The Aspern Papers
A determined admirer of a vanished poet takes lodging in a decaying Venetian palace to recover intimate letters kept by two reclusive women who once knew the writer. He cultivates acquaintance, follows a friend's suggestion, and offers money while confronting the women's guarded seclusion and the house's atmosphere of suspended life. The attempt raises persistent ethical questions about privacy, possession, and the moral cost of ambition as intimacy is practiced for instrumental ends. The narrative traces a slow psychological duel between curiosity and conscience through acute social observation and Venetian moods.
About This Book
A determined admirer of a vanished poet takes lodging in a decaying Venetian palace to recover intimate letters kept by two reclusive women who once knew the writer. He cultivates acquaintance, follows a friend's suggestion, and offers money while confronting the women's guarded seclusion and the house's atmosphere of suspended life. The attempt raises persistent ethical questions about privacy, possession, and the moral cost of ambition as intimacy is practiced for instrumental ends. The narrative traces a slow psychological duel between curiosity and conscience through acute social observation and Venetian moods.
About the Author
More Books by This Author
You May Also Like
"All's not Gold that Glitters;" or, The Young Californian
by Alice B. Haven
"Bring Me His Ears"
by Clarence Edward Mulford
"Browne's Folly" / (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches")
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Forward, March": A Tale of the Spanish-American War
by Kirk Munroe
"Gentlemen prefer blondes"
by Anita Loos
"George Washington's" Last Duel / 1891
by Thomas Nelson Page