The Aspern Papers
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2008-06-29 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #211 |
Description
"The Aspern Papers" by Henry James is a novella published in 1888. A nameless narrator travels to Venice with a singular obsession: to obtain the private letters of Jeffrey Aspern, a deceased American poet. His target is Juliana Bordereau, the poet's aged former lover, who guards these precious documents. To gain access, the narrator poses as a lodger and considers courting Juliana's plain niece, Miss Tita. James crafts a suspenseful tale about the ethical boundaries of biographical pursuit, where desire for literary treasure collides with human dignity and privacy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)