Customer Reviews

The Aspern Papers and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

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The title novella here is one of the finest examples of the entire genre. The questions underlying the narrator's intended crime (such as the problems of literary propriety, the "hauntedness" scholars feel from their literary subjects) are exquisitely handled... yet even so this story wouldn't be nearly so memorable if its expert treatment of Miss Tina's anguish weren't rendered so vividly. Her confession scene ("I can't go on... I'm too ashamed!") is one of the most moving things James ever wrote, equalled only by her strange surmounting of that anguish later in the book and by the narrator's rueful closing words.

The Aspern Papers is a brilliant story that concentrates everything great about Henry James in one brisk addictive read. James had such a deep feeling for the ornate social niceties of his day that he was able to poke fun of them while still respecting their essential decency--he seemed to understand the greed and brutality they kept in check. Our unnamed narrator's quest to outfox a great poet's elderly mistress and lay ahold of her onetime lover's papers unfolds in a languid world of gondolas, decaying Venetian palazzos, hot evenings in overgrown gardens, and above all a comfortable leisure that allows the smallest social gestures to take on earth-shaking significance.

James had an uncanny ability to make that world come alive, bringing you into its subtleties and rites, while at the same time taking you behind the elegant façade to expose the aggression, cupidity, and naked power politics that lurk just beneath the impeccable manners. Our narrator wants the papers; the mistress wants money for her niece, and the niece ... well, order this book and read on to find out. You won't be disappointed--it's one of James's best.

"The Aspern Papers" asks the question: to what extent should private information be made public and for what reason? James' book concerns the triple manipulations of people who have or want access to the private love letters written by a famous 19th century poet, Jeffrey Aspern. The sperned lover, an antique American named Juliana, has her reasons for keeping and for selling the letters (if they exist at all). A greedy and unnamed young journalist wishes to build his career on the exposure of Juliana's love affair to the Jeffrey Aspern. A spinster, Juliana's niece who shares Juliana's villa in Venice, is the "price" for the sale of the letters. Add to this the "ghost" of Jeffrey Aspern, who seems to be present around every corner, and what James has produced is a suspenseful tale of warped values, shady dealings, and the corruption of "the innocents". James' language and style may at first be daunting, but "The Aspern Papers" is a wonderful introduction to a great American writer who knew first-hand the power of psychology.

This is a fascinating, somewhat mystifying story about an American publisher who wants findsome long lost papers of an almost forgetten poet Jeffrey Aspern. The narrator finds his long ago mistress living in poverty in Venice. The reader is not only treated to this rather mysterious tale about the mistress Juliana Bordereau and her equally strange niece,Tina, but to a wonderful picture of l9th centurey Venice. The narrator behaves in a hypocritcal fashion, tryimg to get the papers of Aspern away from these two women. Henry James is his usual rather verbose mode of writing,but I found the book's tale pushing me to the end. 99bjb@mediaone.net

I enjoyed this book, if only for the different manners in which they approached the role of writer and reader(or non-reader in the case of "The Death of the Lion"). The four stories "The Aspern Papers", "The Middle Years" and "The Death of the Lion" revolve around the extreme devotation of a reader and their relationship with the author. All of these devotees have given up a portion or all of their lives for the author of their admiration. The question is what are their (the admirers') true motives in seeking contact with the authors, and in the case of "The Middle Years" and "Death of the Lion", what is the purpose of the admirer for the author. In "The Aspern Papers" the narrator fights to get ahold of the author's private papers, supposedly guarded by Aspern's one-time mistress. Like "Death of the Lion", it discusses to what extent the narrator or main character can rightfully claim ownership of an author and his or her works. In "Death of the Lion", told from the perspective of an expoitive newspaper man who fell in love with the author and his works, the role of the writer and reader is broken into opposing admirers: Those who admire the writer for his works, and those who admire him for the social status he can offer them. It asks the question who is most deserving of the author's time and respect, if anyone is at all. The Middle Years switches perspectives to that of the author who only now, when the time remaining for him is shorter, has he really learned how to right. He gains a devotee who he sees as a provider of an extension. The story discusses the relationship between the two. Finally is "The Private Life", which revolves around contrasting roles. It discusses characters and whether or not their outward appearances are the true personality.

"The Aspern Papers" is one of Henry James's very best works, which makes it one of the best works in all of American literature. A lovely, slightly Gothic, highly evocative novella, it floats along on James's prose like a gondola upon one of Venice's less trafficked canals. It should be as well-known as "Daisy Miller" or "The Portrait of a Lady." Back in the day (that means the 1990's, to all you tragically unhip), this would've made a great Merchant-Ivory movie.

As a very fond five time visitor to Venice and reader of a fair selection of books about the city, I still think "The Aspern Papers" is the best.
Don't sit around reading banal travel guides; get out and walk. Get lost, find yourself a few times and get lost again. Find the "less-trafficked canal" where Juliana lived, and think about where you are. Go have a glass of Tokai Friulano straight from the barrel and think about where you are again. Go to the church of S. Zaccharia and wait for someone else to put a coin in the light fixture so you can see the Bellini. Have both varieties of radicchio with dinner.
Then, when you return home and read "The Aspern Papers" again, you'll know what it's all about.