Henry James: An Unpublished Letter

ABSTRACT The relationship between Henry James and the American neurologist Dr. James Collins (1866–1960) has largely been ignored. The discovery of a hitherto unpublished letter from James to Collins redresses the balance and throws light on James’s state of mind following his brother William’s death and his need to consult with Collins. The article also reflects critical dissatisfaction with Leon Edel’s biographical account of James and Collins’s more perceptive account of his patient in The Doctor Looks at Biography (1925). There is also a brief discussion of the characteristics of James’s late style in his letter and the pertinence of the letter to Collins to The Turn of the Screw.