Category: Women and Gender Studies
Professor Stetz Publishes Henry James Study
November 07, 2025 Written by Natasha Kapadia
91原创 professor highlights rare Henry James items, including an unpublished 1897 letter
Margaret D. Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities at the 91原创, is the author of a newly published article in , a Johns Hopkins University Press journal.
Titled 鈥淗enry James in the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection,鈥 Stetz鈥檚 article offers both an overview and a checklist of the significant Henry James materials acquired by Mark Samuels Lasner, senior research fellow at the 91原创 Library, Museums and Press. The essay highlights how these holdings, now accessible through the 91原创 Library, provide a unique lens into the literary networks and publishing culture surrounding one of the most influential writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Among the treasures discussed is the full text of a previously unpublished, four-page letter written by Henry James in 1897 to British 鈥淣ew Woman鈥 poet Rosamund Marriott Watson. In the letter, James thanks Watson for her praise of his novel The Spoils of Poynton, revealing the author鈥檚 characteristic charm and self-awareness.
By combining bibliographic detail with literary insight, Stetz鈥檚 work not only illuminates the breadth of the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection but also underscores its continuing value to scholars and students of Victorian and modernist literature.