The Jolly Corner

by Henry James

"The Jolly Corner" by Henry James is a short story published in 1908. Spencer Brydon returns to New York after thirty-three years abroad to manage his inherited properties, including his childhood home. As he reconnects with old friend Alice Staverton, he begins wondering who he might have become had he stayed in America. Prowling his empty boyhood house at night, Brydon seeks to encounter the ghost of his unlived life—his American alter ego—leading to a harrowing confrontation that challenges his very sense of self.