Summary
Summary of The Aspern Papers
Who it’s for
For readers who enjoy close studies of character, atmospheric settings, and moral puzzles with no easy answer. It is also good for anyone curious about Henry James.
What this book is
The Aspern Papers is a novella by Henry James, first published in 1888. It is set in Venice and tells of a literary critic who will do almost anything to get his hands on the private letters of a dead poet. James took his starting point from a story he heard about a real hunt for the papers of a great Romantic poet, and he moved it to a crumbling palace on the Venetian canals.
The story is told by the critic himself, and he never gives his name. He admires the American poet Jeffrey Aspern the way some people admire saints. He believes that the poet's former lover is still alive and keeps his papers. What follows is a quiet contest of wits between a clever man and two women who live in near silence. You get a sharp portrait of ambition, a sinking palace full of secrets, and a question that grows harder with each chapter: what do we owe the living when we love the dead? Let us begin with the plan that sets the whole story moving.
In this summary
- 1A critic decides to hunt the papersFree
- 2He takes rooms to get inside
- 3The old woman guards what she owns
- 4Miss Tina becomes his unlikely ally
- 5What obsession costs the one who feels it
- 6A story told by the man on trial
Key point 1 of 6
A critic decides to hunt the papers
The narrator is an American editor and critic who has given years of his life to the memory of Jeffrey Aspern. Aspern was a poet who died young, long before the story begins, and he is treated by his admirers almost as a national treasure. The narrator and his friend John Cumnor have gathered every fact they can find about the poet's life. They have printed what they know and argued over what they do not.
But the life has a great gap, and the gap is a woman. Juliana Bordereau was Aspern's lover, and she is believed to have kept his letters and other papers. Nobody has seen them. Their value to a biographer would be enormous, because they might finally explain the man behind the poems.
It is Mrs. Prest, an American friend who lives in Venice, who tells the narrator where Juliana is. The old woman is still alive, she says, and she lives in a huge, shabby palace with her niece. She almost never goes out, and she sees almost nobody. The narrator feels the news as a kind of call.
He knows that a plain request will fail. Juliana has guarded her privacy for decades, and a stranger who says he writes about Aspern is the last person she will welcome. So he decides to go in by a side door. He will hide his purpose and present himself as something harmless. From the start, then, his devotion to a poet is mixed with a plan to deceive, and James lets you notice that mix long before the narrator does.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Who’s who
- The narrator
- An unnamed American editor devoted to Jeffrey Aspern, he seeks access to the poet's papers through Juliana and Miss Tina.
- Juliana Bordereau
- Jeffrey Aspern's former lover, she lives reclusively in Venice with her niece and fiercely guards the poet's private letters.
- Miss Tina
- Juliana's shy, sheltered niece cares for her aunt and begins to trust the narrator when he becomes their lodger.
- Jeffrey Aspern
- A deceased American poet and Juliana's former lover, he inspires the narrator's devotion and pursuit of his private papers.
- Mrs. Prest
- The narrator's friend in Venice, she helps him locate Juliana and takes an interest in his plans.
- John Cumnor
- The narrator's fellow admirer of Aspern in America, he shares his friend's devotion and interest in the poet's papers.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 40,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 40 min
- Listening time4 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages