Ambiguidade da narrativa e tensão psicológica: a construção do suspense em a outra volta do parafuso, de Henry James

Abstract

This study analyzes Henry James The Turn of the Screw (1898), focusing on the narrative's ambiguity and the story's psychological tension. Suspense is approached in literature as a narrative element and refers to a fundamental component that makes up the structure of a literary work—that is, it structures and develops a narrative, be it a short story, novel, poem, or play. These elements are essential to the construction of the narrative and to the reader's or spectator's understanding of the work. The choice of this work is justified by its structural complexity and the sophisticated application of strategies that maintain the enigma. The main objective of the study is to understand how suspense is constructed by the unreliable narrator and the blurring of lines between reality and fantasy. The research was theoretically supported by authors such as Pereira (2009), Friedman (2002), Leite (1994), Gancho (2006), Silva (2011), and Todorov (2006; 2017), whose reflections support ambiguity as a central element of narrative. The methodology used is qualitative, exploratory, and interpretative, guided by the hypothetical-deductive method, utilizing historical and observational procedures. Data analysis allows us to conclude that the work's suspense is generated primarily by the lack of certainty, strategy, and tension between what is said, hidden, or denied. In conclusion, the novel presents a model of suspense, based on the continuous oscillation between truth and illusion.