Preservation vs. Progress

The debate between Mrs. Gracedew's passion for historic preservation and Captain Yule's commitment to social reform in the East End represents a central Victorian tension between tradition and change.

1 Book 7 min read

Summaries

The Two Magics: The Turn of the Screw, Covering End

James, Henry

This collection pairs Henry James's ambiguous ghost story "The Turn of the Screw," in which a governess at a country estate perceives spectral threats to her charges, with the lighter social comedy "Covering End," in which a penniless heir must choose between his political principles and his ancestral home, with a wealthy American woman's intervention determining the outcome of both.

Preservation vs. Progress 7 min