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The Real Thing is the most comical of all the pieces in this book, but like the others, truly sad. As times changes and centuries turn, so do class structures and their mores. Here James poignantly portrays a well-to-do couple fallen on hard times who are willing to do anything for some meager pay, which in this case is posing for an artist who is illustrating a novel. It is their accustomed mien which undoes them.

The Lesson of the Master is a brilliant story, albeit cruel. It took me a while to figure out what it was about, but by the end, I had fallen in James’ trap and felt as horrible as Paul Overt, the protagonist author of the tale. That’s the mark of a good story, one that coaxes the reader through its strange labyrinth until one is met with the Minotaur of deceit and heartbreak. One of the best I’ve ever read.

The Lesson of the Master begins!

The Lesson of the Master begins!

I loved The Aspern Papers. It comes across so readily as a tale about critical overreach, about the distinction between authorial imperative and the boundaries of private lives. But it spins into something deeper. It becomes a cautionary tale about deceit and the rights of privacy. The narrator starts out a hero who needs to unearth these letters, but he manipulates one woman for this cause and almost ruins her.

The Aspern Papers, so far, is rolling along well. The narrator, who is the protagonist, is a true scoundrel, but I am on his side in this mystery.