The Jolly Corner

Description

The Jolly Corner: A Thought-Provoking Story About What Could Have Been



Aside from his most notable works, The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl, renowned American novelist Henry James managed to pen a remarkable story in The Jolly Corner. This often underrated novel explores the psyche of a Mr. Spencer Brydon, the main character of the story, and a man whose life bears significant resemblance to that of James himself. Both have given up on the city of their forefathers, and found refuge in Europe, where they are easily able to thrive.

Brydon, however, is far from happy. His many regrets and reflections of the past are shown throughout the book as nostalgic journeys back to the possibilities of a life never lived. James skillfully disguises Brydon’s “ghosts from his past” into an actual ghost that comes to haunt him, and leads him to reflect on his past choices, as well as the consequences of the choices he wanted to make, but never dared.

Like many of James’characters from other novels and tales, Brydon is a complex man whose depth of character slowly unfolds through his psychological profile, as the story progresses. We are soon shown that James’ character realizes how every major decision he had ever made had its positive and negative sides,and there was no real use in musing on the possibility of any “perfect” choices he could have made.

While the book can be somewhat of a more difficult and complex read, especially with James’ insistence on detailed psychological musings and his lengthy descriptions and sentences, there is also quite a lot you can gain from reading The Jolly Circle. The author manages to masterfully depict the very real and complex interior challenges that the main character faces, and he crafts the entire plot of the story to be skillfully interwoven with Brydon’s musings and realization in a nearly artistic manner.


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