A Bundle of Letters

by Henry James

"A Bundle of Letters" by Henry James is a comic short story published in 1879. Set in a Paris boarding house, the tale unfolds entirely through letters written by international residents to friends and family back home. Each correspondent reveals their personality while commenting on their fellow boarders—often with sharp disdain. An earnest American traveler, a snobbish English pair, a pretentious aesthete, an amorous Frenchman, and an aggressively nationalistic German professor all unwittingly expose their own prejudices and pretensions, while remaining oblivious to how others perceive them.