Allen

Allen’s interpretation of TTS:

Allen’s criticism about “The Turn of the Screw” seems to be one that manifests atavism. It goes back in time claiming that the phantoms present in the story are real, disregarding all the critics who have turned their thoughts into the apparitionist or non-apparitionist theory or the ones who have just believed in the story’s ambiguity.

Under a traditional formalist reading of the plot, Allen points out that what James intended to write was a “ghost” story and the main evidence of this is the text itself.

The narrative structure (mainly the three-narrator frame) used in this novella gives credibility to the governess’s words. The rationales behind this idea are:

· “Douglas’s good recommendation of the governess”.

· “The respect that Douglas accords to the manuscript”.

· “The fact that Douglas does not divulge the governess’s name and that Douglas, in turn, is given authority by the 1^st person narrator – the anonymous guest”.

Allen stands out about the latter: “Although the `I' of the narrative frame is of course a fictional character, this is only so because of the fictional situation; that is, he (the real James) wrote the governess's story. The `I' is the `real' James in fictional garb: he supplies the title within the frame, is perceptive, etc., and is an uninvolved observer. His judgements and perceptions are accepted by the reader as the real James's judgements and perceptions, though his knowledge is limited, and he can thus be legitimately designated the implied James …”

Finally, in other words, the anonymous guest is of great importance since it should be regarded as “the author’s persona”. Consequently, it evokes the authority of the author. 

To conclude, as a formalist critic, Allen provides us with a traditional interpretation of the plot. It is a text centred analysis that focus is on words. Therefore, he does not even consider other theories in his analysis. Allen’s interpretation is simple and straight forward. However, it is essential for reading and interpreting this kind of complex literary work since first the reader needs to understand the work as it is and then he/she will be able to start reading and analysing the text between the lines.