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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Why Do 1,000 Refugees Get Free Wimbledon Tickets While Long Suffering Locals Get None? Mon Jun 30, 2025 19:37 | Jo-Anne Nadler
As Wimbledon gets underway, its SW19 neighbours have to put up with a lot, from encroaching development to security checks to get home. Yet, unlike 1,000 refugees, they're shut out from the tennis, says Jo-Anne Nadler.
The post Why Do 1,000 Refugees Get Free Wimbledon Tickets While Long Suffering Locals Get None? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Criminal Investigation Launched into Bob Vylan and Kneecap?s Glastonbury Performances as US Revokes ... Mon Jun 30, 2025 17:43 | Will Jones
Police have announced a criminal investigation into Bob Vylan and Kneecap's Glastonbury?performances as the Trump administration kills the punk duo's American tour by revoking their visa over antisemitic death chants.
The post Criminal Investigation Launched into Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Glastonbury Performances as US Revokes Punk Group’s Visa Over Antisemitic Death Chants appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link What is the Purpose of Sydney Sweeney?s Bathwater? Mon Jun 30, 2025 15:30 | Chris Bullick
Unilever ? the company that once declared "brands without purpose have no future" ? has bought the Sydney Sweeney bathwater soap brand. Woke is dead, says Chris Bullick.
The post What is the Purpose of Sydney Sweeney’s Bathwater? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Chris Whitty Was Behind Covid Guidance That Triggered Care Homes Spread, FOI Emails Reveal Mon Jun 30, 2025 13:01 | Will Jones
Professor Sir Chris Whitty?was responsible for government guidance that was believed to have triggered the spread of Covid into?care homes, the Telegraph has revealed.
The post Chris Whitty Was Behind Covid Guidance That Triggered Care Homes Spread, FOI Emails Reveal appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link An Inspector Calls ? and Then Tells You What to Think Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:00 | Jack Watson
Sixteen year-old Jack Watson confesses to lying about what he really thinks about socialism and climate change to get good grades in his GCSEs. If you criticise either, he says, you will be marked down.
The post An Inspector Calls ? and Then Tells You What to Think appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Review of The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James

category international | arts and media | opinion/analysis author Wednesday November 05, 2014 13:34author by Paddy Hackett Report this post to the editors

Gothic Ghost Story

It does follow that truth is unattainable. However it is not easily acquired. Its acquisition is a struggle. To strip off illusion and much of ambiguity contemporary society needs replacement by a communal form that precludes social oppression

Henry James novella The Turn Of The Screw makes for interesting reading. It was first published in 1898. It is a gothic ghost story that is an eerie extension of everyday reality. However it tries one's patience because its stylistic character involves the universal use of circumlocutionary language. It could have been written more concisely. But perhaps there is good reason for its particular stylistic character of which I am not aware. By couching the novella in a circumlocutionary form he James may be endeavouring to endow everyday experiences with a less familiar form. He may, then, attempting to liberate language from its hackneyed (cliched ridden) form. His peculiar style of language may be an attempt to endow the book with a mysterious and gothic-like quality.

But its principal quality is the pervasiveness of ambiguity. Ambiguity runs right through the work. This means that there is never certainty concerning aspects of the putative reality being outlined in the little book. The governess at the large Gothic like country house called Blye starts to see ghostly images of two people that had worked there. One was her predecessor Miss Jessel. The other employee was Peter Quint. They are now dead. The governess becomes convinced that the two children, Miles and Flora, are secretly aware of the presence of the ghosts. But the reader, then, cannot be sure as to whether the governess really experiences these ghosts or whether she is delusional and that the ghosts existed only in her imagination.This is the ambiguity created by James. And in the latter part of the book we cannot be sure whether the boy, Miles, death is induced by the governess or for other reasons. Again this a result of the ambiguity created by James. The children, certainly Miles, are said to be involved in evil practices because of the influence of the two previous individuals who worked in the house. Yet there is essentially no evidence of the children being engaged in anything of an evil nature.Even Miles being expelled from school does not make certain that he had been particularly bad at boarding school.

The ambiguity permeating the story is an analogy for the ambiguity that forms an inherent part of modern society. Our conduct and experiences in society today is enveloped in ambiguity and illusion. We can never be certain of the real nature of many of our experiences because of the ambiguity in which these experiences are entangled. People that we interact with cannot be always found reliable. This is because much of what they say and do is entangled in illusion and ideology. Politicians and other public figures constantly, whether purposely or not, engage in discourse and action that is enveloped in ambiguity or illusion.Ideology from which we cannot absolutely escape in modern society is a form of illusion or ambiguity. Under capitalism ambiguity or illusion is a universal phenomenon.

The book's ambiguous nature transcends the matter of the governess and the supernatural images of Miss Jessell and Peter Quint. The ambiguity stretches into the other characters featuring in the book: Miles, Flora and Mrs Grose the housekeeper. None of them create any grounds for certainty either. They fail to confirm the character of the experiences of the governess. The illusions of the governess dominate the experiences of the governess herself along with those of the children and Mrs Grose. In a way the illusion is the dynamic dictating the (ambiguous) meaning of the novella. It is an indication of the social power of illusion. The inability to distinguish fact from fiction. Fact and fiction are mutually entwined.

Having said this it does follow that truth is unattainable. However it is not easily acquired. Its acquisition is a struggle. To strip off illusion and much of ambiguity contemporary society needs replacement by a communal form that precludes social oppression.

Related Link: http://paddy-hackett.blogspot.com/
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