For sheer terror, for the spectral power to fasten itself upon the imagination, stirring and tormenting it, The Turn of the Screw is the apotheosis of the macabre in literature. Without abatement, it arouses the senses and numbs them, clutches at the heart and makes it beat faster, while it unfolds one of the greatest ghost stories of all time. The Lesson of the Master portrays the inevitable penalties imposed on those who cherish a dream of perfection. It reveals Henry James as an incomparable storyteller and stylist.