Some Unexpected Occupant: Elaborating the Invisible in “The Jolly Corner”

This article attempts to add to the conversation surrounding the place of consciousness in Henry James's fiction by embedding it in the invisible spaces of mind and world, articulating how Spencer Brydon and the invisible space about him mutually constitute his self. Guided by the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, this paper shows how invisible space in "The Jolly Corner"—regarded as material and extended through interior and exterior space—elaborates itself into the “flesh of the world," escaping sight, knowledge, and narration while maintaining its ability to inflect consciousness from the deep, dim recesses of being and matter.