{"product_id":"2940012705389","title":"The Two Magics","description":"Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original hardcover edition for enjoyable reading. (Worth every penny spent!)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA review from a turn of the century edition of \"Harvard Monthly\":\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The Turn of the Screw\" — first of the two magics in both position and power — one finds himself start at a \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003edisadvantage. The story,\" as the story won't tell; not in any literal, vulgar way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen one has taken for granted the usual complexities of Mr. James's story-matter, has entered this novelist's world \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eof wire-drawn ingenuities, the substance of the present story won't be commented on easily. It is hard, at least, to \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ekeep any comments from seeming commonplace and gratuitous. No one will be thankful for being shown the beauty, the \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003epassion, and the dreadfulness of the tale ; for no one can contrive to miss these qualities in the reading. Nor does \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eit in any way need an interpreter, this story of a woman's devotion interposing between half-tangible malignities, two \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"coward horrors\" of corrupting evil, and the children whom they seek utterly to destroy. It may be worth while, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ehowever, merely to say that those art mistaken who think the story so entirely a psychological allegory ; on the \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003econtrary, the treatment of the two supernatural presences, Peter Quint and Miss Jesse], shows that in their creator \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe psychologist was for once subordinated. For the author, some will say, a magic indeed ! At all events, the \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eallegory ranks, in dramatic, tragic qualities, almost with what is best in \"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.\" The details of \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethat momentous struggle at Bly, the encounter with Quint on the stairs, the great final conflict for the liberation of \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMiles, are the details, not of a treatise, but of an intense human tragedy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnwilling to let his audience go from the theatre in a mood of intensity, Mr. James has \"Covering End\" immediately \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003efollow as relaxation. Here again the magic is that of woman's love bringing a wonder to pass ; but the wonder is less, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eand the woman of a different type. Before, we saw a great-souled creature at a noble work of rescue ; here the rescuer \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eis Mrs. Gracedew of Missoura Top, whose work is that of playing a sprightly part in a pleasant comedy, who helps to \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eestablish a young man in the house of his fathers,— and who incidentally finds herself established there. She is a \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003edroll and altogether charming person (though one would not care to call her a real being) who carries the episode \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethrough humorously. Relaxation, quiet amusement, are cleverly effected for the reader; and so the story succeeds in \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eits purpose of lessening the ugly distress of the other and greater magic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs to the question of Mr. James's manner,— but that grain has been threshed pretty thoroughly. In the words of \"My \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDouble,\" \"There has been so much said, and so well said, that we shall not occupy the time \" ; enough to add that in \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The Two Magics\" the style is not so markedly willful as in some other recent works of Mr. James. Further criticism \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eone does not venture — in any literal and vulgar way.","brand":"OGB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068545614064,"sku":"2940012705389","price":1.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012705389_p0.jpg?v=1763571945","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012705389","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}