What makes us most distinctively human, our reason or our emotions? How do we know when relationships with others are authentic, and when they’re just a matter of utility? Does civilization corrupt or improve us? Is honesty all it’s cracked up to be, or is lying a social inevitability? Which is more important to our happiness, love or work?
The story begins and ends with two variations on the meaning of the title. On the one hand, to give another turn of the screw is to ratchet up the horror of a good ghost story, in this case by involving children in it. On the other, it’s to treat the cause of that horror as if it were just another of life’s many obstacles, to be overcome both by screwing one’s courage to the Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #6 “The Beast in the Jungle” by Henry James
"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." So said dear Nietzsche, and seemingly on his heels, the sentiment was reiterated by Henry James. Our discussion of the short story The Beast in the Jungle pushes the question of madness and love to the limit. Mary and Laura exclaim over the remarkable narcissism of the character John Continue Reading …