Shirley Jackson Essay, Research Paper

Born-San Francisco, California-December 3, 1919

Died-North Bennington, Vermont- August 8, 1965-45

Have published novels, humorous fictionalized autobiographies, and children books

Many have remained uncollected

1961, Edgar Allen Poe Reward, ?Louisa, Please?

1965, Syracuse University Arents Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Achievements

Moved to NY at 16

After enrolling in Syracuse, beginning of independent life for author

At Syracuse, met Stanley Edgar Hyman-would marry in 1940

Hyman Achieved notoriety in his own right as a teacher, writer, critic

After marriage and birth of 4, literary production increased markedly

Agoraphobic, depressive

Contributing to by asthma and arthritis

Hymans extramarital affair in early 1960?s

1963, husband made new commitments to marriage

Helped her work with agoraphobia

Obese, chain smoker

Stories center of one concern

Almost every story, protagonists discovering

Protagonists were mostly women

Failing to discover

Successfully ignoring an alternate way of perceiving set of circumstances or the world

CRITICAL SURVEY OF SHORT FICTION

BOOK WORKS

1948 ?The Lottery?

1954 ?The Bird?s Nest?

1957 ?Raising Demons?

1958 ?The Sundial?

1959 ?The Haunting of Hill House?

1962 ?We Have Always Lived in the Castle?

1966 ?The Magic of Shirley Jackson?-published after she died

-original sories about lonely or mentally distrubed people who have experiences with supernatural events

published first book at age 18

age 29 New Yorker magazine publish ?The Lottery?

?The Lottery? was the book that made her famous

fascinated with black magic

in 1919 (born)-1919 prohibition introduced to US

1926 British scientist John Baird Demonsrtates TV

1927 Joseph Stalin Becomes dictator of Russia

1931 Empire State Building in New York City Completed

1933 Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, gains control of Germany

1935 Italy invades Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

1939-45 WWII: allies, led by US and Great Britian, fight axis powers, led by Germany and Japan

1941-Germany invades USSR

1945-US drops first atomic bombs on Japan

1945-United Nations (UN), organization working for betterment of humanity, founded

1950-53 Korean war: North Korea and china fight South Korea, the US, and United Nations troops

1957 Eisenhower sends troops to little rock, arkansas, to ensure school desegration

I believe that in shirley jacksons writings, a lot had influenced her. One of the major things i think that had influenced her and her writing were the problems that she had with her husband. Her huband had had an affair in the 1960 which would have caused her a great deal of either sadness, grief, or pain. Maybe it was all of these that she had felt. In the story “Cluique”, she had her husband as being mentally disturbed and needing to go to a psychotrist. However, i believe that it may have been herself coming out in her own story. A lot of times, an author will do this just to get his/her story across about what is happening but changes the characters names to make it a story that the readers will not conect to the actual author. I also believe that the world happenings also planned a major role on her writing. While she was alive, a lot of dark things have happened expecailly with the atomic bombs first drop.

Bibliography

public journal 1956 la times vol#2