The Aspern Papers

How far are you willing to go to get something you really want? Are you willing to give up months of your life, compromise your morals, and manipulate others? The narrator of Henry James's (1843-1916) novella The Aspern Papers (1888) is willing to do all of this and more to get his hands on a collection of long-lost love letters written by his favorite late poet. The Aspern Papers examines themes of manipulation, idolization, and loyalty.

Henry James's The Aspern Papers

The Aspern Papers is one of Henry James's best-known stories. It was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1888 and was followed by a book edition that same year. The novella focuses primarily on character development and slowly building suspense rather than an action-packed plot line. The Aspern Papers was inspired by actual letters written between Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont, his wife's stepsister. Clairmont saved the letters until her death in 1879. Unlike the lost Aspern papers, the letters between Shelley and Clairmont were entered into the historical record.

Like many of James's other works, The Aspern Papers centers around Americans living in Europe. Unlike his other stories, this novel puts the Americans in conflict with one another instead of their European counterparts. Each American character—from Juliana to the narrator—is almost comical because they don't quite fit into their current society. Juliana is reclusive and refuses to go out into public, and the narrator is obsessive and can think of nothing but his goal. Both are stubborn, persistent, and manipulative, making their clash at the end of the novella disastrous.

Fig. 1: The Aspern Papers is set in Venice and features American characters.

The question of legacy, examined in The Aspern Papers, was also a concern of James's before his death. In 1910, he published an essay entitled "Is There a Life after Death?" which ponders religion and the afterlife but also reflects on his legacy as a writer. Like Juliana, James was concerned with how his legacy could become distorted after his death.

The Aspern Papers Summary

The novella opens in the late 19th century. The unnamed narrator is a literary scholar who has been searching for information on the late (fictional) American poet Jeffrey Aspern. Aspern's contemporaries, except for his ex-lover, Juliana Bordereau, have long since died. Old and sickly, Juliana is now a reclusive old woman who spends her days walled up in her mansion with her niece, Tita. The narrator and other scholars believe Juliana has a never-before-seen collection of love letters from the deceased poet. The narrator is eager to get his hands on more work from his "god" (ch. 1), but Juliana denies the existence of any letters.

The narrator's well-connected friend, Mrs. Prest, gives him the idea to get close to Juliana by asking to stay at her mansion as a lodger. He hopes to trick her into giving him the lost letters. The narrator is willing to court Tita and pretend he wants to marry her if needed.

When he arrives at the mansion, though, the narrator is astonished to see it has fallen into disrepair. Claiming he wants to renovate the mansion and return it to its former glory, the narrator asks Juliana if he can stay at her home. Juliana is uninterested in keeping a tenant until the narrator offers to pay her handsomely.

Fig. 2: The narrator hopes to find a collection of love letters Aspern supposedly wrote to Juliana.

The narrator is shocked when Juliana summons him downstairs one day, as she rarely leaves her bedroom. She shows him a never-before-seen portrait of Aspern and offers to sell it to him. Juliana never calls the dead poet by name, but in the narrator's mind, her offer confirms she has the letters. He has been watching Juliana's health steadily decline for months and resolves to find the papers before she gets too close to death, fearful she may burn them to maintain her privacy.

When Juliana becomes extremely ill, the narrator seizes the opportunity to search her vacant room. He believes the letters are hidden somewhere in her desk. Just as he begins to search for them, Juliana and Tita walk in the room. Juliana rebukes him, calling him a "publishing scoundrel" before she faints in Tita's arms (Ch. 8). Feeling guilty and ashamed, the narrator leaves the city for about two weeks.

When the narrator finally returns, Tita tells him Juliana has passed away. Before her death, Juliana gave the letters to Tita with the instructions to burn them. Tita assures the narrator she still has them and implies that if he married her, she would be able to give them to him since they would be family. The narrator flat-out refuses, saying, "It wouldn't do—it wouldn't do!" before fleeing once again (Ch. 9).

Fig. 3: Tita tells the narrator he can only have the papers if he marries her; he refuses.

When he returns a day later, he has convinced himself he can marry Tita if it means getting the papers. To his dismay, a jilted Tita reveals she spent hours burning each paper one by one the night before. She gives him the portrait of Aspern and tells him to leave. The narrator spends the rest of his life haunted by his failure.

The Aspern Papers Characters

The novel centers around the narrator's quest to trick Juliana and Tita Bordereau into giving him the long-lost letters of dead poet Jeffery Aspern.

The Unnamed Narrator

Although he remains unnamed throughout the novella, the narrator is the protagonist of the story. He is an American literary scholar and critic, his area of expertise being American poet Jeffery Aspern. The narrator is obsessed with Aspern, even elevating him to the status of a god and religious figure. The narrator is willing to do whatever it takes to retrieve Aspern's long-lost love letters, even compromising his morals and humanity.

Juliana Bordereau

Now a frail, reclusive old lady, Juliana Bordereau was once Jeffery Aspern's lover. The narrator is fixated on stealing the love letters Aspern wrote to Julian when they were younger. Juliana does not want the public to get the letters and denies they exist. She charges the narrator a large sum to stay in her mansion, claiming she hopes to provide for Tita after her own death. Juliana dies from shock when she realizes the narrator's manipulation.

Tita Bordereau

Juliana's niece, Tita Bordereau has spent most of her life inside Juliana's mansion. Tita does not have much experience with the outside world, and the narrator uses her naïveté to his advantage. Although Tita is loyal to her aunt, she agrees to help the narrator because she craves human connection. She burns the letters when the narrator refuses her marriage proposal.

Mrs. Prest

The narrator's well-to-do friend, Mrs. Prest gives him the idea to get close to Juliana as a lodger in her mansion. Mrs. Prest is famously well-connected in Venice, but Juliana refuses her offer of friendship.

The Aspern Papers Analysis

One of the biggest mistakes the narrator makes is underestimating Juliana and Tita simply because they are women. He is misogynistic and often expresses the prejudice that women aren't as intelligent as men. Even when he's talking about Mrs. Prest, who gave him the idea in the first place, he says,

The narrator's fatal flaw is believing himself above everyone, especially women. He mistakenly believes it will be easy to deceive Juliana and Tita and obtain the letters. After spending months at the Bordereaus' home, he finally realizes Juliana will not be deceived easily and Tita will not betray her aunt. Even though he's willing to lie, cheat, and steal, his misogyny keeps him from getting the papers. Tita tells him if he marries her, he can have the papers, but he outright refuses because she is too "old" and "pathetic" for him:

Despite having all the advantages in the world, the narrator fails his mission. His arrogant, self-centered masculinity is no match for the Bordereaus' feminine patience and loyalty.

The Aspern Papers Themes

The main themes in The Aspern Papers are morality and manipulation, idolization of literary figures, and familial loyalty.

Morality and Manipulation

The narrator is willing to do whatever it takes to get access to Aspern's papers, no matter how much he hurts others or himself. Even before he meets Tita, he decides he will pretend to court her if doing so will get him access to the letters. When the two meet and the narrator realizes how isolated and lonely Tita is, he uses her ignorance and inexperience against her. He pretends to be kind and thoughtful when really all he wants is to get close enough to use her.

At the end of the novel, Tita is so starved for human connection after receiving the barest hint of it from the narrator that she subtly asks him to marry her. The narrator manipulates her into believing they have some kind of connection when he just wants to use her for leverage. He apparently disregards any sense of morality when he lies, manipulates, and attempts to steal from the Bordereaus.

Fig. 4: The narrator is willing to manipulate Tita and Juliana like a puppet if it means getting what he wants.

Although the narrator considers Juliana senile and Tita naive and gullible, he's not the only character capable of manipulation. Juliana manipulates the narrator from the beginning, making him pay exorbitant amounts of money to stay in the dilapidated mansion and teasing him with the portrait of Aspern. Juliana claims she is doing all this to give Tita a respectable inheritance, but after Julian's death, Tita claims, "She was not just, she was not generous!" (Ch. 9).

There is a strong possibility that Tita, too, manipulates the narrator. There is never any solid evidence that the letters exist. The narrator assumes they are real, but he never actually sees them. When Tita offers the letters in exchange for marriage, she could have been manipulating the narrator so she wouldn't have to be alone after her aunt's death. And when she tells the narrator she burned the letters, it is entirely possible she fabricated the story to spite him one last time, making up details of how extensive and rich the collection was so he would agonize over spurning her.

Both the narrator and the Bordereaus are capable of manipulation, but the narrator appears to be bested by the Bordereaus at the end of the novel.

The Idolization of Literary Figures

The narrator is willing to go to great lengths to obtain the letters because he is so obsessed with his literary idol. The narrator describes Aspern as a genius, a moral man, and a god. The narrator says,

For the narrator, Aspern is not just a man but a religious figure capable of doing no wrong. The narrator says,

The narrator's idolization of Aspern causes the narrator to infringe on Juliana's dignity, as the narrator comes to believe he has a responsibility to reveal the "truth" of Aspern's life, even at the expense of Juliana's. Ultimately, he vainly forsakes his morality to better serve his "god."

Familial Loyalty

While the narrator works alone, the Bordereaus rely on one another for support and stability. Tita's loyalty toward her aunt is the main reason the narrator is unable to obtain the letters. Although Tita agrees to help the narrator save the letters, she never invades Juliana's privacy or betrays her. And when the narrator's manipulation causes Juliana to faint, Tita catches Juliana and tends to her until her death. Tita's loyalty wavers briefly when she asks the narrator to marry her in exchange for the letters, but she ultimately destroys them as one final show of respect and devotion to her aunt.

Fig. 5: The narrator underestimates how deep the loyalty runs between Tita and her aunt.