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RAYMOND THORBERG (ESSAY DATE SUMMER 1967)

SOURCE: Thorberg, Raymond. "Terror Made Relevant: James's Ghost Stories." Dalhousie Review 47, no. 2 (summer 1967): 185-91.

In the following essay, Thorberg considers James's approach to writing ghost stories as an aesthetic, artistic experiment.

Henry James experimented with what he called the "ghost-story", though with the apology of quotation marks, early in his career; and then after a hiatus of a decade and a half returned to active contribution to the genre through the 1890s and into the new century. This later phase or period divides also, with a number of stories of lesser merit like those of his earlier career dating from 1891–92 and followed now by a briefer pause; then "The Altar of the Dead" in 1895 initiated a list which includes besides itself such accomplishments as The Turn of the Screw, "The Beast in the Jungle", and "The...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Henry James (Story Date February 1868)
4. General Commentary
   1. Raymond Thorberg (Essay Date Summer 1967)
5. Title Commentary
   1. "The Jolly Corner"
6. Further Reading

1. Henry James