Henry James' haunting and poignant story was first published in 1898, and has been stimulating heated literary discussion ever since. Is the book a simple Gothic ghost story or a psychological thriller? Is the narrator a reliable witness or mentally unbalanced? Did the disturbing and hideous events actually occur, or are they the perverse fruits of a disordered mind? The depth and ambiguity of the text has made James' work not only an exciting and intriguing read, but one of the most critically debated works of American literature.