Photograph of Alice James.
Alice James

Overview

Alice James (August 7, 1848 – March 6, 1892), U.S. diarist, only daughter of Henry James, Sr. and sister of philosopher William James and novelist Henry James, is known primarily for the posthumously published diary she kept in the last years of her life.

Life

Born into the wealthy and intellectually active James family, Alice quickly developed a complex of psychological and physical problems that eventually ended her life at age 43. The youngest of five children, she lived with her parents until their deaths in 1882. By this time Alice had suffered at least two major breakdowns, and she would experience several more before her death from breast cancer.

She sought various treatments for her disorders but never found significant relief. In 1884 she settled in England with her companion, Katharine Loring, where she remained until her death.

The diary

Alice began to keep her diary in 1889. It contained many witty, acerbic, insightful comments on English life and manners, along with excerpts from various publications to support her opinions. The diary was not published for many years after her death due to the sharp comments on various persons that Alice criticized by name.

Eventually a badly edited version was released in 1934. Leon Edel published a fuller edition in 1964. The diary has made Alice something of a feminist icon, as she was seen as struggling through her illnesses to find her own voice. On the other hand, this view of the diary's significance has been criticized as a facile and inaccurate tale of victimization.

References

Jean Strouse published the standard biography — Alice James: a Biography — in 1980. Strouse steered something of a middle course between Alice-as-icon and Alice-as-victim. Ruth Bernard Yeazell published Alice's correspondence in The Death and Letters of Alice James (1981). Susan Sontag wrote a play about Alice James, Alice in Bed (1993), which seems to waver between sympathy and impatience with its subject.
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That biography says:

...(June 3, 1811, Albany, New York - December 18, 1882, Boston, Massachusetts) was an American theologian and Swedenborgian, best known as the father of the philosopher William James, novelist Henry James, and diarist Alice James.

This biography says:

...Ruth Bernard Yeazell published Alice's correspondence in The Death and Letters of Alice James (1981). Susan Sontag wrote a play about Alice James, Alice in Bed (1993), which seems to waver between sympathy and impatience with its subject.

This biography says:

Alice James (August 7, 1848 – March 6, 1892), U.S. diarist, only daughter of Henry James, Sr. and sister of philosopher William James and novelist Henry James, is known primarily for the posthumously published diary she kept in the last years of her life.

That biography says:

Henry James, OM ( – ), son of theologian Henry James Sr. and brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born author and literary critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent much of his life in Europe and became a British subject shortly before his death...

This biography says:

...Eventually a badly edited version was released in 1934. Leon Edel published a fuller edition in 1964. The diary has made Alice something of a feminist icon, as she was seen as struggling through her illnesses to find her own voice...

That biography says:

...(June 3, 1811, Albany, New York - December 18, 1882, Boston, Massachusetts) was an American theologian and Swedenborgian, best known as the father of the philosopher William James, novelist Henry James, and diarist Alice James.

This biography says:

Alice James (August 7, 1848 – March 6, 1892), U.S. diarist, only daughter of Henry James, Sr. and sister of philosopher William James and novelist Henry James, is known primarily for the posthumously published diary she kept in the last years of her life.

That biography says:

...He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James....
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