The Correspondence of William James

The first volume in a set of 12 aiming to offer a comprehensive coverage of the letters that passed between William James and his many correspondents (9000 altogether). This volume offers the letters that passed between William and his novelist brother, Henry.

The death of their eccentric and brilliant father, and the conditions and exclusions of his will, produce the most focused series of letters in the volume. However ambiguously and indirectly, the exchange between William and Henry opens up the competing claims of self-interest and affection, the rivalries and alliances, between and within generations caused by death in any wealthy family, but especially in a family as splendidly quirky as the Jameses. Jean Strouse's widely hailed biography of Alice James, Jane Maher's of Wilkie and Robertson James, and R.W.B. Lewis's recent family biography have acquainted readers with this famous dynasty that can justly claim to be America's "First Family" intellectually. These letters also aim to lend our understanding of the Jameses a depth and a special immediacy.