Wordsworth Ghost Stories of Henry James Джеймс Генри

Травмированная в юности историями о привидениях, писательница, лауреат Пулитцеровской премии Эдит Уортон (1862-1937) направила свой страх и одержимость на создание серии захватывающих историй, наполненных загробными духами и другими сверхъестественными явлениями. Утверждая, что не верит в привидения, она, как это ни парадоксально, призналась, что боится их. Уортон с большим эффектом привносит этот мощный иррациональный страх в свою фантастику о привидениях • В этой уникальной подборке тонко обработанных рассказов Уортон демонстрирует свое мастерство в жанре историй о привидениях. Среди множества сверхъестественных удовольствий на этих страницах вы встретите женатого фермера, околдованного мертвой девушкой; призрачный колокольчик, который спасает репутацию женщины; странные призрачные глаза, наводящие ужас на пожилого эстета в полуночные часы; человека, преследуемого призраками, который получает письма от своей умершей жены; и пугающую силу магии

Described by F. R. Leavis as one of the two most brilliant novels in the language, The Portrait of a Lady marks the evolution of Henry James from talented American writer to world-class novelist. The ‘lady’ of the title is Isabel Archer, a beautiful, intelligent and headstrong American heiress embarked on a treacherous journey to self-knowledge amid the ravishingly rendered landscapes of England and Italy. But it is the characters she encounters who make the story so masterly: the good Lord Warburton and the evil Gilbert Osmond, between whom she hesitates, her candid American friends, and above all the witch-like Madame Merle with whom she does battle for her soul. All are magnificently drawn, and none more so than Isabel herself, who belongs with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina among the supreme creations of European fiction

The Penguin English Library edition of The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James • 'She knew of no wrong that he had done; he was not violent, he was not cruel; she simply believed that he hated her' • When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy her freedom, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. Then she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond. Charming and cultivated, Osmond sees Isabel as a rich prize waiting to be taken. In this portrait of a 'young woman affronting her destiny', Henry James created one of his most magnificent heroines, and a story of intense poignancy • The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War

Regarded by many as Henry James's finest work, and a lucid tragedy exploring the distance between money and happiness, The Portrait of a Lady contains an introduction by Philip Horne in Penguin Classics • When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. Then she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond. Charming and cultivated, Osmond sees Isabel as a rich prize waiting to be taken. Beneath his veneer of civilized behaviour, Isabel discovers cruelty and a stifling darkness. In this portrait of a 'young woman affronting her destiny', Henry James created one of his most magnificent heroines, and a story of intense poignancy

Emerging from the grit and stigma of poverty to a life of fairytale privilege under the wing of her aunt, the beautiful and financially ambitious Kate Croy is already romantically involved with promising journalist Merton Densher when they become acquainted with Milly Theale, a New York socialite of immense wealth. Learning of Milly's mortal illness and passionate attraction to Densher, Kate sets the scene for a romantic betrayal intended to secure her lasting financial security. As the dying Milly retreats within the carnival splendour of a Venetian palazzo, becoming the frail hub of a predatory circle of fortune-seekers, James unfolds a resonant, brooding tale of doomed passion, betrayal, human resilience and remorse

The Turn of the Screw, James's great masterpiece of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension, tells of a young governess sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a dark foreboding of menace within the house, she soon comes to believe that something, or someone, malevolent is stalking the children in her care. Is the threat to her young charges really a malign and ghostly presence, or a manifestation of something else entirely?

How can I retrace today the strange steps of my obsession • The Turn of the Screw tells the tale of an unnamed governess who lives with her two charges in an isolated country house. After living for a while in blissful harmony, the governess begins to spy ghostly apparitions roaming the grounds. She becomes obsessed with these figures that only she can see, and strives to protect the children from their malevolent designs. But the situation soon begins to spiral out of control • This uneasy and sinister novella is a genius work of horror fiction, surrounding the terrors that emerge from everyday life

A young governess is employed to look after two enchantingly beautiful orphans • Striving to protect the children, she becomes obsessed with the idea that they are in danger, and her good intentions cause more harm than good • Uneasy and sinister, this novella shows a woman haunted by an eerie and evil presence that emerges from the terrors of real life

The Penguin English Library Edition of Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James • "I'm a fearful, frightful flirt! Did you ever hear of a nice girl that was not?" • This edition contains two of Henry James's most popular short works • Travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy Miller, an exquisitely beautiful young American woman, presents her fellow-countryman Winterbourne with a dilemma he cannot resolve. Is she deliberately flouting social convention in the outspoken way she talks and acts, or is she simply ignorant of those conventions? In Daisy Miller Henry James created his first great portrait of the enigmatic and dangerously independent American woman, a figure who would come to dominate his later masterpieces • Oscar Wilde called James's chilling The Turn of the Screw 'a most wonderful, lurid poisonous little tale'

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 -1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic novels, one of the most infl uential ghost story writers of the nineteenth century. With the tradition of collecting the best tales about ghosts, "Ghostly Tales" incorporates four brilliant stories, such as "Ghost Stories of Chapelizod" and "The Ghost and the Bone-setter" and "The Mysterious Lodger"

'Henry James is as solitary in the history of the novel as Shakespeare is in the history of poetry' Graham Greene • Isabel Archer's main aim in life is to protect her independence. She is not interested in settling down and compromising her freedom for the sake of marriage. However, on a trip around Europe with her aunt, she finds herself captivated by the charming Gilbert Osmond, who is very interested in the idea of adding Isabel to his collection of beautiful artworks

An unnamed young governess is sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Yet she is soon oppressed by a sense of foreboding and deep disquiet, becoming convinced that something dark is threatening her young charges. But are supernatural forces at work, or is the danger something altogether more earthly? • Henry James’s masterpiece, and widely considered to be the greatest ghost story ever written, The Turn of the Screw remains the apogee of suspenseful, haunting writing in the English language • Contains: Extract from the Preface to Vol. 12 of the New York Edition (1908), notes, extra material on Henry James’s life and works and a select bibliography