Revue algérienne des lettres
Volume 5, Numéro 2, Pages 230-242
2021-12-31

Ghosts Of The Unconscious In Henry James’s The Turn Of The Screw

Authors : Adjout Asma .

Abstract

The paranormal has always been a fascination for many people; stories about haunted houses, spirits, possession cases and so on continue to nourish the imagination throughout different generations. Yet, when the paranormal is given a psychological interpretation, it comes to express meaningful aspects about human nature. This paper explores this relation between the paranormal and the psychological as studied by the prominent psychologists William James and Carl Gustav Yung through the analysis of one of the most controversial literary works of modern times: Henry James’ horror novella entitled The Turn of the Screw (1898). This work has been considered by many critics as a psychological novel where the author merely explores the perturbed mental states of his characters; yet, the aim in this paper is to demonstrate that it is in fact a literary exploration of the concept of the “collective unconscious” as discussed by William James and C. G. Yung, and how it is manifested to the human mind. This paper sets out to explore the visionary character of the novel through highlighting its socio-historical circumstances, and focusing on the very ambivalent position of its author between two literary movements, namely, realism and modernism. The textual analysis of the novel is centered around paranormal manifestations, and the ground they offer for an interesting exploration of human consciousness, between the living and the dead. With this analysis, the ghost story genre is not just a scary story as it is supposed to be, but is used to express interesting aspects of human nature.

Keywords

Paranormal; Psychology; The Collective Unconscious; Visionary Art; Jung; Henry James