tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7375675566232591509..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: They had worked for beauty, for a devotion; and what else was I doing? - fun with Henry James and "The Aspern Papers"Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-71597299176469156172021-04-11T13:28:47.148-05:002021-04-11T13:28:47.148-05:00Right. Talk about a tricky narrator. Although a p...Right. Talk about a tricky narrator. Although a pleasant one, full of North Carolina charm.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-73492857604515095792021-04-11T11:55:12.760-05:002021-04-11T11:55:12.760-05:00How serendipitous that this old comment thread was...How serendipitous that this old comment thread was revived while you're reading Joseph Mitchell, a real life Jamesian writer character, if there ever was one.<br />One of Mitchell's own real life writer characters, Joe Gould, alleged author of a 9 million word long oral story of their time, turned out to be an impostor, a fake. Some have claimed that the shock of that revelation caused Mitchell the writer to grow silent. For the next three and a half decades until his death, Mitchell would go to work at the New Yorker and publish nothing (other than one last piece explaining Joe Gould's secret), week after week, all 2000 of them. It felt almost as if written language kept crumbling like a Chandosian rotten mushroom in Mitchell's hands.Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61922242696109568302021-04-08T10:05:38.936-05:002021-04-08T10:05:38.936-05:00What, what! "Unpleasant" and "not ...What, what! "Unpleasant" and "not credible" - those are <i>good things</i> in a narrator. The best.<br /><br />The comparison to pulp detectives is good, since "The Aspern Papers" is effectively a parody of a detective story, the kind where the detective is incompetent. Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70855575262462605922021-04-07T21:27:20.543-05:002021-04-07T21:27:20.543-05:00I guess I liked this less than you and much less t...I guess I liked this less than you and much less than many others. In fact, I couldn't believe the hack who wrote <em>The Aspern Papers</em> was the same person who penned <em>The Ambassadors</em>. Couldn't buy into the narrator at all, who seemed as unpleasant and poorly-constructed/not credible a character as a modern detective gumshoe. Disappointing.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83726131139722471762012-10-03T20:26:49.795-05:002012-10-03T20:26:49.795-05:00This is why you - I mean I - don't write 2,000...This is why you - I mean I - don't write 2,000 words and dump it into one post but instead spread it out. Other people's ideas are better than mine. There are 3 good, complementary ideas here.<br /><br />1. The "two fighting over one" structure. Shared also by <i>The Spoils of Poynton</i>, <i>Washington Square</i>, perhaps "Daisy Miller."<br /><br />2. Creative people vs. their parasites.<br /><br />3. Parody of corrupt Romanticism.<br /><br />I'm with Scott about "Henry James" lite. This one was written in E-Z-James™ brand prose. The easiest I can remember.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50150730847423860972012-10-03T19:22:10.978-05:002012-10-03T19:22:10.978-05:00I liked the Aspern Papers a lot. It an Washington...I liked the Aspern Papers a lot. It an Washington Square are both good started James works.Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50073854066885157532012-10-03T17:02:43.233-05:002012-10-03T17:02:43.233-05:00I'm not much of a fun of Henry James, but this...I'm not much of a fun of Henry James, but this and <i>Daisy Miller</i> are two lovely novellas. <i>The Aspern Papers</i> is especially delightful for book lovers.<br /><br />I tend to see this novella as a parody, a dismantling, of Romantic sensibilities. Everything the narrator does is contrary to the ideals of the Romantics - he's false, his love for the niece isn't genuine, his love for art is perverted by the materialistic need to own these rare writings. LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86571543987521764142012-10-03T11:56:09.587-05:002012-10-03T11:56:09.587-05:00This is sort of Henry James lite, akin to the nove...This is sort of Henry James lite, akin to the novella "The Coxon Fund," which is also a fun one. I don't know if I think there's much more to "Aspern" than is on the surface, really. It's a nice addition to the literature of purloined writer's memorabilia (LoPWM), of which by now there's quite a bit, if you stop and think.<br /><br />Anyway, I do think that James' big play in "Aspern" is to imply that there's a sort of cult of academics who cover themselves in borrowed glory that they've dug up from the graves of actually creative people. Maybe not *all* researchers, but some of them. I wish I remember the story better than I do.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-88475523674734740222012-10-03T09:35:47.217-05:002012-10-03T09:35:47.217-05:00The motif of two people fighting for the possessio...The motif of two people fighting for the possession of a third seems to appear in various forms throughout James’ work, In “the Turn of the Screw”, we have a macabre twist on this: the governess is fighting for the possession of the children … but she is fighting with adversaries who are dead. In “The Aspern Papers” – which, I think, was published together with “The Turn of the Screw” – the narrator is fighting for, effectively, the possession of a dead person. The narrator’s adversary only appears briefly in the story, but she has a proxy (Miss Tina), who, I think, is considerably more astute than the narrator supposes. The comedy seems to me constantly on the brink of sourness, and it turns very sour indeed by the end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com