When I was a kid, I read “The Lottery” and immediately wanted more. I hunted down Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (better than the movie) and read her unique We Have Always Lived in the Castle. From time to time I’d discover some of Shirley Jackson’s short stories in anthologies and always enjoyed them. But in 2010, the Library of America finally published this volume of Shirley Jackson’s work that I knew all along she deserved. There are plenty of gems in this collection. I really liked “One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts.” If you want to see the world through a complete different lens, read Shirley Jackson. If you become a fan like I am, you’ll want this wonderful Library of America volume.
Table of Contents:
THE LOTTERY; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF JAMES HARRIS
I The Intoxicated, 5
The Daemon Lover, 10
Like Mother Used to Make, 26
Trial by Combat, 35
The Villager, 41
My Life with R.H. Macy, 47
II The Witch, 53
The Renegade, 57
After You, My Dear Alphonse, 69
Charles, 73
Afternoon in Linen, 78
Flower Garden, 83
Dorothy and My Grandmother and the Sailors, 108
III Colloquy, 117
Elizabeth, 119
A Fine Old Firm, 153
The Dummy, 157
Seven Types of Ambiguity, 164
Come Dance with Me in Ireland, 171
IV Of Course, 179
Pillar of Salt, 184
Men with Their Big Shoes, 199
The Tooth, 207
Got a Letter from Jimmy, 225
The Lottery, 227
V Epilogue, 239
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, 243
WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, 421
OTHER STORIES AND SKETCHES
I UNCOLLECTED
Janice, 565
A Cauliflower in Her Hair, 567
Behold the Child Among His Newborn Misses, 572
It Isn’t the Money I Mind, 579
The Third Baby’s the Easiest, 583
The Summer People, 594
Island, 608
The Night We All Had Grippe, 621
A Visit; or, The Lovely House, 627
This Is the Life; or, Journey with a Lady, 651
One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts, 662
Louisa, Please Come Home, 673
The Little House, 691
The Bus, 700
The Possibility of Evil, 714
II UNPUBLISHED
Portrait, 727
The Mouse, 729
I Know Who I Love, 733
The Beautiful Stranger, 745
The Rock, 753
The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith, 772
APPENDIX
Biography of a Story, 787
Chronology, 805
Note on the Texts, 814
Notes, 820
Loved both Haunting of Hill House We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Among her short stories The Summer People is a favorite.
Steve, I’m with you on HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, and “Summer People.” All classics!
George, I read some of Shirley Jackson’s stories for the first time, thanks to the FFB special over at Patti’s. Her stories revolving around families are rather unsettling.
Prashant, unsettling is a good adjective for Jackson’s writings. I would go farther and say “uniquely unsettling.”
I am really only familiar with The Lottery collection and some of the novels like The Haunting and most get some of her uncollected work – a marvellous writer – thanks George, this looks like a superb collection.
Sergio, I’ve collected most of the Library of America volumes. Great books at great prices!
The Possibility of Evil is the story that has always stayed with me–about the consequences of “poison pen” letters and the “perfect” revenge exacted by people when they discover who wrote them.
Deb, “The Possibility of Evil” stayed with me for years after I read it. It’s not too far from the truth to say that story “haunted” me.
I was going to do the Stories too but I didn’t have it on hand and couldn’t remember the titles of the stories offhand, other than “The Lottery” of course. She really was a writer worth checking out. “The Lottery” is probably one of the most read short stories in American history, as most of us had to read it in school. For once, the schools got it right!
Jeff, plenty of schools have removed “The Lottery” from their curriculum because too many parents found it “disturbing.”
I’m not quite old enough to remember the controversy “The Lottery” generated on its first publication, but it’s still a powerful story. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is the best haunted-house novel ever written.
Bill, the controversy about “The Lottery” still goes on today. You are so right about THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE!
One of the greats. I had read that she wrote “The Lottery” completely in her head during a 45-minute walk. She wrote so many fantastic stories. Richard Matheson paid homage to her with his HELL HOUSE. Her death at age 48 always struck me as unfair.
I love Shirley Jackson’s work. One of my favorites is The Bird’s Nest. It’s been a while since I revisited her books. I’ll have to take another look soon.
Beth, I really like “The Bird’s Nest,” too!
I guess I’m the only one here who’s never read her. I’m starting to get curious.
Bob, start with “The Lottery.” After that, you’ll want to read more of Shirley Jackson’s work. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is one of my very favorites.
For those who find Jackson’s writing “disturbing” I recommend Happy Puppy and Delightful Kitten’s Adventure in the Very Safe, Pretty Back Yard (While Mom Watches Closely). But then those same people would likely find Macbeth unsettling as well. This LoA volume seems to have everything the Jackson reader would want except her semi-autobiographical books.
Rick, this Library of America collection is the one I always recommend when people want to read Shirley Jackson. All of her best work is here.
For some reason, I was thinking there was a COLLECTED STORIES which had trumped her kids’ selection JUST AN ORDINARY DAY, but I suspect I was muzzily thinking about this LOA edition, instead. Still, getting this first and then taking some of the kids’ commentary in JUST with as much salt as you wanna is still a very viable thing to do. (As you read the fictionalized memoirs of raising the kids…)
That she died a year younger than I am now is both sad and sobering.
Todd, I was shocked when I heard of Shirley Jackson’s death. She was far too young…
I read WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE when I was just a kid. Gotta get back that way sometime.