Henry James's "The Jolly Corner"

Abstract

I~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THE PRESENT paper I hope to show that Henry James's short story The Jolly Corner has been commonly misunderstood and to present a more acceptable interpretation. For the convenience of reference, since the story is complex, a recapitulation will be helpful. Spencer Brydon leaves his native New York at the age of twenty-three and remains away from America for thirty-three years. His friend Alice Staverton, who is in love with him when he leaves and continues faithful through the years, remains in New York and never sees him until his return. Brydon apparently loves her too but has never, even to himself, acknowledged his love. He has heard of the wonders of modern New York and has come to see for himself. He finds the new city repugnant, but the old New York that he had left because of its ugliness now seems to him, so far as it survives, quite charming. It is especially charming as it survives in his friend Alice Staverton, who is unchanged except for the added grace of maturity. He finds himself sole owner of two large houses. One of these, his family home, he leaves undisturbed; the other he is remodeling as an apartment lrouse. In dealing with the builders he discovers in himself an unsuspected talent for practical affairs, and he and Alice speculate on what he might have become if he had remained in New York. This sets him to thinking about his New York past and he begins to wander through the huge empty house at night, lighted by a candle or by the pale beams from the street lamps that