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The Past In Henry James 'The Jolly Corner'

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Often regarded as one of Henry James’s best ghost stories, “The Jolly Corner” tells the story of Spencer Brydon’s return to New York after spending about thirty years of his life in Europe as an artist and his horrifying encounter with his “alter ego” in his old family house on “the jolly corner.” Published in 1908, the story parallels James’s own life experience. After living abroad for many years, in 1905, James revisited his hometown New York where his relatives mostly passed away and drastic changes took place (Gale). Inspired by the experience, James presents the similar comparison between the present and the past in “The Jolly Corner” and describes the protagonist’s complicated psychology while facing the change. The “alter ego” created by James is not a traditional ghost, which sets “The Jolly Corner” apart from traditional …show more content…

Miss Staverton’s mention of his “alter ego” causes quite a stir, which strengthens his doubt about his genuine talent and self. The alter ego’s dwelling place—the jolly corner—is also a significant factor concerning Brydon’s self-identity. The old and vacant family house where the “alter ego” appears at night indicates a long ignored and alienated connection between Brydon and his family and past. Brydon lives on “flourishing New York leases” brought by the two inherited houses for many years whilst in Europe, but the estrangement from his family is not changed by this. On stepping into the old building, Brydon recalls his remote childhood, the one in which he had first seen the light, in which various members of his family had lived and had died, in which the holidays of his overschooled boyhood had been passed and the few social flowers of his child adolescence gathered, and which, alienated then for so long a period, had, through the successive deaths of his two brothers and the termination of old arrangements, come wholly into his hands.

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