Aspern Papers and Other Stories

A unique one-volume selection of stories centred on 'The Aspern Papers', which focuses on one of James's great themes, the figure of the artist and the attempted exploitation of the man behind the artist. 'The Aspern Papers' is one of James's best-known and most accomplished novellas, whose plot foreshadows the modern cult of the writer as celebrity, and the hunger to uncover previously unseen writings. Introduction by distinguished James scholar Adrian Poole explores the central theme of all four stories and their literary contexts. Reproduces the definitive New York Edition text and includes relevant extracts from James's Prefaces and Notebooks in which the origins and development of the stories are described. Appendix on stage and screen versions of 'The Aspern Papers'. Appendix of variant readings. Informative notes. New to this edition New selection of stories to accompany 'The Aspern Papers': previously 'The Private Life', 'The Middle Years', and 'The Death of the Lion' now 'The Death of the Lion', 'The Figure in the Carpet', and 'The Birthplace', all concerned with the pursuit of the man behind the artist. New Introduction. New Select Bibliography. New appendices containing extracts from James's Notebooks and on stage and screen versions of 'The Aspern Papers'. New and revised notes. 'There's no baseness I wouldn't commit for Jeffrey Aspern's sake.'

The poet Aspern, long since dead, has left behind some private papers. They are jealously guarded by an old lady, once his mistress and muse, a recluse in an old palazzo in Venice, tended by her ingenuous niece. A predatory critic is determined to seize them. What can he make of the younger woman? What are his motives? What are the papers worth and what is he prepared to pay?

In all four stories collected here, including 'The Death of the Lion', 'The Figure in the Carpet', and 'The Birthplace', the figure of the artist is central. Extraordinarily prophetic, James explores the emergent new cult of the writer as celebrity, and asks, who cares about the work for itself? Can the man behind the artist ever truly be known, and does our knowledge explain the act of creativity? This new edition includes extracts from James's Prefaces and Notebooks which shed light on the genesis of the stories.

• ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
• Readership: Readers of classic fiction, short stories, Henry James;students of nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and American literature, the novel, modernist literature.