Henry James's Dictation Letter to Elizabeth Robins: "The Suffragette Movement Hot from the Oven"

Elizabeth Robins knew Henry James from 1891 and published her letters from James in Theatre and Friendship (1932). Unacknowledged in that volume is his dictated letter of November 1906, in which he offered comments on Robins's new play. When the play premiered at the Court Theatre in April 1907 as Votes for Women!, none were more congratulatory than James. Yet it cannot be said that James collaborated with Robins; the forty nine pages of typed notes assume Robins is fully in control of her already completed play. In a rambling and conversational style, James offers pointed encouragement to trim the opening exposition.