THREE CONRAD LETTERS IN THE EDITH WHARTON PAPERS

by Joseph Conrad to Henry James are a rarity. Only six are extant, four of them published (two in Lettres francaises, -/two in Jean-Aubry's Joseph Conrad: Life and Letters). The fifth, dated 16 October 1896, is owned by the Library of the University of Texas. The one dated 24 July 19 15, an autograph letter signed, preserved as part of the correspondence relating to Edith Wharton's The Book of the Homeless ( 19 16), has hitherto been restricted in Mrs. Wharton's papers in the Yale Collection of American Literature. Brief and without ostensible content, it is of relevance to Conrad and James scholars; for it indicates that both writers tried to maintain their friendship despite James' less than adulatory review of Chance in the Times Literary Supplement (19 March and 2 April 19 14; reprinted in Notes on Novelists as "The New Novel"). Professor Ian Watt has written about this episode, in an essay called "Conrad, James, and Chance" and there is no point in repeating all the details. It is sufficient to say that Conrad was pained by James* treatment, particularly by the latter's citation of Edith Wharton as having learned his lesson better than had Conrad. Accordingly, the letter of 24 July 191 5 takes on some interest. On Mrs. Wharton's behalf, James had asked Conrad for a contribution to The Book of the Homeless, a war-charity anthology, and Conrad addressed his short reply to his "Tres cher Maitre," the salutation indicating his desire to maintain his end of the friendship. Conrad continued: