Episode 31: The Turn of the Screw

Here at Better Read than Dead we are here to tell you that work sucks and we should seize the means of production! But in the meantime, one job we definitely wouldn’t recommend is haunted house governess. Sure, the pay is good but the benefits package is just a bunch of ghosts and two very unnerving children.

Henry James knew that too, which is why he wrote his 1898 novella, The Turn of the Screw. We talk about why James named his characters such mean things (Fanny Assingham, anyone?), the upstairs-downstairs class dynamics when ghosts get thrown into the mix, and we tackle the New Critic’s burning questions: was this governess just making stuff up? Hallucinating? Cloud of gas? Too scared of redheads to think straight? Megan and Tristan also applied to be haunted house governesses and got called back for an interview! They really, for sure, definitely, absolutely want this fantastic position, so tune in to see who walks away with the prize!

We read and recommend the Penguin edition, edited by David Bromwich. If you haven’t gotten your fill of thrills and chills yet, check out Brad Leithauser's "Ever Scarier: On 'The Turn of the Screw'" in the New Yorker.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at [email protected]. Find Tristan on Twitter @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.