREENSMITH

Dear Ladies and Friends,

have you read my interview with Jane Greensmith last week? Interesting, talented,  kind blogger buddies I have, haven't I? Her incredibly beautiful Intimations of Jane Austen  is going to get to one of the several (15!) readers who commented and left their e-mail address.Meredith needn't being entered since she said she's already the happy owner of a copy and left the pleasure and the opportunity to win to the others.  So I listed 14 names.

These are the participants int the order they commented and entered the contest

1.Ms Lucy
2. Luciana
3. HMSGofita
4. Martha Lawson
5. Linda Fern
6. Patty
7. M.Gray
8. Marie Burton
9. phylly3
10. lunarossa
11. Avalon
12. missbluestocking
13. Christina/BookAddict
14. etirv

 I'm sure the lucky winner will love these precious short stories. It's time to unveil her (nick)name!

And random.org device decided the winner is

CONGRATULATIONS.... MISSBLUESTOCKING!

And Jane, again, thank you very much indeed!

AT THE THEATRE - HAMLET

Saturday afternoon in Rome, at the theatre, with students, colleagues and friends. Not my first Hamlet, of course, but I’m always happy to see a Shakespearean play on stage.

In this staging Hamlet (Alessandro Preziosi) is an intellectual on a crisis. The troubled indecisive Prince becomes really modern. Nowadays, the role of the intellectual has lost its strength, he is incapable of “feeling”   hence of “provoking” a reaction in his interlocutors.

The direction of Armando Pugliese underlines the cultural gap which separates Hamlet and his Wittenberg mates (Horatio, Rosencratz, Guildestern) – all dressed in white simple clothes - from a corrupt Danish court (Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude) wearing black/gold rich Renaissance costumes . Hamlet’s doubt is not only an oscillation of the soul but the necessity to make vengeance and justice coincide. His initial troubled reaction to the unusual situation of his mother's prompt re-marrying after his father’s death is lived in a dark claustrophobic bedchamber hinting at a mental asylum. The voice of his father’s ghost haunts Hamlet from the very beginning.

Lights and scenes(minimalist) and music (modern) and costumes were well chosen, they really worked at underlining the pathos of the situations. But ... though ... I am sorry to say it but ... the acting was plain, or too academic at times, monotonous, uninvolving, cold. No passion, little emotion. Alessandro Preziosi/Hamlet has a great stage presence, he was moved by the best intentions, anyhow I wished for something more: not only strength but energy, not only sensations but emotions.

I had already seen - and liked - Preziosi on stage as Edmund in King Lear as well as in  some TV or film productions. He became popular with  the Tv costume series "Elisa di Rivombrosa" but has never stopped working on stage.  I can't really say he was the worst in the cast, no, sincerely he was the best... I only was there wishing for "something more" all the time.

A CLIP

 
I saw Hamlet at the theatre last year too. Here are my impressions of that version:  A SHAKESPEAREAN SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

P.S. Italian most important national channel has recenlty broadcast a drama starring Alessandro Preziosi as St. Augustine that I couldn't watch but recorded for better times. I'm going to see it as soon as possible. I'm really curious of seeing his performance in that role too. St. Augustine is also a Hamletic character.You'll see.

RA FRIDAY - ON GISBORNE AND SCHOOL

I'll  risk to be repetitive but these are the haunting presences in my life...Gisborne and school. Well, RA and school. I've managed to connect the two of them these days and it has been such a pleasure and ... a success!!! First of all let me thank this man for everything he does...

Then I have also to thank this sinister guy ...

because they have brought me great satisfaction: I experienced the most partecipated and involving lab lessons in  the latest months. My 16-year-old students, after reading about medieval ballads, the cycle of the outlaws, translating and analyzing a whole ballad titled EDWARD ( a family tragedy ballad not  linked to Robin Hood) and part of the ancient "Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne", were so curious and excited to watch how Robin and Guy were represented on screen in the latest BBC series. They hadn't seen it since in Italy it was aired on  only a pay-TV channel very few people watch.

 I had chosen and cut three fragments from series 1 and prepared a worksheet with several questions . You can't imagine the silence in that lab. Headphones on and eyes fixed on the computer screens ... their silence was unusual. I think you know teenagers: they start making silly comments on anything. Instead, in that silence , at the end of fragment 1, THE HANGING,  a girl was moved and rather shocked and when I stopped the clip to ask all of them to comment or answer some of my questions,  she went on wondering : "But then they discover they are not really dead, don't they ? Please, tell me that it is not how it seems!" Keith Allen's Sheriff 's wickedness had made another victim!

Then I announced: "now in the second fragment you're going to see how the characters of Gisborne and Robin have become in this latest TV adaptation. Do you remember what Guy of Gisborne was like in the ballad? How is he connoted? " The most hard-working students of the group remembered perfectly his being clad in a horse skin including the tail, his being quite ridiculous in his boasting , ... a man of weight... Robin made a fool of.

They were so surprised when I played the scene from episode 7, GUY,  MARIAN & THE NECKLACE, that one of them couldn't but shout " ... But he is GORGEOUS!!!" All the others started laughing but just for a while because when Guy started shouting obsessively to a frightened Marian " ... give me the necklace! GIVE ME THE NECKLACE! GIVE ... ME ....THE ...NECKLACE" , they were completely caught and even breathless. It was a pleasure to observe them and their faces, and it was a torture to keep my professional mask. Other questions, other comments and then one of the boys asked: "Professoressa (this is what they call me) why don't we see the whole movie? Why only fragments?" I patiently explained that it was NOT a movie, as I had already explained before starting, but a TV series and watching the whole of it meant 39 episodes hence 39 hours. He answered seriously, "Well, you're right ... too many hours ...but it would be so interesting!"

Finally we watched the third and last of the sequences I had prepared, TATTOOS? WHAT TATTOOS?  They enjoyed it greatly. The robbery at Locksley Manor during Guy's party and then the long fight sequence ... they loved it. So promised them to post both the clips and the worksheet with the questions on LEARNONLINE so that they could go on working at home.

I got their written papers with the answers this morning... let's see if their enthusiasm has brought better results. It'd be wonderful.

As you can see, teaching is often exhausting and I very often feel like drowning in a see of paper to be corrected and assessed, but it can also great fun!

Again,  many thanks to Richard and his Gisborne!

My lesson on LEARNONLINE

THROWBACK THURSDAY - AND NOW HE HAS BECOME SILENCE: JEROME DAVID SALINGER.

He had chosen silence and for 50 years he had stubbornly defended it. He left us last 27th January  at 91 and I want to remember him in my first Throwback Thursday - Good reads from the past after that date.

As I was saying, he had chosen silence but , now, he has become silence. In the last 50 years he lived self-secluded in his house in Cornish, New Hampshire.  Fortunately, his Holden will go on speaking to us, he will go on wondering where all the ducks in Central Park go during winter, when the water in the lake turns to ice...

Last time I heard of Salinger being still alive was on June 3rd 2009, I  read that he was fighting - through his lawyer- to avoid a  John David to go on publishing sequels of his own THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951). IT was a post on JANE AUSTEN TODAY.  I then commented : "Salinger still alive? I thought he was gone! I'm happy he can fight for his Holden. I've loved him so much. Now I love to read some "special" pages to my teenage students. Holden's conversation with Phoebe about the catcher in the rye? Poetic prose.

P.S.I've also got special pages from Jane Austen I love to read to them"

I really love those pages from "The Catcher in the Rye", so few days later I posted them HERE.

Do you mind if I propose them once again to remember their just gone author? They are touching. ( The excerpt in my previous post is longer and there I also tried to explain the contextual situation. Anyhow, Holden and his little sister Phoebe are talking about the boy's future job )

 

"I couldn't be a scientist. I'm no good in Science."

"Well, a lawyer - like Daddy and all."

"Lawyers are all right, I guess - but it doesn't appeal to me," I said. "I mean they're are all right if they go around saving innocent fuys' lives all the time, and like that, but you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge, and buy cars and drink martinis and look like a hot-shot. And besides. Even if you did go around saving guys's lives and all, how would you know if you did it because you really wanted to save guys' lives or you did it because what you really wanted to do was to be a terrific lawyer, with everybody slapping you on the back and congratulating you in court when the goddam trial was over, the reporters and everybody, the way it is in the dirty movies? How would you know you weren't being a phoney? The trouble is, you wouldn't."

I'm not too sure Old Phoebe knew what the hell I was talking about. I mean she's only a little child and all. But she was listening, at least. If somebody at least listens, it's not too bad.

"Daddy's going to kill you. He's going to kill you," she said.

I wasn't listening, though. I was thinking about something else - something crazy. "You know what I'd like to be?" I said. "You know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my goddam choice?"

"What? Stop swearing".

"You know that song ...'if a body catch a body comin' through the rye'? I'd like -"

"It's 'if a body MEET a body coming through the rye'! " Old Phoebe said "It's a poem. By Robert Burns."

"I know it's a poem by Robert Burns"

She was right, though. It is 'if a body meet a body coming through the rye'. I didn't know it then, though.

"I thought it was 'if a body catch a body' ", I said."Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the ede of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're goingI have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy".

I'd like to close with the same thought I used in June to thank J.D. Salinger for these unforgettable character and words.

I'd love to meet a 16-year-old boy or girl who'd like to be a catcher in the rye or something like that. But more and more of them just want to be "veline" (Italians know! They are sort of not very good, half-naked, female dancers on evening  prime time TV ) or rich footballers. Fortunately I know lots of teenagers since I teach them English, and they're not all that shallow.  I go on reading them this page from Salinger's novel ... Who knows? Maybe few of them might choose to be ... catchers in the rye ... We might need them in this careless world.

P.S. Since I'm Italian and most of you native speakers, could you help me with the right pronunciation of the "g" in Salinger? Is it as in gentleman or in goal? I've heard both but probably one of the two is incorrect.

Thank you for your help in advance!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? THE TURN OF THE SCREW (2009) - A REVIEW

Since I read this article announcing a new adaptation of Henry James’ s THE TURN OF THE SCREW (I  read some years ago) I started wishing to see it and waiting for its airing by BBC. It was broadcast at the end of December and, eventually, I watched it yesterday.  OFFICIAL PAGE AT BBC .

(Dan Stevens as Dr Fisher)

Young Ann is closed in a mental asylum and rejects any help, refusing to speak with anybody. Dr Fisher wants to convince her to talk to him and little by little he succeeds . She starts telling him about the disquieting things she heard, saw and lived at Blys.

(Sue Johnston as Mrs Grose and Michelle Dockery as Ann)

The young governess had been hired by a fascintaing bachelor who  found himself responsible for his niece and nephew after the death of their parents. He lived in London and had no interest in raising the children. The boy, Miles, was attending a boarding school while his sister, Flora (Eva Sayer), was living at the country home in Essex. She was currently being cared for by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The governess's new employer gave her full charge of the children and explicitly states that she was not to bother him with communications of any sort. The governess travelled to her new employer's country house and began her duties.

Miles (Josef Lindsey on the left) suddenly returned from school for the summer just after a letter from the headmaster stating that he had been expelled. Miles never wanted to speak  of the matter, and the governess was hesitant to raise the issue. She feared that there was some horrid secret behind the expulsion, but was too charmed by the adorable young boy to want to press the issue. Shortly thereafter, the governess began to see around the grounds of the estate the figures of a man and  a woman whom she did not recognize. These figures came and went at will without ever being seen or challenged by other members of the household, and they seemed to the governess to be supernatural.Thanks to the help of Carla, one of the house maids, she learnt from that her predecessor, Miss Jessel, and Miss Jessel's illicit lover, Peter Quint, both died under curious circumstances, that he was terribly evil, and that the two were lovers.  Prior to their death, they spent most of their time with Flora and Miles, and this fact took on grim significance for the governess when she became convinced that the two children were secretly aware of the presence of the ghosts...

(Nicola Walker as Carla)

From the Book to the movie - Gothic ghost story or phsychological thriller?

Throughout his career James was attracted to the ghost story genre. However, he was not fond of literature's stereotypical ghosts. Rather, he preferred to create ghosts that were eerie extensions of everyday reality—"the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy," as he put it in the New York Edition preface to his final ghost story, The Jolly Corner.

The Turn of the Screw is no exception to this formula. In fact, some critics have wondered if he didn't intend the "strange and sinister" to be embroidered only on the governess's mind and not on objective reality. The result has been a long-standing critical dispute over the reality of the ghosts and the sanity of the governess.- The dispute over the reality of the ghosts has had a real effect on some critics, most notably Edmund Wilson, who was one of the first proponents of the insane governess theory. Probably Sandy Welch was inspired by this trend of criticism in her writing the script for this latest Tv adaptation of Henry James’s short novel . In fact, her script  opens with a frame set in an asylum where the governess is kept and taken care of.  It is set in post-war London,  in 1921. ( the book was published in 1898)

Also Henry James’s story  had a frame but not set in an asylum:  in the book  an anonymous narrator recalls a Christmas Eve gathering at an old house, where guests listen to one another’s ghost stories. A guest named Douglas introduces a story that involves two children—Flora and Miles—and his sister’s governess, with whom he was in love. After procuring the governess’s written record of events from his home, he provides a few introductory details. This is the first difference between the movie and the novella. Then there are several others. For instance, in the book no one believes in what Ann says she sees or sees what she sees. This is an excellent device through which James increases our sense of uneasiness and the helplessness and anxiety of the protagonist. His ability lays in not revealing or explaining too much: ambiguity and mystery are the main ingredients in his thrilling mystery stories. Everything is, instead, rather explicitly explained and shown in the TV movie which, though it remains quite disquieting, loses the deep sense of mystery the book has.
I didn't mind this TV movie , I can't honestly say I loved it. I haven't seen any other adaptation of this novella  and I can't compare. Furthermore I think it is not easy when it comes to the representation of the supernatural. Images are for themselves unveiling, while the written word can create incredible spells without revealing too much. I admire Sandy Welch for her courage at interpreting classics and not simply re-tell them. She has been often criticized for her attempts, though her Emma, Jane Eyre, North and South or Our Mutual Friend have been acclaimed by so many period drama lovers. This The Turn of the Screw is her most recent work. Not a bad one in my opinion.

READ THE TURN OF THE SCREW ON LINE

BBC OFFICIAL PAGE FOR THE TURN OF THE SCREW

ORDER THE DVD AT AMAZON