Shirley Jackson
author profile
born
December 14, 1916
died
August 08, 1965
gender
female
place of birth
San Francisco, CA, The United States
genre
Horror, Biographies & Memoirs, Short Stories
about this author
Shirley Jackson was an influential American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years. She has influenced such writers as Stephen King, Nigel Kneale and Richard Matheson.
She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948 issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jac...more
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avg rating: 3.98
| 10,160 ratings
| 1,308 reviews
| 68 distinct works
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More books by Shirley Jackson…
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The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson avg rating 3.97 — 3,483 ratings — published 1949 10 editions |
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The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson avg rating 3.87 — 2,514 ratings — published 1959 18 editions |
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We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson avg rating 4.12 — 1,911 ratings — published 1962 18 editions |
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Life among the Savages by Shirley Jackson avg rating 4.08 — 355 ratings — published 1953 7 editions |
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Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories Of Shirley Jackson by Shirley Jackson avg rating 4.12 — 184 ratings — published 1996 2 editions |
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Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson avg rating 4.16 — 166 ratings — published 1959 |
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The Lottery by Shirley Jackson avg rating 4.27 — 132 ratings — published 1949 7 editions |
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Come Along with Me by Shirley Jackson avg rating 4.15 — 124 ratings — published 1968 4 editions |
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The Sundial by Shirley Jackson avg rating 3.82 — 119 ratings — published 1958 |
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The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson avg rating 3.65 — 66 ratings — published 1954 6 editions |
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"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality."
— Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House)
— Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House)
"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."
— Shirley Jackson (We Have Always Lived in the Castle)
— Shirley Jackson (We Have Always Lived in the Castle)
"I could live there all alone, she thought, slowing the car to look down the winding garden path to the small blue front door with, perfectly, a white cat on the step. No one would ever find me there, either, behind all those roses, and just to make sure I would plant oleanders by the road. I will light a fire in the cool evenings and toast apples at my own hearth. I will raise white cats and sew white curtains for the windows and sometimes come out of my door to go to the store to buy cinnamon and tea and thread. People will come to me to have their fortunes told, and I will brew love potions for sad maidens; I will have a robin..."
— Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House)
— Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House)
topics mentioning this author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novel Ladies: Jess's 2009 TBR Challenge | 12 | 29 | May 05, 2009 04:21PM | |
| The Next Best Boo...: What You Wish You Read in High School | 50 | 314 | Jul 30, 2009 10:44AM | |
| Historical Fictio...: Last Letter | 76 | 23 | Aug 23, 2009 08:07AM | |
| The Next Best Boo...: please recommend genius works by women authors | 42 | 286 | Sep 13, 2009 08:51AM | |
| Pick-a-Shelf: Your picks for October | 53 | 97 | 16 days ago, 04:08PM | |
| Bookmarks Subscri...: What Book Did You Just Finish? | 35 | 56 | 12 days ago, 11:59PM | |
| The Book Challenge: Meghan's Other 2009 Challenges | 11 | 31 | 7 days ago, 09:58AM | |
| The Book Addicts!: Need suggestions for one of my goals | 35 | 63 | 6 days ago, 01:24PM |
