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The Turn of the Screw

Joyce Carol Oates

First published September 1997
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

A young man, unhappily tending to his sick uncle at a seaside resort, begins receiving anonymous letters from someone who is watching him; the story is told in parallel narrations from the points of view of the watcher (an older man) and the watched.

A non-speculative story using Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw" as inspiration and parallel. Figuratively speaking, each of the two men in this story feels as if he is haunted by the other. First published in the Iowa Review 2.2 (1971).

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
September 1997 Cover Postmodern American Fiction W. W. Norton & Company Anthology 396