Published in 2005 (first published 1949)
324 pages
Shirley Jackson was an influential American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years. She has influenced such writers as Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, and Richard Matheson. She is best known for her dystopian short story, “The Lottery” (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America.
What is this book about?
One of the most terrifying stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker in 1948.
“Power and haunting,” and “nights of unrest” were typical reader responses. Today it is considered a classic work of short fiction, a story remarkable for its combination of subtle suspense and pitch-perfect descriptions of both the chilling and the mundane.
The Lottery and Other Stories, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson’s lifetime, unites “The Lottery” with twenty-four equally unusual short stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson’s remarkable range — from the hilarious to the horrible, the unsettling to the ominous — and her power as a storyteller.
I
–The Intoxicated
–The Daemon Lover
–Like Mother Used To Make
–Trial By Combat
–The Villager
–My Life With R. H. Macy
II
–The Witch
–The Renegade
–After You, My Dear Alphonse
–Charles
–Afternoon In Linen
–Flower Garden
–Dorothy And My Grandmother And The Sailors
III
–Colloquy
–Elizabeth
–A Fine Old Firm
–The Dummy
–Seven Types Of Ambiguity
–Come Dance With Me In Ireland
IV
–Of Course
–Pillar Of Salt
–Men With Their Big Shoes
–The Tooth
–Got A Letter From Jimmy
–The Lottery
V
–Epilogue
