Truly nothing is to be expected but the unexpected.
Alice James was a
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
diarist. The only daughter of Henry James, Sr. and sister of philosopher
William JamesWilliam James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
and novelist
Henry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, she is known mainly for the posthumously published
diaryA diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
that she kept in her final years.
Life
Born into a wealthy and intellectually active family, Alice James soon developed the psychological and physical problems that would end her life at age 43. The youngest of five children, she lived with her parents until their deaths in 1882. She taught history from 1873 to 1876 for the
Society to Encourage Studies at HomeThe Society to Encourage Studies at Home was the first correspondence school in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts by Anna Eliot Ticknor.-History:...
, a Boston-based correspondence school for women. By 1882 she had suffered at least two major breakdowns and would experience several more before her death from
breast cancerBreast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
.
Era of Hysteria
In the Victorian era, hysteria was an extremely common diagnosis for women. Almost any disease a woman had could fit the symptoms of hysteria because there was no set list of symptoms. In 1866 James travelled to New York to receive "therapeutic exercise" and in 1884 she received electrical "massage." She hoped that a change of scenery would improve her health, and so she travelled to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with her companion Katherine Peabody Loring. She suffered recurring bouts of "hysteria" for the next eight years until she died from
breast cancerBreast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
.
James sought various treatments for her disorders but never found significant relief.
The Diary
James began to keep a diary in 1889. Full of witty, acerbic, insightful comments on English life and manners, it included excerpts from various publications to support her opinions. The diary was not published for many years after her death due to sharp comments on various persons whom she had mentioned by name.
A poorly edited version of the diary was eventually released in 1934.
Leon EdelJoseph Leon Edel was a North American literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel....
published a fuller edition in 1964. The diary has made James something of a
feministFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
icon: she was seen as struggling through her illnesses to find her own voice. This view of the diary's significance, however, has been criticized as a facile and inaccurate tale of
victim blamingVictim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment are held entirely or partially responsible for the transgressions committed against them. Blaming the victim has traditionally emerged especially in racist and sexist forms...
.
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