-

 

TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY: Shirley Jackson (1916–1965)

Today marks the birth of Shirley Jackson, one of the most influential American writers of psychological horror and suspense. Jackson’s work reshaped modern horror by moving it inward—away from monsters and toward the quiet terrors of conformity, ritual, and domestic life.

She is best known for her chilling short story ‘The Lottery’ (1948) and her novel ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (1959), widely regarded as one of the greatest ghost stories of the 20th century. Her influence can be felt across generations of writers, including Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and Neil Gaiman.

On June 26, 1948, subscribers to The New Yorker opened an otherwise ordinary issue to find ‘The Lottery’—a story that would ignite one of the strongest reader reactions in the magazine’s history. Set in a seemingly idyllic New England village, the story calmly unfolds an annual ritual culminating in the public stoning of a randomly selected resident. Readers were stunned. Letters poured in—many angry, many confused, some demanding explanations. Years later, editors would call it “perhaps the most controversial short story” the magazine had ever published.

Though Jackson wrote novels, essays, memoirs, and dozens of short stories, she once joked that even if ‘The Lottery’ had been her only work, it would have been enough to ensure she was never forgotten.

Did You Know?
• The New Yorker received over 300 letters in response to ‘The Lottery’, with some readers canceling their subscriptions outright.
• Jackson’s ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ has inspired multiple film and television adaptations and is often cited as a defining work of modern Gothic fiction.
• Despite her reputation for horror, Jackson was also a gifted humorist, especially in her domestic memoirs.

Jackson’s life was marked by brilliance and difficulty. She struggled with chronic illness, anxiety, and substance abuse, and died at just 48. For readers interested in the full complexity of her life and work, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin is an essential biography.

Explore classic and modern works of horror and suspense at BlindHorseBooks.com.
 Building Great Collections, One Fine Book at a Time.



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
 TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY: April 19 Welsh writer Richard Hughes (1900 – 1976) was born Richard Hughes was brought up in the West Indies in Jamaica and only wrote only four novels, the most famous of which is The Innocent Voyage (1929), or A High Wind in Jamaica, as Hughes renamed it soon after its initial publication.   Set in the 19th century, it explores the events which follow the accidental capture of a group of English children by pirates: the children are revealed as considerably more amoral than the pirates (it was in this novel that Hughes first described the cocktail Hangman's Blood, recipe below). During 1938, he wrote an allegorical novel In Hazard based on the true story of the S.S. Phemius that was caught in the 1932 Cuba hurricane for 4 days during its maximum intensity. He also wrote volumes of children's stories, including The Spider's Palace, plays and poetry.   A High Wind in Jamaica was made into a film of the same name in 1965. The book was initially ...
Read more
-
Image
 Today in Literary History: BIRTH OF G. K. CHESTERTON (1874 – 1936)   G.K. Chesterton was a fascinating figure in literary history, known for his wit, intellect, and prolific writing career a lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apologist. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox."      Time magazine has observed his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."       Chesterton's writing had a significant impact on various literary figures, including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Both Tolkien and Lewis credited Chesterton's works as influential in their own writings and philosophical development. Did You Know.....  ..... Chesterton was a large man, standing at around 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighing over 300 pounds He had a...
Read more
-
Image
TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY April 24 1905 Birth of Robert Penn Warren, Novelist, America’s First Poet Laureate. He is the sole individual to have earned Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and poetry. His novel All the King's Men (1946) garnered him the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, while he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in both 1958 and 1979. Warren's work spans both poetry and prose, and his ability to excel in both fields sets him apart. His poetry, characterized by its intellectual depth and emotional resonance, earned him two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry (1958, 1979). As a novelist, his most famous work, All the King's Men (1946), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947 and is considered one of the greatest American novels. The novel’s exploration of political corruption and moral ambiguity remains a key text in American literary studies. Warren was one of the founding figures of New Criticism, a dominant literary movement in the mid-20th century. This approach ...
Read more