The Jolly Corner: Psychology, Alter Ego, and the International Theme

Introduction: The Jolly Corner and James's Mature Phase. “The Jolly Corner” is another story from the mature phase of Henry James’s career. It represents the full flowering of James’s interest in psychology, and it offers a splendid example of James’s views on the international theme of Europe versus America. This 1908 tale thus combines psychological realism with the international theme, two signature concerns of James’s late fiction.

Psychology as Technique and Theme. This is a story in which psychology is both technique and theme. It is a story about two lives, one lived in all its fullness, and another imagined life, one unchosen and thus unlived. It is this second, unchosen life that Brydon yearns to witness, personified as the ghost of his alter ego. “He found all things come back to the question of what he personally might have been, how he might have led his life and ‘turned out’” (James, “The Jolly Corner” 379). The life he has lived has been one of “sensations” (384).

Sensation and Imagination. James uses the word sensation in his fiction to describe the life of a writer or artist or critic, one who deeply appreciates artistic beauty but who also appreciates life in all its infinite variety. In other works of fiction, James uses the term imagination to describe this kind of character as a person who possesses a vivid imagination and is susceptible to sensations. As a general rule, James treats these characters sympathetically. Regrettably if one relies on sensation for a career, one will probably live in relative poverty and from the perspective of material success would be considered, as Brydon describes himself, to have led “a selfish frivolous scandalous life” (381).

The Unchosen Life and the Alter Ego. In conversation with Alice, Brydon wonders what he should have had he followed in the footsteps of his father, adhering to not a life of sensation but to the “rank money-passion.” He and Alice believe he might then have been quite powerful and wealthy, possibly even a “billionaire” (380). This is not the first time that James sides with the life of sensation against the life of wealth and power. The reader can guess at this from his sympathetic treatment of Brydon and from the description of the alter ego.

The alter ego has been “unhappy” and “ravaged” (402). Curiously Brydon feels that he too has been ravaged and unhappy. Perhaps life does that to people regardless of one’s wealth. But Alice adds, with reference to the alter ego, “He’s grim, he’s worn—things have happened to him” (402). Typically of James’s mature work, it is left to the reader’s imagination to discern what those “things” are.

The Ravaged Double and Its Meaning. At the very least, Brydon sees that the richly adorned alter ego conceals his face, and whatever life he has led has reduced two of his fingers to stumps. The stranger, “whoever he might be,” is “evil, odious, blatant, and vulgar” (397). James weaves into this psychological tale a vivid contrast between Europe and America.

Europe and America: The International Contrast. A few years prior to writing the story, James returned to America for an extended tour that included his hometown of New York City, where this story takes place. One can imagine that the house in the story is very much like the house James grew up in Washington Square. James found all too much confirmation for why he had lived out most of his adult life in Europe. Spencer Brydon had chosen to live in Europe, as James had, and in this tale, as in much of James’s work, Europe is synonymous with art, history, and beauty, as opposed to material wealth. America is synonymous with new money, even immense fortunes. It is quite clear which side James favors.

For Discussion or Writing.
1. Compare this story with “The Beast in the Jungle.” For example, how does the male-female interaction compare? And what about the hunt or “chase” as figured in both stories?
2. Compare this tale to another “ghost” story by James, The Turn of the Screw. How do the sources of horror in these two works compare?
3. Compare James’s technique of exploring the psychology of the protagonist in “The Jolly Corner” and other works with that used by another intensely psychological writer, William Faulkner, in works such as As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury. What does the use of psychology add to the work as a whole? Discuss.