Shirley Jackson’s novels are eerie literary fiction. She left the best for the last

Scroll.in ^ | 10/29/2017 | Nicholas Rixon

[simpson96]

Literary fiction, the two most depressing words in the English language, leaves very little space for horror. It’s a claustrophobic, dusty attic in a mansion peopled by “serious” writers.

Sure, the holy trinity of Poe, Stoker and Lovecraft is held in high regard, but with the passage of time horror writing stopped being taken seriously. By horror I don’t mean just ghosts and witches, but all that frightens us–loss, deprivation, loneliness, mental instability, self-loathing and personal dissatisfaction.

That’s where the writing of Shirley Jackson makes a powerful case for the kind of horror that doesn’t depend on jump scares. Her last novel before an untimely death, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, plumbs the human psyche to prove that the inner workings of a character’s mind can sometimes be scarier than any ghost you’ve read about.

Widely read in America, Jackson is not as popular in other parts of the world. This could be put down to the fact that she juggled her roles as a mother of four and as a writer with some unease. She hardly gave any interviews, refused to elaborate on the meaning of her fiction, and wanted her work to speak for itself.

Another reason she may have been ignored by the literary canon is that she was instantly pegged as a horror writer. Genres exist to benefit two kinds of people–librarians and booksellers. This genre-lizing further alienated Jackson’s work and she came to be known as a writer who creeped you out and nothing more. As an Associated Press reporter put it, “She writes not with a pen but with a broomstick.” Another critic nicknamed her “Virginia Werewoolf.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Castle reveals the horrifying murder of a family that sits heavy on the survivors and perpetrator.

[JennysCool]

:) ... Shaken AND stirred!

[sam_whiskey]

I’ve always liked the one about a nosy neighbor who lives next to a coven of witches. Think it’s called “Strangers in Town” or something like that.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Concise, atmospheric, just enough but never too much horror. I'm sure that a movie would be just awful.

I have often described "We Have Always Lived..." as unfilmable. What makes it so frightening is not the plot, but the first-person narration-- reading the book like being in telepathic contact with a lunatic.

I have not read "The Haunting of Hill House."

Then buy it or download it now. If you like Jackson at all, you need to read "Haunting." The first paragraph will haunt your sleep.

[Flycatcher]

Literary fiction, the two most depressing words in the English language...

Interesting. That's the only genre I've ever read.

Had no idea that simpletons thought it depressing.

[JennysCool]

A good article on Jackson’s funny stuff:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/books/review/shirley-jacksons-life-among-the-savages-and-raising-demons-reissued.html

[Army Air Corps]

That movie is part of my annual Halloween Line-up.

[Steely Tom]

‘The Haunting of Hill House’ is also a classic - they made it into a movie and it was...BLECH!

It sure scared the living you-know-what out of me, when I watched it late at night on a black-and-white TV back when I was in high school.

Scariest movie I ever saw. Spielberg's Something Evil was number two.

[Will88]

‘The Lottery’ was in my HS literature book way back when. Very unexpected for 11th grade reading.

[Dogbert41]

I watched the Haunting of Hill House as a child when it first came on tv. We had a black and white tv at the time too. So scary. I think I watch it at least once a year. Several years ago, the local Playhouse did a live Halloween show with it. The place was packed, and everyone in the audience new all the lines! It was a fun experience!

We always lived in a castle? I can’t believe I never heard of it! Yahoo! Getting it on Amazon maybe tonight!

[NorthstarMom]

We read The Lottery in, I think, tenth grade. I’m not a fan of being scared (too high strung all the time) and that story left me unsettled for days.

[EliRoom8]

bkmk

[Beowulf9]

Read it. There is no better ghost story.

I read Russ Tamblyn did not really want to do it. I guess he felt he was more for lighter fare. Turned out to be his favorite movie he did.

[JennysCool]

I read that too. He was very good in it.

[henbane]

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone. -- the first paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)

[alexander_busek]

I’ve always liked the one about a nosy neighbor who lives next to a coven of witches. Think it’s called “Strangers in Town” or something like that.

I think you're being unkind to Mrs. Cravitz. She usually "stumbled" into Samantha's antics - not like she was "out" to unmask them.

Regards,

[Jimmy Valentine]

That movie always freaks me out.

[bonfire]

Bfl

[Williams]

Is this a different book and film than “House on Haunted Hill” which was always considered one of the scariest films when I was young.

[Pravious]

Completely different. “House On Haunted Hill” is delightful, over-the-top camp (well, watching it as an adult, anyway). “The Haunting” scared the crap out of me when I was little, curled up around a black and white TV in the basement in the middle of the night - and still unsettles me as an adult, even though I know every word of it. :-)

[stylecouncilor]

Ping