\u201cWorking backwards, one places the governess\u2019s experiences in the second\u00a0quarter of the nineteenth century.\u201d (Adrian Dover ; introduction)<\/p>\n
And rather late in that quarter, apparently, because Adrian Dover identifies in\u00a0chapter four a conscious reference to\u00a0Jane Eyre<\/i>\u00a0 (Charlotte Bront\u00eb ; 1847). In\u00a0consequence the governess would have taken the train to Colchester, which\u00a0had entered service in March 1843. This dating attempt therefore disagrees\u00a0with the story\u2019s consistent unawareness of modern times. The simplest way to\u00a0deal with the anomaly, is to question the location of Bly within a day\u2019s walk\u00a0distance of the nearest train station. The more convenient way is to ignore the\u00a0clue as an anachronism. The way to avoid the company of Sherlock Holmes is to\u00a0do both at the same time :<\/p>\n
Some forty years at least separate the events at Bly (1847 or later) from\u00a0the Christmas party, and probably a lot more. This \u2018probably\u2019 dates the\u00a0Christmas party in 1895 : two years before the story is published after what looks like a much longer period of time.\u00a0This because\u00a0Douglas has passed away, with a strong suggestion that many years have passed between events. But ‘poor Douglas’ as a rule refers to someone who died just weeks ago.\u00a0In January of this same year 1895, Henry\u00a0James learned the story himself. On a Thursday again. This is too much of a\u00a0coincidence, and one has to consider the possibility of careful planning. At the\u00a0same time, the \u2018looks like\u2019 dates the Christmas party back to 1889, and\u00a0Douglas\u2019s summer romance within two years of Miles\u2019s death. The calendar\u00a0therefore brings both options at exactly the same distance of its limit of\u00a0probability. A distance that can be accepted as possible, but also one that is\u00a0far too close for comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n Chance is very well capable of creating such a regularity, but is more likely\u00a0to destroy it, and it stands to reason that symmetry results from intelligent\u00a0design.<\/p>\n In which case Henry James has deliberatedly created the ambiguity of\u00a0two equally questionable datings where pinpoint precision was the easier option.\u00a0Once again, there is no compelling reason why chance should be ruled out as the\u00a0source of this anomaly. But when ruled out notwithstanding, the question is :\u00a0why would Henry James take the trouble? To create a certain effect, obviously.\u00a0And the obvious effect of this dating ambiguity is a structural unreliability of\u00a0narrators : if we believe Douglas when he dates the tragedy at Bly \u2018long before\u2019\u00a0he met its heroine in 1855, we can\u2019t trust the third narrator\u2019s account of the\u00a0Christmas party, which deviously suggests to have been written many years\u00a0afterward. If we, with equal authority, take these many years for granted,\u00a0Douglas met the heroine in 1849, and his \u2018long before\u2019 is to be counted in\u00a0months rather than in years.<\/p>\n Structural unreliability implies that we can\u2019t trust either narrator, but they\u00a0can\u2019t be both wrong at the same time, which leaves us with a pinpoint accurate\u00a0dating that is six years off its mark.<\/p>\n \n —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n A challenge to the reader<\/strong><\/p>\n The method to break this deadlock in due time be placed underneath a link in this line. But do not touch it\u00a0untill you have finished the novella. Or you are going to regret to have lifted\u00a0this veil before reading the main narrative. And you do not really need to lift it\u00a0anyway. Now you have read the introductory section of\u00a0The Turn of the Screw<\/i>,\u00a0and all about its context, you have learned enough to figure the dating out for\u00a0yourself. It won\u2019t be easy, though, to unravel the trickery in the story\u2019s time\u00a0line, that, underneath the link, can make a fool of even a most fastidious\u00a0investigator. But in the end you will see through the double dealings of Henry\u00a0James, and establish the exact year that the heroine arrived at Bly. This year\u00a0can\u2019t be earlier than 1837, or later than 1849. And its reliability is based on an\u00a0evidently consistent pattern in the time line.<\/p>\n Good luck.<\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWorking backwards, one places the governess\u2019s experiences in the second\u00a0quarter of the nineteenth century.\u201d (Adrian Dover ; introduction) And rather late in that quarter, apparently, because Adrian Dover identifies in\u00a0chapter four a conscious reference to\u00a0Jane Eyre\u00a0 (Charlotte Bront\u00eb ; 1847). … Continue reading \n
The title page of Jane Eyre is dated 1847. It is unlikely that Henry James knew that the novel\u2019s\u00a0first volume was published as late as 16 October. This while the heroine refers to the second\u00a0volume, which definitely dates her arrival at Bly in the summer of a later year.<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n