The mystery of Alice James - book group discussion

Book group largely puzzled by the life and the significance of Alice James, as we discussed the Strouse bio of same - I opened by asking the fundamental question, that is, was AJ a potentially great writer whose talent never came to fruition and if so, why didn't it? The Stouse bio definitely had a feminist POV and I was surprised by the resistance to that interpretation in the group, with several members saying there was no evidence, at least from quoted material we read, that AJ was an exceptional writer in any case (I thought she was a very sharp and observant, and suspect her letters were terrific but most were destroyed - a mystery in itself). General agreement, however, that she was a victim of the low expectations of her narcissistic father, that he was of no help to her - general concurrence w/ my view that his need for constant relocation and failure to enroll AJ in any sort of formal schooling led further to her social isolation - I think what she really needed in that difficult family was just a friend or two. We also noted that the failure to become a significant writer was not solely a gender issue, as the two middle brothers led desultory lives at best. I brought up the obvious comparisons with Dickinson, the ultimate outsider artist and the ultimate insider artist, both unpublished but for completely different reasons. Of course AJ despite her talents might not have been suited to become a writer - but we noted that her family and cultural expectations dictated that the only suitable occupation would have been as a wife, which she obviously was not suited for. General bafflement and uninterest as to whether she was a lesbian - I believe or want to believe that she enjoyed a sexual and romantic relationship w/ Katharine Loring, but there's no evidence and as JRi noted historians are confined to the evidence in hand. Complete puzzlement as to exact nature of her illness - though agreed that it was real and severe and not simply a way to "get attention" - in her day it was a form of hysteria, which is rarely discussed or diagnosed as such today - leading to discussion of how the culture of the times leads to certain illnesses or at least to certain diagnoses - the prescribed treatments of the day are a window onto what the culture accepts as normal behavior or defines as ill or deviant.