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A daily record of what I'm thinking about what I'm reading

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Henry James The Aspern Papers

September 17, 2011

Isn't the narrator of the Aspern papers nothing more than a paparazzi? Despite his elegant manners and his rationale, isn't he really just sneaking his way into proximity w the borderlau women in order to steal their most valuable possession, the eponymous papers, wreck their privacy, and in the process destroy their lives, especially Tita's? He has at last made contact w her and, while pretending to be hurt by their refusal to socialize or even to thank him for the flowers he'd promised, he pumps her for private info and feigns interest in her well-being. What a snake - another garden reference , btw. What does it signify that all of the characters, including Aspern, are Americans? Like J, they all have abandoned their native land. And have become pseudo Europeans - even parodies of European manners and mores. Why do they do so? Some lack of confidence in where they come from, in who they are - which leads to the great conflict in J himself - his fear of his own sexuality and the need to protect a secret, much like Juliana protecting the letters from Aspern. What could they reveal? What truth?

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