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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
7 pages in length. A formalist is concerned about a story's form, how the writer reaches his literary objective and whether or not he is successful in translating that goal to the reader. Hence, a formalist critic would look at Henry James' The Turn of the Screw by way of its structure rather than what the story is trying to convey. Essential to this perspective are elements that ultimately create the story, such as pattern, tone and figurative language. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
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7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: LM1_TLCTrnScr.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
a formalist critic would look at Henry James The Turn of the Screw by way of its structure rather than what the story is trying to convey. Essential to
this perspective are elements that ultimately create the story, such as pattern, tone and figurative language. Still, this does not appease the critics who contend formalist interpretation completely overlooks
the very essence of what the story attempts to convey. "The formalistic view that novels are about language, not about life, fails to explain why people get so caught
up liking and disliking different fictional characters or why they deeply desire specific resolutions to certain fictional plots and situations" (Gregory 194). James is extremely effective in conveying and
manipulating point of view in his fictional ghost story. By delving deep into the subconscious activity of his characters, the author is able to evoke an eerie sense of
obscurity that would otherwise be overlooked with any other method of presentation. What separates James work from most others of the horror genre is the fact that he utilizes
psychological tension which requires his audience to connect with their minds, as opposed to the thrasher type that employs blood and gore. The high success rate of James novel can
be attributed directly to his ability to frighten with literary concepts. With great subtlety, he imposes minute actions and modest alterations throughout the story, rather than offering obvious and
grandiose changes that delivery little nuance. By applying these techniques, James steadily builds the necessary level of suspense that is so critical to his work. The Turn of
the Screw illustrates this quite effectively by James purposeful attempt to keep the governess from ever knowing the reality behind what the children see. Characteristic of the authors talent
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