The Jolly Corner

In the “The Jolly Corner,” a short story by Henry James, a man, returning home to New York after decades living abroad, feels that he is being watched by a ghostly presence and gradually realizes that it is the ghost of his own self, the person he might have become had he made different choices. Every life has many forks in the road, thousands every day, but a few stand out from the rest, tidal waves as opposed to mere heavy surf.   In The Hounds of Spring took a particular “what if” from my own life that I knew would so compel me that I wouldn’t quit until I found out “what happened.”

And let me tell you, no one could have been more surprised than me by what I found out! 

(You can find "The Jolly Corner" in Eight Tales from the Major Phase by Henry James and it may well be available for free on line somewhere too.)

The painting above is by Peter Milton, inspired by, you guessed it! The Jolly Corner!