James's long tale is not only the greatest ghost story every written, but one of the richest and most subtly ambiguous novellas in the language. The eeriness of the story, a governess's account of the possession of the souls of two young children by the spirits of a former governess and her lover, the servant Quint, survives even the pummelling of a Norton Critical Edition. James, in his sly way, described it as "a trap for the unwary", and indeed, as becomes clear especially on a second reading - and The Turn of the Screw deserves, and rewards, multiple readings - the events that the nameless narrator describes are open to a multitude of interpretations. For instance, Edmund Wilson - his essay is included here - was not the only one to notice that the only person in the story who sees the ghosts is the narrator herself. So is it a ghost story, or a study of hysteria? It is, of course, both - and more.