Henry James and The Aspern papers: Archive, memory, and the failure of biography
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.1.6Keywords:
Henry James, The Aspern Papers, biography, archive, archaeology, Gothic SpaceAbstract
This paper examines The Aspern Papers by Henry James through the lens of archive theory, biographical ethics, and the complexities of memory preservation. It explores how the protagonist’s obsessive pursuit of Aspern’s documents represents the human desire to reconstruct the Romantic past in Gothic atmosphere of Venice, often at the expense of ethical considerations and lived experience. The analysis highlights the symbolic significance of Juliana Bordereau, not merely as a guardian of Aspern’s legacy but as a living archive whose testimony remains undervalued. The paper connects James’s themes to his personal decision to destroy his own letters, reflecting his scepticism toward biographical intrusions. Comparisons with The Sense of the Past and other Jamesian works illustrate recurring motifs of archival failure and the tension between material and immaterial memory, as well as the role of destruction – both literal, through the burning of documents, and metaphorical, through the erasure of identities – in shaping historical narrative. Finally, the discussion extends to the ethical responsibilities of archivists and biographers, questioning whether written records alone can ever truly encapsulate the essence of a life.
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