Thought, sound, silence, music: "The turn of the screw" from Henry James to Benjamin Britten
- Autores: Dídac Llorens Cubedo
- Localización: Complutense Journal of English Studies, ISSN 2386-3935, Nº. Extra 23, 2015 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Staging the sounds of a nation: the poetic soundscapes of the USA), págs. 97-109
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
Although Henry James was always alert to speech and dialogue, his achievement derives largely from the study of human psychology and character, and he is often perceived as a �writer of thought.� The essence of Jamesian style has found an apt correlative in musical discourse and, more specifically, in the language and conventions of opera. James� The Turn of the Screw evidences an interest in the physical qualities of characters� speech and recurrently resorts to musical or performative imagery. Silence, however, is at the heart of the novella: Victorian sexual taboo, secrecry shrouding past events, the firstperson narrator�s self-censorship and above all, the soundless presence of the ghostly. Benjamin Britten�s opera adaptation is faithful to James� text, yet introducing fascinating elements: the definite musical character of the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel; their presence on stage frees them from the constraint of the Governess� narrative filter in the source text; the opera�s focus on Quint, rather than the Governess, sets the homoerotic theme into relief and even suggests the ghost as the origin of the narration.
