The Idiot (111 page)

 

Oscar Wilde called James’s chilling ‘The Turn of the Screw’ ‘a most wonderful, lurid poisonous little tale’. It tells of a young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a sense of intense evil within the house, she soon becomes obsessed with the belief that malevolent forces are stalking the children in her care. Obsession of a more worldly variety lies at the heart of ‘The Aspern Papers’, the tale of a literary historian determined to get his hands on some letters written by a great poet - and prepared to use trickery and deception to achieve his aims. Both show James’s mastery of the short story and his genius for creating haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension.

 

Anthony Curtis’s wide-ranging introduction traces the development of the two stories from initial inspiration to finished work and examines their critical reception.

 

Edited with an introduction by
ANTHONY CURTIS

 

This selection of Poe’s critical writings, short fiction and poetry demonstrates his intense interest in aesthetic issues, and the astonishing power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ describes the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In ‘The Tell Tale Heart‘, a murderer’s insane delusions threaten to betray him, while stories such as ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ and ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ explore extreme states of decadence, fear and hate. These works display Poe’s startling ability to build suspense with almost nightmarish intensity.

 

David Galloway’s introduction re-examines the myths surrounding Poe’s life and reputation. This edition includes a new chronology and further reading.

 

 

 

Edited with an introduction by
DAVID GALLOWAY