Introduction Summary

The introduction to The Turn of the Screw introduces us to the un-named author and the storyteller-to-be, known only as Douglas. A group has gathered by the fire in an old house to tell stories on Christmas Eve, and an unknown participant has just finished a gruesome story, deemed by the narrator to be fitting to the time and setting. The story just told involves a child, a contributing factor to its grotesque description, and the group quietly ponders the tale, until Douglas offers the possibility of a story even more horrible involving not one, but two children.

The gathering is interested, and one woman declares the idea to be "delicious" and urges Douglas to tell the story. He reveals that he is the only one that has heard the story before, and that, to the dismay of the group, he shall have...