| Author | Henry James |
|---|---|
| Title | The Aspern Papers |
| Year | 1888 |
Henry James (1843-1916) was an American author and literary critic. He spent most of his life in Europe, and in 1915, at the end of his life, he became a British subject. Many of his novels deal with Americans in Europe, or with Europeans in America.
The Aspern Papers is a short, suspenseful novel, with a surprising twist in the plot, set in a beautifully described Venice.
WARNING: I won’t give away the plot, but there will still be some spoilers.
The Aspern Papers is narrated by an unscrupulous American editor, who has published about (and is a great fan of) Jeffrey Aspern, an American romantic poet from the early 19th century. In his youth, Aspern had been in love (and probably had an affair) with a Miss Juliana Bordereau, and he has devoted some of his best poems to her. The narrator, whose name we never learn, has recently discovered that Miss Bordereau is still alive and lives in Venice.
He writes to her to ask if she has any letters from Aspern, but at first his letters go unanswered, and his last letter is answered by a curt note from Miss Bordereau’s niece, Miss Tina1) Bordereau, telling him they don’t know what he’s talking about and want to be left alone.
Convinced there must be a small treasure trove of unknown Aspern letters and other documents, he travels to Venice and presents himself under a false name to the ladies Bordereau as a prospective lodger, hoping to get the documents by deceit. They live in a decrepit Venetian palace, “not particularly old, only two or three centuries“, withdrawn, almost like hermits. They offer him some rooms for a ridiculously high price, which he takes, thinking of the treasure that must be in the building somewhere. Weeks go by without him ever meeting the Bordereaus, but when he returns home early one day, he finds Miss Tina in the garden, alone.
He starts a conversation with Miss Tina, an insecure, aging spinster, and after that they meet more often. From time to time, he is granted a short interview with Miss Juliana. The narrator starts to reveal his aims to Miss Tina, who agrees to help him. Tidbits about Juliana’s relationship with Aspern are disclosed to the narrator. Slowly, Juliana starts to realize the narrator’s intention.
Tension builds up as the plot unravels, towards the double climax in the last two chapters: First a confrontation with Juliana, who, by now, realizes who the narrator is, and calls him a “publishing scoundrel” – she detests the prying into her, and her former lover’s, private life, and later the confrontation with Tina, and a surprising twist as we realize the misunderstanding between the narrator and Tina that took place before our eyes without us realizing it.
1)Apparently, Miss Tina Bordereau is called Tita Bordereau in some editions of The Aspern Papers.
The Aspern Papers was read as part of the 2007 winter classics challenge.