Shirley Jackson on writing
August 4, 2015 8:21 AM Subscribe
The New Yorker has recently put online three short essays on writing by novelist and short story writer Shirley Jackson, author of The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House. They are Memory and Delusion, On Fans and Fan Mail and Garlic in Fiction, where she sets out her methodology of writing fiction. You can read one of Jackson's short stories on The New Yorker's website, Paranoia, and an interview she did with her son.
Jackson has such a wicked sense of humor; I love these sorts of essays from her. I have a copy of "Biography of a Story," which details the responses The New Yorker received after publishing "The Lottery." You can't read the full essay but you can get a sense of it here. There's also a neat article that places "The Lottery" in its 1948 historical context; I've used its ideas and "Biography" to introduce the post-WWII world in my American lit/history classes. Students often miss her wit at first but are so fascinated by the angry responses she received.
posted by lilac girl at 8:51 AM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by lilac girl at 8:51 AM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Did Shirley Jackson and her husband really own 100,000 books?
posted by Iridic at 9:21 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Iridic at 9:21 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I just finished "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" last night. Wonderfully creepy book. Here's the opening:
My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.
posted by matrixclown at 9:37 AM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.
posted by matrixclown at 9:37 AM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
I literally had an open tab with a new post page open so I could post these after lunch!
The touch of garlic essay has some nice thoughts on how Jackson constructed The Haunting Of Hill House.
posted by The Whelk at 9:49 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The touch of garlic essay has some nice thoughts on how Jackson constructed The Haunting Of Hill House.
posted by The Whelk at 9:49 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh, cool. She has a new collection of essays
It's out today!
posted by The Whelk at 9:50 AM on August 4, 2015
It's out today!
posted by The Whelk at 9:50 AM on August 4, 2015
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is fantastic. I know why "The Lottery" is what we read in school, but for me it's a much more interesting look at the dark side of small town life.
Also any book that's basically a loving tribute to agoraphobia has to be good.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:53 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also any book that's basically a loving tribute to agoraphobia has to be good.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:53 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I used to have all her books and read all of them more than once.
I say "used to" because Charles tossed 'em. By mistake, says Laurie, but I have my doubts.
Slowly replacing them and boy is it exciting to know something I haven't read yet coming out.
posted by merelyglib at 10:05 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I say "used to" because Charles tossed 'em. By mistake, says Laurie, but I have my doubts.
Slowly replacing them and boy is it exciting to know something I haven't read yet coming out.
posted by merelyglib at 10:05 AM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I haven't read anything of Jackson's since I read (and massively re-read) her hilarious books about family life and raising children, Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages. Might be time to change that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:10 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:10 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
dealing with the reaction from The Lottery previously on Metafilter
posted by The Whelk at 10:16 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:16 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Might be time to change that.
Seriously, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is an absolute treat to read. You cannot go wrong by starting there.
posted by the bricabrac man at 2:44 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seriously, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is an absolute treat to read. You cannot go wrong by starting there.
posted by the bricabrac man at 2:44 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
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