\u201cGood ghosts, speaking by book, make poor subjects, and it was clear that\u00a0from the first my hovering prowling blighting presences, my pair of abnormal\u00a0agents, would have to depart altogether from the rules. They would be agents\u00a0in fact; there would be laid on them the dire duty of causing the situation to\u00a0reek with the air of Evil. Their desire and their ability to do so, visibly\u00a0measuring meanwhile their effect, together with their observed and described\u00a0success \u2013 this was exactly my central idea; so that, briefly, I cast my lot with\u00a0pure romance, the appearances conforming to the true type being so little\u00a0romantic.\u00a0This is to say, I recognise again, that Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are not\u00a0\u2018ghosts\u2019 at all, as we now know the ghost, but goblins, elves, imps, demons as\u00a0loosely constructed as those of the old trials for witchcraft; if not, more\u00a0pleasingly, fairies of the legendary order, wooing their victims forth to see\u00a0them dance under the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note the absence of the word \u2018hallucination\u2019.\u00a0And a little earlier in this preface to the 1908 New York edition, Henry James\u00a0reports to have been one of the guests around the fire when the host told the\u00a0outlines of his story as a hearsay account of a real appearance. At the time a\u00a0fashionable topic, and Henry James kept himself well informed on the latest\u00a0developments in the field of scientific measurement of ghosts. And describing\u00a0the ghosts that haunt Bly, he is in fact defending his choice to ignore their\u00a0scientific specifications. From which follows that his ghosts originally answered\u00a0to these specifications. As to be expected from real appearances.<\/p>\n
—<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n go to next chapter<\/a>\u00a0– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/span>\u00a0back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cGood ghosts, speaking by book, make poor subjects, and it was clear that\u00a0from the first my hovering prowling blighting presences, my pair of abnormal\u00a0agents, would have to depart altogether from the rules. They would be agents\u00a0in fact; there would be … Continue reading