ABSTRACT
In January 1909, when he was living in New York City, Wallace Stevens bought a copy of Henry James’s novel Washington Square (1880). As he was about to start reading it, he wrote to his fiancée Elsie:
I think I’ll send it to you if it is good. It was written almost thirty years ago, when Henry James was still H. J. Jr. and had tales to tell. (L 121)
