Oscar Wilde called James's chilling tale The Turn of the Screw "a most wonderful, lugubrious, poisonous little story." It describes how a young governess is sent to a country house to care for two orphans, Miles and Flora. She is quickly overcome by a sense of intense evil that permeates the house and becomes obsessed with the conviction that something malevolent is haunting the children in her care. The Aspern Papers focuses on a more mundane obsession; the story follows a literary historian determined to obtain letters from a great poet, even if he has to use deceit and deception to do so. Both stories demonstrate James's mastery of short story writing and his gift for creating a haunting atmosphere and unbearable suspense. Anthony Curtis's extensive introduction traces the development of the two stories from their initial inspiration to the finished work and examines their critical reception.