The Aspern Papers

A young American publisher sets off on a journey to the jungles of Venezuela to acquire the valuable and original manuscripts of his beloved poet, Jeffery Aspern. There he discovers the poet's ancient muse, Juliana Bordereau, living in a dilapidated cocoa hacienda with her recluse niece, Tita. The American invents a false identity - a writer in need of a quiet room for several weeks - convinced that once inside the house he will get his hands on the precious papers. Juliana extracts an exorbitant fee from him, but the American pushes forward and enlists Tita as his ally, knowing that she is susceptible to his romantic charms. What ensues is a triangle between the muse, the spinster, and the gentleman, in which the price of seduction is too high, even for the paper-obsessed American. A modern adaptation of the novella by Henry James. —Anonymous