The Reading Warehouse

Qty:

During this period and after years of false starts and procrastination, James completed most of the work on the book that was to become a classic in its field, The Principles of Psychology. It was also during these years that he became more directly involved in the world of psychical research. Most of his efforts in this area were devoted to Leonora Piper, the American trance medium, but he also found time for correspondence with fellow inquirers in Europe such as Frederic William Henry Myers and Edmund Gurney. James's interest in his graduate students is apparent in his correspondence with, among others, George Santayana and Charles Augustus Strong, who in beginning their own academic careers still sought their mentor's advice and support. Established correspondents -- colleagues such as Josiah Royce, Granville Stanley Hall, Shadworth Hollway Hodgsone, Theodule Ribot, Charles Renouvier, and Charles Sanders Peirce -- return in this volume as they continue their dialogue with James about the psychological and philosophical issues of the day.

There were also many changes in James's family life during these years -- the death of his youngest son, Herman James, and the birth of his daughter, Margaret Mary. And, because his wife Alice and the children were away from home for long periods of time, letters to Alice dominate the volume -- letters that reveal the emotional support andaffirmation that James drew from his wife. These were also the years when James was at his most sociable, sometimes making three or four social calls a day and reporting daily to Alice the bits of Cambridge and Boston gossip.

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