Aspiran papers | Henry James

There is no poet who dies except that he leaves behind a mistress, or a beloved, or a woman to whom he confides his secrets, and to whom he entrusts a fragment of his works, letters, and poems. In "The Papers of Aspern," Henry James invents the character of the poet Jeffrey Aspern, who was the talk of the world and occupied people's minds in his lifetime, but he died early. However, his death does not pass without notice, as an American publisher becomes curious to uncover the secrets of the papers, which he learned from friends that the distinguished poet entrusted to his mistress, who at that time was in her decline and living behind walls of forgetfulness with her niece in Venice. The ambitious publisher finds nothing to deter him from pursuing those papers, seizing them, and publishing them publicly. To do so, he disguises his true identity and rents rooms in the old mistress's house, worn out by time. Events accelerate, most of which take place in Venice, and intense dialogues occur about literature, culture, and social life between the publisher — who is the unnamed narrator — and the old mistress of the mansion. Will the publisher ultimately succeed in obtaining the papers and getting his hands on them? And what role does the mistress's niece play in facilitating his pursuit of his goals?