1916-1965

Presents vital information on the most-studied short stories at the high school and early-college levels. Each entry contains author biography, plot summary, characters, themes, style, historical context, critical overview, and criticism.

Presents vital information on the most-studied short stories at the high school and early-college levels. Each entry contains author biography, plot summary, characters, themes, style, historical context, critical overview, and criticism.

Provides an in-depth critical introduction to the short stories of Shirley Jackson. Includes a detailed analyses of every significant story, biographical information, a chronology of the artist's life and works, and a representative selection of critical responses.

"This long-awaited biography establishes Shirley Jackson as a towering figure in American literature and revives the life and work of a neglected master. Still known to millions only as the author of the "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) remains curiously absent from the American literary canon. A genius of literary suspense, Jackson plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America better than anyone. Now, biographer Ruth Franklin reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the author behind such classics as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Placing Jackson within an American Gothic tradition of Hawthorne and Poe, Franklin demonstrates how her unique contribution to this genre came from her focus on "domestic horror" drawn from an era hostile to women. Based on a wealth of previously undiscovered correspondence and dozens of new interviews, Shirley Jackson, with its exploration of astonishing talent shaped by a damaged childhood and a troubled marriage to literary critic Stanley Hyman, becomes the definitive biography of a generational avatar and an American literary giant."--.

In this witty and warm memoir of her family's life in rural Vermont, Shirley Jackson exposes a domestic side in cheerful contrast to her quietly terrifying fiction. With a novelist's gift for character, an unfailing maternal instinct, and her signature humor, Jackson turns everyday family experiences into brilliant adventures.

Moving into the home of novelist Shirley Jackson and her husband during the summer of 1964, a graduate student and his pregnant wife forge an uneasy friendship with their hosts that is complicated by Jackson's mercurial nature and her turbulent marriage.

Presents biographical information about author Shirley Jackson, and provides analyses of three of her short stories, each with a plot summary, list of characters, and a selection of critical commentary.

American author Shirley Jackson's memoir of everyday life with her husband and two children in Vermont.

Argues that legal and financial exploitation has led to the ruin of African-American urban neighborhoods throughout the country and offers examples of instances that support the theory.