The Aspern Papers

Dominick Argento’s opera gave the story music; Julien Landais filmed it in 2018 in Venice, where it belongs. The plot — a critic worming his way into an old woman’s house to get at a dead poet’s letters — has only become more topical.

James based it on a real attempt to obtain Shelley’s papers from a survivor of his circle. He was, characteristically, on both sides: appalled by the scavenger and fascinated by what he was after.

Versions are listed where they are documented. A century of stage productions and most broadcasts were never catalogued at all, so this is what can be shown rather than everything that was ever made.