"A Most Unholy Trade," Being Letters on the Drama by Henry James

In these lively, intimate letters to a publisher, a celebrated novelist responds to Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf with unusual immediacy. Reading the play in installments, he writes with breathless enthusiasm about its charged atmosphere, concentrated cast, daring emotional pitch, and potential for the stage. His reactions are animated by curiosity, speculation, and a sharp ear for the practical demands of performance.

Alongside his excitement, the letters offer a thoughtful view of dramatic art: how revelation should be paced, how actors might embody difficult scenes, and how a play’s final movement can confirm or complicate its design. Witty, theatrical, and often playfully irreverent, the correspondence captures a writer thinking aloud at the height of his engagement with the drama. Listeners will find both a spirited response to Ibsen and a revealing portrait of the creative mind at work.