Customer Reviews

Alice James: A Biography

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I first read this book in 1991 and am still haunted by some of the words and letters of Alice James. Jean Srouse's thorough research and great prose kept me reading. It was Alice, herself, however who really touched me. This book introduced me to a cast of interesting characters who are with me still.

It's interesting that Alice's disabling illness has always been considered as neurotic, perhaps even a sign of envy of her successful brothers. It's occurred to me that Alice may have been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, at that time an undiagnosed illness, as opposed to "brother envy". In any case, the book is beautifully written and is fascinating indeed.

The most interesting part of the book is the last chapter concerning the publication of the diary of AJ. Alice James requested that her life be judged on its own terms. Henry and William possessed real genius. Strenuous individualism had been urged on all five children in the James family. Henry James Sr. had been cured of alcoholism but not religious doubt as a young man. In the work of Swedenborg James sought a loving God, pure benevolence. James wrote and lectured about Divine Natural Humanity.

The children experienced relative freedom from parental tyranny. Alice admired her father's intellectual energy. With her brother Henry she shared a deep intellectual and spiritual kinship. In 1861 William entered the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard. Self-strangulation took place in Alice's adolescence as she sought to subdue the passions. Her youth would have been ardent if she had not been ill. At age nineteen Alice had a nervous breakdown.

In 1872 Alice went to Europe and handled the rigors of travel without encountering problems. The European tour was a great thing for Alice. She was abroad for six months. In 1878 William's engagement and marriage precipitated another breakdown.

Alice came to know Katharine Loring as the head of the history department of the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. In 1879 Alice went with Katharine to stay at Lake Placid. She reported with humor that the cabin where they stayed was after camping the next worse thing. The two women took a number of trips together in 1879 and 1880. Katharine and Alice went to England in 1884 and rented a cottage in Hampstead Heath in 1885. Later they moved to Bolton Row and after that to Argyll Road.

Alice's reading was wide and deep. She copied relevant passages into notebooks. She began to keep a diary at age forty in 1887. She followed politics and was radical and egalitarian. Alice was too intelligent and too competitive to be content with being a failure. Her gifts were commended near the end of life and the attention was gratifying. Alice died in 1892.

The book is a life and a description of the mysterious illnesses burdening Alice James. It is one of those exercises along the lines of if Shakespeare had a sister since Alice James had substantial mental resources.

This is another incredible book. I picked up a used copy at a bookseller on the street for $2.00. It looked old, and two pages near the middle were torn, but when I opened it to read it, I could tell it had never been opened before. For me, it was priceless.

I cannot believe how well written some of these "older" books are. The story captured me from the beginning. I was introduced to Henry James by a friend some years ago. She had read some of his works in high school; I had never read him. Indeed, I had not even heard of Henry James. Curious, I tried reading Henry James and almost gave up. But I continued, and the more I read, the more interesting I found him to be. I eventually read the biography of his brother William, often said to be the most important psychologist in US history. In all those biographies there are references to Alice. I've always been curious about her.

Finally, a biography of Alice. It is amazing how far we've come with regard to allowing women to seek their full potential. It is no wonder there were so many great female writers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. That was the only way they could express themselves.

This is a big book, meant for serious readers. I would not recommend it as the first biography of the James family to be read. If I had to choose only one (William or Henry) to read first, it would be a hard call. I know I did it right be reading Edel's biography (the shorter biography) of Henry first and then Richardson's biography of William before tackling Alice. I guess if push came to shove, it would be Edel's one-volume biography of Henry.

Jean Strouse, the author, is editor of "Women and Analysis: Dialogues on Psychoanalytic Views of Femininity (1974)." Unlike some other feminist authors I have read, Strouse writes in a matter-of-fact style, never "in your face," and very enjoyable, even for a 60'ish-year old man like me.