Aspern Papers

I might have talked about the Aspern Papers by Henry James before, I am just not quite sure. But I have to say, you have to love Henry James' writing style. Remarkably different than the time he was writing (at least of what I have read thus far). The love that is continued to cherish long after it's prime time, holding on to it, like it is the only thing in the world that matters, only thing that is cherished or has the capacity to be cherished, only thing that is valuable. That's saying something as many of us don't view love that way nowadays. In an increasingly vanishing of privacy of individuals via technology, holding on to love letters a publisher is thoroughly desiring to read, study, learn from and eventually publish, no matte the cost is romantic, heroic and anti-modern. It also reminds me of times where there was sacred things,  of the sanctity of interaction between individuals who valued one another, when there were things we wanted to keep a secret and also when people accepted such rights and notions of privacy. The publisher is everything that stands in as the act of violating that privacy. How different it is from our world. How anti-modern.

In a time that is increasingly losing it's privacy, it is a book that must be read with an open mind.