The Alter Ego in The Jolly Corner

Abstract

"Ghost story" may be applied to the fictions in which apparitions appear (or are thought to appear). The Jolly Corner (1908) rests within this category. Spencer Brydon meets face to face the ghost of the man he would have been if he had spent the previous thirty-three years of his life in America instead of in Europe. He loses his senses in terror, but Alice Staverton, his childhood friend, brings him to his senses. In the light of Jungian psychology the other Spencer, the alter ego, may be interpreted as his "Shadow" latent in his subconscious mind. Alice, who is ompared to "Great Mother, " plays an important role in bringing him to life. Brydon's ego extends its range of activity when his "Shadow" is integrated into his conscious mind. Therefore from the psycological point of view, The Jolly Corner is regarded as a story of self-realization of Spencer Brydon.