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The Aspern Papers
- Narrated by: Jeremy Northam
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
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The Aspern Papers
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Summary
One of the wittiest and most scathing of Henry James' novellas, The Aspern Papers chronicles the attempt to extract the valuable letters of the famous and recently deceased poet Jeffrey Aspern from the hands of his past lover and formidable adversary in the battle, Juliana Bordereau.
The plot was reputedly suggested to James by a story he heard of an illicit attempt to get hold of several of Lord Byron's letters. Set in a gloriously described Venice, James winds the tension of the story around the efforts of the annoymous and amoral hero to enveigle his way into the trust of Bordereau via the arms of her spinster sister. The suspense of the tale builds right up until the last moment of the story with a beautiful twist in the tale.
James himself hated any form of intrusion into his privacy, and the sense of danger with which he fills the story as the papers get closer to being obtained and published stirs the suspense of the story right up until the last minute, when the beautiful twist in the tale is revealed.
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What listeners say about The Aspern Papers
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Debbie
- 31-01-21
Classic story/Superbly told
Henry James observing human nature, at his very best - with the perfect narrator, Jeremy Northam.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- ArtsEater
- 02-01-23
Superbly narrated by Jetemy Northam
Henry James’ unsettling & beguiling novella set in late-19th century Venice about a nameless narrator’s quest to acquire the papers of the poet, Jeffrey Aspern’s, letters to his muse Juliana Bordereau. Jeremy Northam’s narration is superb.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Max Europe
- 14-06-21
Jeremy Northam excellent
This timeless tale is beautifully written and narrated
by Jeremy Northam. His delivery is perfect.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Calliope
- 30-08-22
Il Maestro
Since my admiration for Henry James is such that I can hardly call myself unbiased when reviewing this novella, I may not be considered sufficiently impartial in order to be deemed credible. What I can say is that if you are an exacting reader, a lover of literature in its most sophisticated form, an expert judge in literary taste who savours every word and enjoys the deep psychological probing of an author who is rightly called The Master, then you have come to the right place, and you simply must download this audio book. Jeremy Northam does the story justice and embraces, successfully, the different voices and modes of expression. Venice is evoked in all its shimmering glory, and we are transported there, not wishing to leave, despite the dark shadows the story's characters are casting on our souls.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Paul Mason
- 29-11-21
Jeremy Northam wonderful
I have listened to Jeremy Northam reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his rendition of Graham Greene’s ‘Our Man in Havana’. Both were wonderful, and this reading of the Aspern Papers is excellent too.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- FictionFan
- 07-12-23
Obsession...
Our unnamed narrator is a literary critic, writing a biography of a long-dead American poet of the Romantic school, Jeffery Aspern. His interest in Aspern has become so intense it is a passion – an obsession, in fact. So when his writing collaborator tells him that some letters of Aspern’s may exist in the possession of a woman he once loved, the narrator’s desire to obtain them is irresistible. But Aspern’s lover, Juliana Bordereau, now a very old lady, has become a kind of recluse, living in a dilapidated old Venetian palace with only her niece for company. Direct appeals having failed, our narrator turns to subterfuge – under a false name and identity, he offers the old lady an enormous sum of money to be allowed to rent some rooms in the palace for a few months. And then he turns to wheedling himself into the good graces of the niece, Miss Tita…
Novella-length, this is a wonderful depiction of the morally destructive power of obsession, shown through the interactions of the three characters who fill the stage – the narrator, the old lady and the niece. The narrator would consider himself a gentleman and would generally be considered so by others, but we see how little by little his moral scruples are weakened and destroyed by his self-justifying belief that the papers should be available to the academic world – in other words, to him. Partly this is so that he can write the definitive biography of Aspern – justification: to bring his work back to public prominence; reality: to make the narrator’s name and fortune. But there’s another part which is never spelled out and of which it appears the narrator himself may be unaware – that his feelings for Aspern go well beyond artistic admiration. When his thoughts linger on Aspern, the unexpressed homoeroticism tingles in the air.
Perhaps this explains his blindness to his own narcissistic cruelty. Obsessed by his own desires, he sees the desires of the two women as mere obstacles to be overcome, and increasingly he is willing to cross the ethical boundaries he initially sets himself. He sees the old lady as grasping and greedy, as she extorts money from him at every turn. Although Miss Tita tells him repeatedly that Juliana wants the money to safeguard Miss Tita from poverty after the old lady’s death, the narrator never gives Juliana any credit for this. To him, she is cold and unreasonable, clinging on to her precious papers as if she has a greater right to them than the world – it never occurs to him to wonder why she might not want her lover’s letters to her read by strangers.
But it is to Miss Tita that the narrator’s behaviour is increasingly cruel. Seeing her as the weaker of the two, he bombards this faded, lonely, middle-aged woman with flowers and flattery, seeking out her company and faking interest in her dull preoccupations, trying to persuade her to go against her aunt’s wishes and give him access to the papers. Poor Miss Tita – the narrator’s tunnel vision doesn’t let him see what we, the readers, see – her little spark of hope, unexpected after so many years alone. And yet James doesn’t quite make her tragic – he gives her a kind of resigned strength, born of years of being overlooked by the world, that in the end saves her from being a simple object of pity.
Given the simplicity of the plot – will the narrator get his hands on the papers or won’t he? – James creates real tension, all building up to a quietly dramatic climax. Along the way he forces us to consider the ethics of literary criticism and biography, of prying into the private lives of public figures, and raises the question of how much is “owed” to the pursuit of knowledge. As someone regularly made uncomfortable by revelations in biographies of things that the subject tried to keep secret in his or her lifetime, this theme resonated strongly for me, and James’ refusal to answer the questions he raises leaves space for the reader to think for herself.
I listened to this as an audiobook, perfectly narrated by Jeremy Northam. He brings out all the depth and layers in the characterisation, not just of the narrator but of the two women too, and he does a wonderful job with the building tension and the underplayed drama of the climax. A great performance of a masterful piece of writing – highly recommended!
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