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New York, 7:49 PM
Thu Nov 26
42 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/30/09
Also, how much did The Haunting the movie suck in comparison? I loved it because of the actors and all, but completely removing the idea that Eleanor had at least some underlying psychosis made it so namby-pamby. #shirleyjackson
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10/29/09
One of these days I will write my epic screed about how "pretty" female authors such as Edna St. Vincent Millay and Zelda Fitzgerald get full on, in depth biographies whereas Shirley Jackson--who is called a "monster" in the biography because she's overweight--gets a biography that feels like a tabloid slapdash affair.
HARRUMPH. #shirleyjackson
10/30/09
10/29/09
Also, I think the fact that I am filled with creeping dread by almost every one of Shirley Jackson's short story titles is a testament to her power and gift as a writer. See for yourself: [en.wikipedia.org] #shirleyjackson
10/29/09
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10/30/09
I have to read more Shirley Jackson is the awesome moral of this story. #shirleyjackson
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10/29/09
It's unfortunate that "The Lottery" is her best-known story, for it's also one of her least nuanced pieces and isn't representative of the intricacy she was capable of. I've read Hangsaman several times and still don't feel I have a solid grasp on the ending.
I recently reread The Bird's Nest and was wondering if Jackson was plagued by mental illness herself--there are a few scenes that I can't bring myself to believe could have been compellingly written by a sane person. I'll have to read her biography now. Jackson's work is amazing but it must have been hell to live in her head. I wonder if, had she been born a half-century later, we would have been privileged to have her body of work to enjoy or if it would she would have been medicated into sanity by psychopharmacology. It feels almost selfish to take such pleasure in books that were the product of her inner torment.
(I don't really have a central point here, I just can't not comment on a Shirley Jackson post.) #shirleyjackson
10/29/09
Have you read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman? That's another great short story written by a woman, featuring mental illness, an unreliable narrator, and abounding creepiness.
10/29/09
I don't think good literature loses its impact when one knows the ending. I've gone into every Shakespeare play knowing its conclusion (as did his contemporary audience, since none of his stories save The Tempest was original.) They were still awesome. (I guess I don't have any way of knowing how awesome they'd be if I went in cold, though.) #shirleyjackson
10/29/09
That's an excellent point! Now I'm looking forward to reading it even more. #shirleyjackson
10/31/09
11/01/09
(I just pulled it off my shelf, and there was a slip of paper tucked inside that read "Thanks, [cirocco], Susan and Joleen." Now I'm all freaked out! What were Susan and Joleen thanking me for? Reading too much Shirley Jackson makes everything seem ominous.) #shirleyjackson
10/29/09
10/29/09
I've been the head of the community book group for almost 8 years now and I try to convince them every year to read one of her books but no one ever wants to. If they even know who she is, all Jackson is is the woman who 'wrote that creepy short story'.
Thanks for this article! #shirleyjackson
10/29/09
LOL at that cover, though.
Also, I was making a booklist for my mom's church booksale (seriously, I love that she'll sell pretty much anything I rec--Good Omens, His Dark Materials, woot!) and she likes me to compile crib sheets with plot summaries and reviews, and one book was compared to WHALITC, and it made NO sense, other than it was about two sisters. Very bizarre. (The book was The Song Reader, by Lisa Tucker, a fairly lovely little novel, but a totally different genre.) #shirleyjackson
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01/26/09
On a personal note, I thought the Ring was the scariest movie EVAR and I cried like a little girl through most of the Grudge, so maybe I am too wimpy to be talking about horror movies
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01/26/09
Although it depends, I'd say the "strange girls" almost always have an actual personality, a past or history to overcome, and are usually given agency through the narrative when they're the main, arguably heroic character. When they're an ancillary character, or the "enemy" they usually have way less in terms of agency or characterization, and are either victims seeking revenge and hence bad (The Ring) or just victims.
Carrie is an interesting example because she can be read very differently, depending on the film or book version...and even the film has some ambiguity. In the book Carrie is a strange and conflicting mix of sympathetic and irritating. She's victimized in a way that suggests the "hive mind" of mobs...find the weakest and attack. Only she ends up finding some agency, but takes her revenge too far, so she's punished with her eventual death.
To me, the problem is less the archetype and more the lack of exploration of the archetype. Same with stereotypes. You can effectively use any stereotype if you're willing to explore it and use it as a base to be built on. The problem is when the character is only the archetype or stereotype, with no fleshing out.
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01/26/09
Here, the strange girls are somehow presented as powerful through their secrecy and preternatural understanding of the supernatural. Thus, they arise above the "medicority" and "normalcy" most teenage girls (and hell, some adult) fear.
01/26/09
Happened to me finally, two years ago in Downtown LA. Sadly, it was not at all what I dreamed. Mainly, because the bearer of such word was clearly schizophrenic.
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