The Jolly Corner
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| Author | Henry James |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Publisher | English Review |
| Released | December 1, 1908 |
| Media Type | |
| Pages | 30 |
The Jolly Corner is a short story by Henry James first published in The English Review in December, 1908. One of James' very best ghost stories, The Jolly Corner describes the adventures of Spencer Brydon as he prowls the now-empty New York house where he grew up. He encounters a "sensation more complex than had ever before found itself consistent with sanity."
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[edit] Plot summary
Spencer Brydon returns to New York City after more than thirty years abroad. He has agreed to tear down his old family house to build a more lucrative apartment building. Before the wreckers move in, he starts to prowl the house at night. Brydon has begun to realize that he might have been an astute businessman if he hadn't turned his back on moneymaking for a more leisurely life. He discusses this possibility with Alice Staverton, his woman friend who has always lived in New York.
Meanwhile Brydon begins to believe that his alter ego—the ghost of the man he might have been—is haunting the "jolly corner," his nickname for the old family house. After a harrowing night of pursuit in the house, Brydon finally confronts the ghost, who advances on him and overpowers him with "a rage of personality before which his own collapsed." Brydon eventually awakens with his head pillowed on Alice Staverton's lap. She had come to the house because she sensed he was in danger. She tells him that she pities the ghost of his alter ego, who has suffered and lost two fingers from his right hand. But she also embraces and accepts Brydon as he is.
[edit] Key themes
This story treats a theme of nearly universal interest: the "unlived life," the life a person might have led but didn't. One decision after another leads any human being down a particular path, but what about the infinite number of roads not taken? In fact, The Jolly Corner forms a brilliantly dramatic counterpoint to the Robert Frost poem.
Attempts have been made to narrow the story to Henry James' own life. Certainly there are some parallels between the expatriate Brydon and the expatriate James. But too close an identification probably lessens rather than enhances the story's significance. In particular, likening the ghost's two lost fingers with the "obscure hurt" that James experienced in his late teens may well be too reductive and simplistic.
James' flash of genius was to cast his idea into an unsurpassably dramatic form, by having Brydon actually pursue the ghost of what he might have been, and then to have the specter turn on him and overwhelm him with "the roused passion of a life larger than his own." The unlived life proves far more terrifying than anything in Brydon's actual existence.
[edit] Critical evaluation
Critics have almost unanimously agreed that The Jolly Corner is James' finest ghost story after only The Turn of the Screw. The combination of a deeply interesting theme and expertly suspenseful narration creates a masterpiece of not just the ghost story genre, but of the short story genre overall.
Critics have disagreed on whether Brydon will profit from his supernatural experience, or will only resume his rather selfish and nonreflective existence. The more optimistic commentators believe that Brydon will lead a more mature and perceptive life, especially with the help of Alice Staverton's unselfish love. James said that the idea for The Jolly Corner came to him suddenly and kept him awake all night. He wrote the story soon afterward and it seemed to him "a miraculous masterpiece." He has not been alone in that opinion.
[edit] Derivative work
A television version of the story was produced in 1975 with Fritz Weaver as Spencer Brydon and Salome Jens as Alice Staverton.
[edit] References
- The Tales of Henry James by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1984) ISBN 0-8044-2957-X
- Modern Critical Views: Henry James edited by Harold Bloom (New York: Chelsea House Publishers 1987) ISBN 0-87754-696-7
- A Companion to Henry James Studies edited by Daniel Fogel (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1993) ISBN 0-313-25792-2
