Alice James

Alice James (August 7, 1848 – March 6, 1892) was an American diarist known for her published diaries and correspondence. She was the youngest child in her family, born into a wealthy and intellectually active family in Albany, New York. Her father was Henry James Sr., and her mother was Mary Robertson Walsh. She was the sister of novelist Henry James and philosopher and psychologist William James.

Alice James lived with her parents until their deaths in 1882. She attended Miss Clapp’s school in Boston, where she befriended Frances Rollins Morse, a lifelong companion often mentioned in her diaries and correspondence. Between 1873 and 1876, she taught history for the Society to Encourage Studies at Home, a Boston-based correspondence school founded by Anna Eliot Ticknor. These teaching years were among the few periods when she experienced fewer health issues.

Throughout her life, Alice sought affection from her brothers and female friends, remaining unmarried. After her father's death, she inherited a share of the family's Albany properties, which, along with her brother Henry's generous transfer of his share to her, provided her with an independent income, enabling her to live without employment.

During her lifetime, Alice James suffered from health problems that she and contemporary observers often attributed to hysteria, a common diagnosis for women during the Victorian era. She experienced physical and psychological symptoms, including episodes of violence, suicidal ideation, and homicidal thoughts, which she documented in her diaries. Her various treatments included therapeutic exercise and electrical therapy. In 1888, she traveled to England with her companion Katharine Loring, seeking to improve her health through changes in scenery and treatment options.

Alice James was diagnosed with breast cancer, which ultimately led to her death in London in 1892 at the age of 43. Her brother William James wrote her a condolence letter, advising her to seek comfort in the small positives of each day, and suggested treatments such as morphia and hypnotism, recommending the London physician Charles Lloyd Tuckey. Tuckey taught Katharine Loring to hypnotically relax Alice to help her sleep, which provided some respite.

Alice James began keeping a diary in 1889, which remained largely unpublished until decades after her death due to its candid comments about family and friends. A preliminary version was published in 1934, and a more complete edition edited by Leon Edel appeared in 1964. Her brother Henry James read this diary with concern but also recognition of her strong personality and intellectual capacity. In his assessment, Alice’s intense will and personality contributed to her health challenges, as her internal conflicts and her fight between her will and her body were central factors.

In her own reflections, Alice described her health crises as conflicts between her moral power and her physical body, beginning in childhood. She believed her health issues stemmed from a struggle between her will and her body's physical limitations. Towards the end of her life, she acknowledged that she had to relinquish control over her physical sensations to preserve her mental state, describing a process of surrender to her bodily suffering.

Alice James’s relationship with her brother William was notably close and has been the subject of scholarly discussion, with some suggesting elements of eroticism. William wrote "mock sonnets" to Alice, expressing love and desire, and engaged in artistic sketches depicting her with erotic overtones. He even created a triptych and other drawings that some interpret as symbolic representations of his feelings toward her.

Her relationship with Katharine Peabody Loring, her companion for over ten years, may have inspired Henry James’s 1886 novel *The Bostonians*. Alice James’s life and writings have been studied extensively through her diaries, correspondence, and biographies, including Anna Robeson Brown Burr’s introduction to her collected journal, and Jean Strouse's comprehensive biography, which seeks to present a balanced view of her personality and circumstances.