The Aspern Papers

The Aspern Papers is a novella written by Henry James, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1888, with its first book publication later in the same year. One of James' best-known and most acclaimed longer tales, The Aspern Papers is based on the letters Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Mary Shelley's step sister, Claire Clairemont, who saved them until she died. Set in Venice, The Aspern Papers demonstrates James' ability to generate suspense while never neglecting the development of his characters.

James thought so highly of this story that he put it first in volume 12 of The New York Edition, ahead of even The Turn of the Screw. Critics have almost unanimously agreed with him about the tale's superb quality. James builds suspense in a way that any mystery writer would admire, and the tension is not relieved until the final page.

In this tightly constructed work, James examines the conflicts involved when a biographer seeks to pry into the intimate life of his subject. James loathed publicity and zealously guarded his own privacy. A few years before his death he burned masses of old letters that he had received, and he often begged his correspondents not to publicize - or better yet, to destroy - the letters he sent to them.

It is not surprising that James paints the nameless narrator of The Aspern Papers as, in Juliana's words, a "publishing scoundrel." And yet he also generates sneaking sympathy for the narrator as he tries to work the papers loose from Juliana, who is presented as greedy, domineering and unappealing.

The story unwinds into the double climax of Juliana's discovery of the narrator about to break into her desk, and then Miss Tina's revelation that she has destroyed the papers. Miss Tina is ashamed of her marriage proposal to the narrator, but James implies that she does exactly the right thing by depriving him of the papers. In a way, she develops into the true heroine of the story.

A nameless narrator goes to Venice to locate Juliana Bordereau, an old lover of Jeffrey Aspern, a famous and now dead American poet. The narrator presents himself to the old woman as a prospective lodger and is prepared to court her niece Miss Tita (renamed Miss Tina in later editions), a plain, somewhat naive spinster, in hopes of getting a look at some of Aspern's letters and other papers kept by Juliana. Miss Tita had denied the existence of any such papers in a letter to the narrator and his publishing partner, but he believes she was dissembling on instructions from Juliana. The narrator eventually discloses his intentions to Miss Tita, who promises to help him.

Later, Juliana offers to sell a miniature portrait of Aspern to the narrator for an exorbitant price. She doesn't mention Jeffrey Aspern's name, but the narrator still believes she possesses some of his letters. When the old woman falls ill, the narrator ventures into her room and gets caught by Juliana as he is about to rifle her desk for the letters. Juliana calls the narrator a "publishing scoundrel" and collapses. The narrator flees, and when he returns some days later, he discovers that Juliana has died. Miss Tina hints that he can have the Aspern letters if he marries her.

Again, the narrator flees. At first he feels he can never accept the proposal, but gradually he begins to change his mind. When he returns to see Miss Tina, she bids him farewell and tells him that she has burned all the letters one by one. The narrator never sees the precious papers, but he does send Miss Tina some money for the miniature portrait of Aspern that she gives him.