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Paranoia
Un giorno, a metà degli anni Novanta, Laurence Jackson Hyman, il figlio maggiore di Shirley Jackson, apre la porta di casa e – sorpresa – si trova davanti una scatola di cartone senza traccia di mittente. Dentro, immediatamente riconoscibili dai fogli di carta gialla e dai caratteri della sua Royal, una messe di scritti inediti della madre, morta ormai da trent'anni. Da quell'imprevista cornucopia, e dalle successive ricerche nel suo Fondo presso la Biblioteca del Congresso di Washington, scaturirà nel 2015 un libro sorprendente, "Let Me Tell You", definito «un revival di "Ai confini della realtà"». I molti e appassionati lettori di Shirley Jackson – che amava dire di essere una strega – saranno così felici di trovare, nella scelta che qui offriamo, comicissimi sketch familiari, stranianti conferenze sull'arte dello scrivere, nonché alcuni dei racconti più inquietanti che «la maestra di Stephen King» abbia mai scritto. E di provare di nuovo quell'arcano sentimento che proprio lei ci ha fatto conoscere così bene: l'angoscia che si insinua in noi nell'intravedere la presenza del Male.
205 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 2015
About the author
Shirley Jackson
295 books9,747 followersShirley 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. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."
Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years." Hyman insisted the darker aspects of Jackson's works were not, as some critics claimed, the product of "personal, even neurotic, fantasies", but that Jackson intended, as "a sensitive and faithful anatomy of our times, fitting symbols for our distressing world of the concentration camp and the Bomb", to mirror humanity's Cold War-era fears. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work, as revealed by Hyman's statement that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned The Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
In 1965, Jackson died of heart failure in her sleep, at her home in North Bennington Vermont, at the age of 48.
She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."
Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years." Hyman insisted the darker aspects of Jackson's works were not, as some critics claimed, the product of "personal, even neurotic, fantasies", but that Jackson intended, as "a sensitive and faithful anatomy of our times, fitting symbols for our distressing world of the concentration camp and the Bomb", to mirror humanity's Cold War-era fears. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work, as revealed by Hyman's statement that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned The Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
In 1965, Jackson died of heart failure in her sleep, at her home in North Bennington Vermont, at the age of 48.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 525 reviews
March 28, 2019
Let me preface this review by saying that I am a Shirley Jackson mega-fan. I revisit "The Lottery" often to remind myself how a perfect short story is done. Even still it haunts me and dazzles me each time, leaving me reflecting on some current event or aspect of society I hadn't noticed before. Whenever I share the story with others who've never read it, we always have a great discussion afterwards.
But "The Lottery" is only the tip of the Shirley Jackson iceberg. All of her works are masterful, from Hill House to short story fragments. Her characters become dynamic in a few short sentences. Her turns always deliver a surprise. She could write a five-item grocery list and leave the reader shocked by the twist at the end.
So, with that being said, it didn't take much convincing for me to pick up this collection of unpublished stories, essays and other writings. Newer readers of Jackson's works may find the collection somewhat long and wonder if a few snippets of writing really needed to be published, but even they will marvel over the many blockbuster stories in here. "The Man in the Woods" drips with such glorious impending doom that you can't turn away no matter how much you may want to. The essays are immersed in wit, humor and timeless social commentary. Her writing style is so inviting that often the endings are disappointing, but only because the story doesn't go on for hundreds of pages.
OVERALL: Shirley Jackson fans probably won't need me to convince them that more of her unearthed words is worthwhile. She left the world much too soon and any scrap of her legacy is as important to the literary world as would be the discovery of new Edgar Allan Poe stories. The fact that these unpublished works are nearly as fantastic as her published ones showcases her unfathomable talent. If you're new to Shirley, I would advise starting out with the pre-requisites--The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Lottery And Other Stories--but don't stop there. There's so much more.
But "The Lottery" is only the tip of the Shirley Jackson iceberg. All of her works are masterful, from Hill House to short story fragments. Her characters become dynamic in a few short sentences. Her turns always deliver a surprise. She could write a five-item grocery list and leave the reader shocked by the twist at the end.
So, with that being said, it didn't take much convincing for me to pick up this collection of unpublished stories, essays and other writings. Newer readers of Jackson's works may find the collection somewhat long and wonder if a few snippets of writing really needed to be published, but even they will marvel over the many blockbuster stories in here. "The Man in the Woods" drips with such glorious impending doom that you can't turn away no matter how much you may want to. The essays are immersed in wit, humor and timeless social commentary. Her writing style is so inviting that often the endings are disappointing, but only because the story doesn't go on for hundreds of pages.
OVERALL: Shirley Jackson fans probably won't need me to convince them that more of her unearthed words is worthwhile. She left the world much too soon and any scrap of her legacy is as important to the literary world as would be the discovery of new Edgar Allan Poe stories. The fact that these unpublished works are nearly as fantastic as her published ones showcases her unfathomable talent. If you're new to Shirley, I would advise starting out with the pre-requisites--The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Lottery And Other Stories--but don't stop there. There's so much more.
June 23, 2023
shirley jackson, you don't even have to ask
(get it? because the title of this is "let me tell you" but shirley jackson is an auto-buy author for me?)
(okay even i am not proud of this one)
obviously this wasn't the best of shirley jackson, being as it was the Uncollected Stuff, but i so love her writing and her family and her wit, so...
reading this, which was a little bit of every type of thing she ever wrote, plus some wonderfully reread-sparking background on what i have read already, was a damn delight.
bottom line: shirley forever.
3.5
(get it? because the title of this is "let me tell you" but shirley jackson is an auto-buy author for me?)
(okay even i am not proud of this one)
obviously this wasn't the best of shirley jackson, being as it was the Uncollected Stuff, but i so love her writing and her family and her wit, so...
reading this, which was a little bit of every type of thing she ever wrote, plus some wonderfully reread-sparking background on what i have read already, was a damn delight.
bottom line: shirley forever.
3.5
May 5, 2018
Biographical Note
Foreword: "I Think I Know Her" by Ruth Franklin
I
Sudden and Unusual Things Have Happened
Unpublished and Uncollected Short Fiction
--Paranoia
--Still Life with Teapot and Students
--The Arabian Nights
--Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons
--It Isn't the Money I Mind
--Company for Dinner
--I Cannot Sing the Old Songs
--The New Maid
--French Is the Mark of a Lady
--Gaudeamus Igitur
--The Lie
--She Says the Damnedest Things
--Remembrance of Things Past
--Let Me Tell You
--Bulletin
--Family Treasures
--Showdown
--The Trouble with My Husband
--Six A.M. Is the Hour
--Root of Evil
--The Bridge Game
--The Man in the Woods
II
I Would Rather Write Than Do Anything Else
Essays and Reviews
--Autobiographical Musing
--A Garland of Garlands
--Hex Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar
--Clowns
--A Vroom for Dr. Seuss
--Notes on an Unfashionable Novelist
--Private Showing
--Good Old House
--The Play's the Thing
--The Ghosts of Loiret
--"Well?"
III
When This War Is Over
Early Short Stories
--The Sorcerer's Apprentice
--Period Piece
--4-F Party
--The Paradise
--Homecoming
--Daughter, Come Home
--As High as the Sky
--Murder on Miss Lederer's Birthday
IV
Somehow Things Haven't Turned Out Quite the Way We Expected
Humor and Family
--Here I Am, Washing Dishes Again
--In Praise of Dinner Table Silence
--Questions I Wish I'd Never Asked
--Mother, Honestly!
--How to Enjoy a Family Quarrel
--The Pleasures and Perils of Dining Out with Children
--Out of the Mouths of Babes
--The Real Me
--On Girls of Thirteen
--What I Want to Know Is, What Do Other People Cook With?
V
I'd Like to See You Get Out of That Sentence
Lectures About the Craft of Writing
--About the End of the World
--Memory and Delusion
--On Fans and Fan Mail
--How I Write
--Garlic in Fiction
Afterword, by Laurence Jackson Hyman & Sarah Hyman DeWitt
Acknowledgments
Foreword: "I Think I Know Her" by Ruth Franklin
I
Sudden and Unusual Things Have Happened
Unpublished and Uncollected Short Fiction
--Paranoia
--Still Life with Teapot and Students
--The Arabian Nights
--Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons
--It Isn't the Money I Mind
--Company for Dinner
--I Cannot Sing the Old Songs
--The New Maid
--French Is the Mark of a Lady
--Gaudeamus Igitur
--The Lie
--She Says the Damnedest Things
--Remembrance of Things Past
--Let Me Tell You
--Bulletin
--Family Treasures
--Showdown
--The Trouble with My Husband
--Six A.M. Is the Hour
--Root of Evil
--The Bridge Game
--The Man in the Woods
II
I Would Rather Write Than Do Anything Else
Essays and Reviews
--Autobiographical Musing
--A Garland of Garlands
--Hex Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar
--Clowns
--A Vroom for Dr. Seuss
--Notes on an Unfashionable Novelist
--Private Showing
--Good Old House
--The Play's the Thing
--The Ghosts of Loiret
--"Well?"
III
When This War Is Over
Early Short Stories
--The Sorcerer's Apprentice
--Period Piece
--4-F Party
--The Paradise
--Homecoming
--Daughter, Come Home
--As High as the Sky
--Murder on Miss Lederer's Birthday
IV
Somehow Things Haven't Turned Out Quite the Way We Expected
Humor and Family
--Here I Am, Washing Dishes Again
--In Praise of Dinner Table Silence
--Questions I Wish I'd Never Asked
--Mother, Honestly!
--How to Enjoy a Family Quarrel
--The Pleasures and Perils of Dining Out with Children
--Out of the Mouths of Babes
--The Real Me
--On Girls of Thirteen
--What I Want to Know Is, What Do Other People Cook With?
V
I'd Like to See You Get Out of That Sentence
Lectures About the Craft of Writing
--About the End of the World
--Memory and Delusion
--On Fans and Fan Mail
--How I Write
--Garlic in Fiction
Afterword, by Laurence Jackson Hyman & Sarah Hyman DeWitt
Acknowledgments
September 18, 2017
Jan. 9, 2017
I couldn’t have articulated it at the time, but reading Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” in eleventh grade ignited in me the realization that fiction can express what everybody really is but is valiantly pretending not to be. I’ve never been the same.
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings is filled with pieces that expose us. They are of their time and a certain culture—the domestic lives of educated and/or well-heeled people in the 1950s and early ’60s—but they are just as alive today as they were when they were so expertly written.
Like The Stories of John Cheever , I think it might be best to own this volume rather than read an ebook from the library, as I’ve been doing. It’s a book that demands slow imbibing and digestion—maybe over the course of months. In fact, it feels almost like a sister book to Cheever’s collection. Perhaps I’ll buy it.
Well, hot diggity, I did just that—my own review prompted me to shell out for a hard copy.
Oh, my aching sheetrock!
I’ll continue on the blasted ebook until it arrives and, since I will no doubt spend 2017 slowly imbibing, I’ll just cut to the chase and give it 5 stars now.
Update, 5/2/17: After four months of reading a bit here and there, I’ve just finished this wonderful anthology. Not all the pieces are great or even finished. Some seem more like exercises than finished stories, but there are some gems—particularly among the first section of unpublished and uncollected short stories, and most particularly a story called “Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons.” I’m glad this archive exists. This is a book for people who love Shirley Jackson’s work and want to experience more of her writing process.
Update 9/18/17: This is a bit silly, but I find myself wanting to defend Shirley Jackson every time I read a reference to the movie Groundhog Day. I just read another one, so here it goes: she got there first with her short story "Showdown," published in this posthumous collection. And I just discovered it is available online. Enjoy.
I couldn’t have articulated it at the time, but reading Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” in eleventh grade ignited in me the realization that fiction can express what everybody really is but is valiantly pretending not to be. I’ve never been the same.
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings is filled with pieces that expose us. They are of their time and a certain culture—the domestic lives of educated and/or well-heeled people in the 1950s and early ’60s—but they are just as alive today as they were when they were so expertly written.
Like The Stories of John Cheever , I think it might be best to own this volume rather than read an ebook from the library, as I’ve been doing. It’s a book that demands slow imbibing and digestion—maybe over the course of months. In fact, it feels almost like a sister book to Cheever’s collection. Perhaps I’ll buy it.
Well, hot diggity, I did just that—my own review prompted me to shell out for a hard copy.
Oh, my aching sheetrock!
I’ll continue on the blasted ebook until it arrives and, since I will no doubt spend 2017 slowly imbibing, I’ll just cut to the chase and give it 5 stars now.
Update, 5/2/17: After four months of reading a bit here and there, I’ve just finished this wonderful anthology. Not all the pieces are great or even finished. Some seem more like exercises than finished stories, but there are some gems—particularly among the first section of unpublished and uncollected short stories, and most particularly a story called “Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons.” I’m glad this archive exists. This is a book for people who love Shirley Jackson’s work and want to experience more of her writing process.
Update 9/18/17: This is a bit silly, but I find myself wanting to defend Shirley Jackson every time I read a reference to the movie Groundhog Day. I just read another one, so here it goes: she got there first with her short story "Showdown," published in this posthumous collection. And I just discovered it is available online. Enjoy.
September 14, 2015
Fiction:
Paranoia -
On his way home to give his wife a birthday gift, a man develops the disturbing suspicion that he's being followed... Remember what they say about paranoia: sometimes they are actually out to get you.
Still Life With Teapot and Students -
A faculty wife confronts two of her husband's students, revealing a disturbing dynamic.
The Arabian Nights -
When Clark Gable arrives at the nightclub where a girl is celebrating her twelfth birthday with her family, the invisible flaws in her parents' relationship are revealed. The story also captures one of the most annoying aspects of being a child.
Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons -
An Extremely Put-Upon housewife paints herself into a miserable corner, with her insistence on self-martyrdom and the inflexibility of her judgments.
The title, of course, refers both to Spenser's allegorical 'Faerie Queen' and the contrast with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' In the allegory here, the whole town is whisked off to a 'fairyland' of life and fun, which Mrs. Spencer, through her own doing, is unable to enter.
It Isn't the Money I Mind -
This one has a very authentic feel to it - I wouldn't be surprised is Jackson encountered someone very similar to the man in this story, who feels the need to tell a stranger a story about his little girl. I saw the 'twist' coming, though... maybe 'cause I've encountered too many peculiar people like this in my time.
Company For Dinner -
Ooh, I loved this one. Commentary on 'interchangeable' and uniform society, similar to that one terrifying scene in 'A Wrinkle in Time' or 'Stepford Wives.'
I Cannot Sing the Old Songs -
This captures the dynamic of an argument between an adult daughter and her judgmental parents perfectly, but it feels more like a fragment or an exercise than a completed story, to me.
The New Maid -
Mary Poppins-like, the new maid does some deft social engineering in the lives of one family.
French is the Mark of a Lady -
Arriving to visit an old friend, a woman encounters the friend's precocious young daughter, and has a somewhat peculiar conversation.
Gaudeamus Igitur -
Another piece that feels like a possibly-autobiographical fragment. After graduating college, the narrator visits a former sorority sister who married one of their professors. The dynamics are strained.
The title refers to a "graduation hymn," about enjoying life while one is young, because the joys of youth don't last forever.
The Lie -
Pinpointing a lie she told in high school as the fulcrum on which her life turned and all started to go bad, a woman goes back to her hometown to find the girl she wronged and "put it right." It's hardly a spoiler to say that her logic may have been flawed.
She Says the Damnedest Things -
I would've put this one in the 'humor' section! A super-short piece wryly noting how people's perceptions of others differ.
It reminded me of a story my mom told me recently. At her gallery opening, where my mother was showing some close-up nature photography, an elderly woman came up to her and said, "Oh, these are so beautiful! Where on earth did you take these?" When my mom told her they were all taken locally, at a certain location, the woman said, "Oh really? I was there not too long ago. There was some crazy lady taking pictures of the rocks!" "I think that may have been me."
Remembrance of Things Past -
Another send-up of 'traditional' relationships, in this vignette featuring a man who forgets his wife's name.
Let Me Tell You -
Unfinished story. The 'adventures' of two spoiled rich girls who make a game out of being nasty.
Bulletin -
Fragments of 'papers' sent back from the 22nd century by an academic time-travel expedition. A wry commentary on the significance and value we place on random information.
Family Treasures -
There's a kleptomaniac in the girls' dormitory...
Showdown -
Golly gee, but something weird is going on in the town of Mansfield, on one fine June day of 1932.
The Trouble With My Husband -
During a visit, the drunken wife of a successful artist makes things decidedly uncomfortable, with her unasked-for confidences.
Six AM Is the Hour -
Gambling with the gods is probably a really bad idea, as we learn in this tale. A nice feeling of imminent apocalypse.
Root of Evil -
What would you think if you saw an ad offering 'free money'? Would you bother to respond, or assume it was some kind of scam?
Reminds me of that video that's been going around the Internet where people are offered their choice: candy bar or silver bar.
The Bridge Game -
One middle-aged couple, visiting another, brings their college-aged daughter, uninvited. Another exploration of social dynamics.
The Man In The Woods -
Surreal fantasy of a young man, following a strange compulsion, who wanders into the woods, and, accompanied by a cat, stumbles (or is drawn) into a strange and ancient ritual. Beautifully resonant.
Essays:
Autobiographical Musing -
"I loathe writing autobiographical material because if it's dull no one should have to read it anyway, and if it's interesting I should be using it for a story." Nonetheless, Jackson does a small bit of it here.
A Garland of Garlands -
Hilarious, and only slightly show-off-y complaint about the heartrending tribulations of being married to an invidious book critic.
Hex Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar -
Jackson acquired a copy of this 1820 book of folk remedies, and apparently, was tickled pink. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...]
Clowns -
Musing on the appeal of clowns. Strangely, the piece doesn't consider the fact that many people don't like clowns.
A Vroom for Dr. Seuss -
An appreciation of Dr. Seuss, whom Jackson sees as a bright spot in a sea of pablum intended for children.
Notes on an Unfashionable Novelist -
In which Jackson explains her appreciation for the 18th-century author Samuel Richardson, and fails to convince me that I should share that appreciation.
Private Showing -
The author's reaction to seeing her work translated to the 'big screen.'
Good Old House -
This one's in the 'essays' section, but I'm going to take it as fiction, seeing as it's a haunted house/ghostly visitation story. True or not, however, it's beautifully charming. And exactly how I'd feel about it, if I lived in a haunted house.
The Play's the Thing -
Jackson speaks about the experience of writing a play for her children, ('The Bad Children') and how the project 'got away from her,' in a way.
The Ghosts of Loiret -
Another piece that meshes autobiography and ghostly happenings in a seamless and simply delightful way. I wish I had that collection of picture-postcards...
Well? -
A brief interaction, not very memorable.
Early Stories:
The Sorcerer's Apprentice -
A schoolteacher is visited by an unbelievably bratty neighbor child, and doesn't handle the situation at all well.
Period Piece -
Wealth has allowed one very disturbed woman to perfect the art of avoidance, refusing to engage with or even think about anything even mildly unpleasant - let alone important issues.
4-F Party -
After the draft, 8 women to one man are left at 'home.' Unfortunately, the 'one man' here is a tone-deaf, insensitive jerk.
The Paradise -
A young soldier, on home on furlough, finds his equally young wife at a bar with another man. The piece does an excellent job of drawing a complex relationship in just a few pages, but my main takeaway is that absolutely no one should be married at 17.
Homecoming -
The mundane tasks of preparing for a soldier husband's return after a long absence are the bulk of this piece - but the undercurrent of unsure nervousness is exquisitely done.
Daughter, Come Home -
Rather a sad scene, in which a drunk, elderly man approaches two young women drinking in a bar. What he has to say to them isn't quite what they expect.
As High As the Sky -
Another piece describing the toll that war can take on normal family relationships, as a father returns to meet his family, including the child who's only ever seen his photograph.
Murder on Miss Lederer's Birthday -
Two middle-aged roommates have an edifying birthday afternoon planned, with a visit to a museum, and the theatre. However, they get sidetracked by coffee, and the tabloid newspapers. Quite a funny commentary on human nature.
Humor:
Here I am, Washing Dishes Again -
I like my kitchen and all, but I don't like it quite as much as Shirley Jackson liked hers. And I've never anthropomorphized my kitchen implements to quite this degree, or missed my sink while away from home. I still enjoyed this, though!
In Praise of Dinner Table Silence -
This one reminded me how very glad I am that I have chosen not to have children. That's not quite what the author wanted the reader to take away, but there you have it.
Questions I Wish I'd Never Asked -
More on the trials and tribulations of dealing with a family full of children who are all up to inexplicable activities.
Mother, Honestly! -
Here, the specific tribulations of having a 12-year-old daughter are addressed.
How to Enjoy a Family Quarrel -
God, I hate family life! A humorous look at typical arguments, the likes of which would make me bash my head into a wall, not laugh.
The Pleasures and Perils of Dining Out with Children -
I agree, children should probably only be taken out to restaurants if the house has burned down or a helicopter has crashed.
Out of the Mouths of Babes -
On 'the crazy things kids say', and gossip.
The Real Me -
A brief authorial autobiography - written as if the author is secretly a witch.
On Girls of 13 -
Earlier, we heard about the problems with having a 12-year-old daughter. Things don't get any better when they turn 13, apparently.
What I Want to Know is, What Do Other People Cook With? -
Do you cook with a four-tined 5-inch long fork? I don't, and have never seen such an item (it's not a table fork). Jackson would not be surprised by my mystification, but this implement was very important to her.
Lectures on Writing:
About the End of the World -
Memory of Delusion -
On Fans and Fan Mail -
How I Write -
Garlic in Fiction -
As the section title states, these are 5 brief pieces by Jackson on her writing, covering her mental processes, technical aspects, inspirations and practicalities. The reader finishes the book feeling that we know Shirley Jackson quite well...
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me insight into the more obscure writings of this justifiably acclaimed author. As alwasy, my opinions are solely my own.
Paranoia -
On his way home to give his wife a birthday gift, a man develops the disturbing suspicion that he's being followed... Remember what they say about paranoia: sometimes they are actually out to get you.
Still Life With Teapot and Students -
A faculty wife confronts two of her husband's students, revealing a disturbing dynamic.
The Arabian Nights -
When Clark Gable arrives at the nightclub where a girl is celebrating her twelfth birthday with her family, the invisible flaws in her parents' relationship are revealed. The story also captures one of the most annoying aspects of being a child.
Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons -
An Extremely Put-Upon housewife paints herself into a miserable corner, with her insistence on self-martyrdom and the inflexibility of her judgments.
The title, of course, refers both to Spenser's allegorical 'Faerie Queen' and the contrast with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' In the allegory here, the whole town is whisked off to a 'fairyland' of life and fun, which Mrs. Spencer, through her own doing, is unable to enter.
It Isn't the Money I Mind -
This one has a very authentic feel to it - I wouldn't be surprised is Jackson encountered someone very similar to the man in this story, who feels the need to tell a stranger a story about his little girl. I saw the 'twist' coming, though... maybe 'cause I've encountered too many peculiar people like this in my time.
Company For Dinner -
Ooh, I loved this one. Commentary on 'interchangeable' and uniform society, similar to that one terrifying scene in 'A Wrinkle in Time' or 'Stepford Wives.'
I Cannot Sing the Old Songs -
This captures the dynamic of an argument between an adult daughter and her judgmental parents perfectly, but it feels more like a fragment or an exercise than a completed story, to me.
The New Maid -
Mary Poppins-like, the new maid does some deft social engineering in the lives of one family.
French is the Mark of a Lady -
Arriving to visit an old friend, a woman encounters the friend's precocious young daughter, and has a somewhat peculiar conversation.
Gaudeamus Igitur -
Another piece that feels like a possibly-autobiographical fragment. After graduating college, the narrator visits a former sorority sister who married one of their professors. The dynamics are strained.
The title refers to a "graduation hymn," about enjoying life while one is young, because the joys of youth don't last forever.
The Lie -
Pinpointing a lie she told in high school as the fulcrum on which her life turned and all started to go bad, a woman goes back to her hometown to find the girl she wronged and "put it right." It's hardly a spoiler to say that her logic may have been flawed.
She Says the Damnedest Things -
I would've put this one in the 'humor' section! A super-short piece wryly noting how people's perceptions of others differ.
It reminded me of a story my mom told me recently. At her gallery opening, where my mother was showing some close-up nature photography, an elderly woman came up to her and said, "Oh, these are so beautiful! Where on earth did you take these?" When my mom told her they were all taken locally, at a certain location, the woman said, "Oh really? I was there not too long ago. There was some crazy lady taking pictures of the rocks!" "I think that may have been me."
Remembrance of Things Past -
Another send-up of 'traditional' relationships, in this vignette featuring a man who forgets his wife's name.
Let Me Tell You -
Unfinished story. The 'adventures' of two spoiled rich girls who make a game out of being nasty.
Bulletin -
Fragments of 'papers' sent back from the 22nd century by an academic time-travel expedition. A wry commentary on the significance and value we place on random information.
Family Treasures -
There's a kleptomaniac in the girls' dormitory...
Showdown -
Golly gee, but something weird is going on in the town of Mansfield, on one fine June day of 1932.
The Trouble With My Husband -
During a visit, the drunken wife of a successful artist makes things decidedly uncomfortable, with her unasked-for confidences.
Six AM Is the Hour -
Gambling with the gods is probably a really bad idea, as we learn in this tale. A nice feeling of imminent apocalypse.
Root of Evil -
What would you think if you saw an ad offering 'free money'? Would you bother to respond, or assume it was some kind of scam?
Reminds me of that video that's been going around the Internet where people are offered their choice: candy bar or silver bar.
The Bridge Game -
One middle-aged couple, visiting another, brings their college-aged daughter, uninvited. Another exploration of social dynamics.
The Man In The Woods -
Surreal fantasy of a young man, following a strange compulsion, who wanders into the woods, and, accompanied by a cat, stumbles (or is drawn) into a strange and ancient ritual. Beautifully resonant.
Essays:
Autobiographical Musing -
"I loathe writing autobiographical material because if it's dull no one should have to read it anyway, and if it's interesting I should be using it for a story." Nonetheless, Jackson does a small bit of it here.
A Garland of Garlands -
Hilarious, and only slightly show-off-y complaint about the heartrending tribulations of being married to an invidious book critic.
Hex Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar -
Jackson acquired a copy of this 1820 book of folk remedies, and apparently, was tickled pink. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...]
Clowns -
Musing on the appeal of clowns. Strangely, the piece doesn't consider the fact that many people don't like clowns.
A Vroom for Dr. Seuss -
An appreciation of Dr. Seuss, whom Jackson sees as a bright spot in a sea of pablum intended for children.
Notes on an Unfashionable Novelist -
In which Jackson explains her appreciation for the 18th-century author Samuel Richardson, and fails to convince me that I should share that appreciation.
Private Showing -
The author's reaction to seeing her work translated to the 'big screen.'
Good Old House -
This one's in the 'essays' section, but I'm going to take it as fiction, seeing as it's a haunted house/ghostly visitation story. True or not, however, it's beautifully charming. And exactly how I'd feel about it, if I lived in a haunted house.
The Play's the Thing -
Jackson speaks about the experience of writing a play for her children, ('The Bad Children') and how the project 'got away from her,' in a way.
The Ghosts of Loiret -
Another piece that meshes autobiography and ghostly happenings in a seamless and simply delightful way. I wish I had that collection of picture-postcards...
Well? -
A brief interaction, not very memorable.
Early Stories:
The Sorcerer's Apprentice -
A schoolteacher is visited by an unbelievably bratty neighbor child, and doesn't handle the situation at all well.
Period Piece -
Wealth has allowed one very disturbed woman to perfect the art of avoidance, refusing to engage with or even think about anything even mildly unpleasant - let alone important issues.
4-F Party -
After the draft, 8 women to one man are left at 'home.' Unfortunately, the 'one man' here is a tone-deaf, insensitive jerk.
The Paradise -
A young soldier, on home on furlough, finds his equally young wife at a bar with another man. The piece does an excellent job of drawing a complex relationship in just a few pages, but my main takeaway is that absolutely no one should be married at 17.
Homecoming -
The mundane tasks of preparing for a soldier husband's return after a long absence are the bulk of this piece - but the undercurrent of unsure nervousness is exquisitely done.
Daughter, Come Home -
Rather a sad scene, in which a drunk, elderly man approaches two young women drinking in a bar. What he has to say to them isn't quite what they expect.
As High As the Sky -
Another piece describing the toll that war can take on normal family relationships, as a father returns to meet his family, including the child who's only ever seen his photograph.
Murder on Miss Lederer's Birthday -
Two middle-aged roommates have an edifying birthday afternoon planned, with a visit to a museum, and the theatre. However, they get sidetracked by coffee, and the tabloid newspapers. Quite a funny commentary on human nature.
Humor:
Here I am, Washing Dishes Again -
I like my kitchen and all, but I don't like it quite as much as Shirley Jackson liked hers. And I've never anthropomorphized my kitchen implements to quite this degree, or missed my sink while away from home. I still enjoyed this, though!
In Praise of Dinner Table Silence -
This one reminded me how very glad I am that I have chosen not to have children. That's not quite what the author wanted the reader to take away, but there you have it.
Questions I Wish I'd Never Asked -
More on the trials and tribulations of dealing with a family full of children who are all up to inexplicable activities.
Mother, Honestly! -
Here, the specific tribulations of having a 12-year-old daughter are addressed.
How to Enjoy a Family Quarrel -
God, I hate family life! A humorous look at typical arguments, the likes of which would make me bash my head into a wall, not laugh.
The Pleasures and Perils of Dining Out with Children -
I agree, children should probably only be taken out to restaurants if the house has burned down or a helicopter has crashed.
Out of the Mouths of Babes -
On 'the crazy things kids say', and gossip.
The Real Me -
A brief authorial autobiography - written as if the author is secretly a witch.
On Girls of 13 -
Earlier, we heard about the problems with having a 12-year-old daughter. Things don't get any better when they turn 13, apparently.
What I Want to Know is, What Do Other People Cook With? -
Do you cook with a four-tined 5-inch long fork? I don't, and have never seen such an item (it's not a table fork). Jackson would not be surprised by my mystification, but this implement was very important to her.
Lectures on Writing:
About the End of the World -
Memory of Delusion -
On Fans and Fan Mail -
How I Write -
Garlic in Fiction -
As the section title states, these are 5 brief pieces by Jackson on her writing, covering her mental processes, technical aspects, inspirations and practicalities. The reader finishes the book feeling that we know Shirley Jackson quite well...
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me insight into the more obscure writings of this justifiably acclaimed author. As alwasy, my opinions are solely my own.
September 26, 2019
After they’d published Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories (1997), two of Shirley Jackson’s children couldn’t forget certain short stories that didn’t make it into the collection and returned to the Library of Congress archives for another round. Besides choosing more of Jackson’s previously unpublished and/or uncollected short fiction, this time they included nonfiction: essays; reviews; humorous pieces about herself, her family, and her community; and, perhaps best of all, “lectures on the craft of writing,” which provide fascinating accounts of her process.
Their new volume has intensified my love and admiration for Jackson as a writer and person: her range of styles; her abhorrence of conformity; how she carved out writing time for herself despite raising those “demons”; the humor that must’ve helped to carry her through her days, and the imagination that certainly did.
Iguess know I’m obsessive, so if her family wants to select even more of her writings for publication, I’ll read all of them. What her children already have chosen proves the value of a family not throwing away any of a writer’s drafts, especially with someone like Jackson, who likely expected to publish some of the work inside these pages before her death, which was untimely and at the age of forty-eight.
As lagniappe, and thanks to another of Jackson’s sons, illustrations she’d drawn for the amusement of her husband (and for herself most of all, I think) are featured at the start and end of each section. This edition even has its own ribbon bookmark.
If you'd like to read one of the stories included in this book, here's one of my favorites, as it shows how deeply Jackson had assimilated myths, this one à la The Hero With a Thousand Faces: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
And here is my favorite of her pieces on the act of writing: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...
Their new volume has intensified my love and admiration for Jackson as a writer and person: her range of styles; her abhorrence of conformity; how she carved out writing time for herself despite raising those “demons”; the humor that must’ve helped to carry her through her days, and the imagination that certainly did.
I
As lagniappe, and thanks to another of Jackson’s sons, illustrations she’d drawn for the amusement of her husband (and for herself most of all, I think) are featured at the start and end of each section. This edition even has its own ribbon bookmark.
If you'd like to read one of the stories included in this book, here's one of my favorites, as it shows how deeply Jackson had assimilated myths, this one à la The Hero With a Thousand Faces: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
And here is my favorite of her pieces on the act of writing: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...
March 4, 2023
I so enjoyed this. It was my bedtime reading for a few weeks.
I adore the "real" Shirley Jackson, the one who writes about her family and life in Vermont. She has a wicked humor, tells the truth about family life, good and bad. Other than her two memoirs about raising her 4 kids, "Life Among the Savages" and " Raising Demons", she wrote for magazines and literary journals. Her intelligence comes through loud and clear as well.
Some of her early short stories are included, all previously unpublished. I'm not a horror reader, so have only read one of her novels, "The Sun Dial". It was more farce than humor. I saw the movie of "The Haunting of Hill House", so there's no way I'll ever read that one. These stories were not horror, just delightfully odd.
This collection was edited by 2 of her children, who appear as their younger selves in her memoirs. They have also edited a collection of her letters, which is on my bedside table right now. If you're a Shirley Jackson fan, this is a must. If not, this book will make you one.
I adore the "real" Shirley Jackson, the one who writes about her family and life in Vermont. She has a wicked humor, tells the truth about family life, good and bad. Other than her two memoirs about raising her 4 kids, "Life Among the Savages" and " Raising Demons", she wrote for magazines and literary journals. Her intelligence comes through loud and clear as well.
Some of her early short stories are included, all previously unpublished. I'm not a horror reader, so have only read one of her novels, "The Sun Dial". It was more farce than humor. I saw the movie of "The Haunting of Hill House", so there's no way I'll ever read that one. These stories were not horror, just delightfully odd.
This collection was edited by 2 of her children, who appear as their younger selves in her memoirs. They have also edited a collection of her letters, which is on my bedside table right now. If you're a Shirley Jackson fan, this is a must. If not, this book will make you one.
December 18, 2021
I'm not going to review this (Paranoia)...I find the reviews of this story more interesting than the reading experience (although I enjoyed). Whenever I read a review of something written by Shirley Jackson I find that most of her social and political commentary went right over my head. So why the five stars? Because of everything I learned in the reviews (LOL)!
12/18/2021 - GR moved my review of Paranoia to this book which I never read...The story, Paranoia, (not the reviews) which I read in the New Yorker, can be found here
12/18/2021 - GR moved my review of Paranoia to this book which I never read...The story, Paranoia, (not the reviews) which I read in the New Yorker, can be found here
October 22, 2018
Ma partiamo dalla fine, dalla postfazione scritta dai figli di Shirley Jackson .."abbiamo avuto modo di apprezzare più e pi�� volte la sua bravura: l’uso esperto dele ripetizioni, la nuda semplicità del linguaggio descrittivo che è una delle sue principali caratteristiche....a volte ci sembrava che Shirley si annidasse fra le pagine, con il volto di nostra madre o di un’imprevedibile sconosciuta.".
È esattamente questa la sensazione che si ha leggendo Paranoia, c’è Shirley nascosta fra le pagine, dai quattro racconti (adesso ve ne parlo) ai pezzi più personali in cui prende in giro il marito, maledice i vicini o ci presenta le manie dei suoi figli. Uuna donna ironica, cinica...diversa, che dopo una giornata passata a lavare piatti e ad accompagnare i figli a scuola si sedeva davanti alla macchina da scrivere e riusciva a dare vita alle paure più ancestrali degli uomini, incarnando nei suoi personaggi i lati nascosti ed oscuri dell’esistenza.
I racconti contenuti all’interno del libro non sono gotici, ne horror, ma possono essere ed effettivamente risultano ben più spaventosi, perché mettono di fronte il lettore ad istanze personali, chiamiamole inconscie, verità, timori, che le pagine riescono a scoprire e a smascherare. Sottilmente psicologici, i racconti sono ricchi di “profondità e immaginazione”, metafore, attraverso le quali ci spogliamo dalle paure, le guardiamo dritte negli occhi e chissà, magari riusciamo a passare oltre, non parlo solo di questo libro, ma di tutto quello che ha scritto Shirley Jackson. Non fatevela scappare, non fatevi scappare uno solo dei suoi libri.
È esattamente questa la sensazione che si ha leggendo Paranoia, c’è Shirley nascosta fra le pagine, dai quattro racconti (adesso ve ne parlo) ai pezzi più personali in cui prende in giro il marito, maledice i vicini o ci presenta le manie dei suoi figli. Uuna donna ironica, cinica...diversa, che dopo una giornata passata a lavare piatti e ad accompagnare i figli a scuola si sedeva davanti alla macchina da scrivere e riusciva a dare vita alle paure più ancestrali degli uomini, incarnando nei suoi personaggi i lati nascosti ed oscuri dell’esistenza.
I racconti contenuti all’interno del libro non sono gotici, ne horror, ma possono essere ed effettivamente risultano ben più spaventosi, perché mettono di fronte il lettore ad istanze personali, chiamiamole inconscie, verità, timori, che le pagine riescono a scoprire e a smascherare. Sottilmente psicologici, i racconti sono ricchi di “profondità e immaginazione”, metafore, attraverso le quali ci spogliamo dalle paure, le guardiamo dritte negli occhi e chissà, magari riusciamo a passare oltre, non parlo solo di questo libro, ma di tutto quello che ha scritto Shirley Jackson. Non fatevela scappare, non fatevi scappare uno solo dei suoi libri.
February 5, 2017
What a fantastic collection of previously unpublished and uncollected stories from Shirley Jackson! In 2011, Jackson's son Laurence and daughter Sarah visited their Mom's collection at the Library of Congress and spent months assembling and editing the stories included in this book. Many were stories that they remember their Mom writing and discussing with their father when they were still kids. Sadly, Jackson passed away at age 48 in 1965, cutting short what would most likely have been continued success of her prolific writing career.
You may recognize Jackson from her most popular stories "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Lottery". Her stories often incorporate elements of psychological suspense, the supernatural and the fantastic, all under the guise of a seemingly normal person or situation. Her stories are also humorous and reveal an acute understanding of the human psyche. Included with her several novels and countless short stories are two memoirs she wrote about her family, which included her husband (a literary critic) and her four children.
"Let Me Tell You" is divided into sections which include her short stories, essays and reviews, humor and family and finally lectures about the craft of writing. I was especially delighted to read her personal essays which find Jackson just as charming and twisted in real life as her fictional stories. This is a woman who wrote a musical for her children to perform (at their request) based on Hansel and Gretel where the witch is the sympathetic character with the children being the monsters that ate her house, even after she begged them to leave. She also kept an Egyptian scarab, crystal ball, tarot cards and skull laying around her house. She cherished and respected the classics and lauded Dr. Suess for introducing children to reading "for the sheer joy of it". I believe you'll find all of these qualities in her writing.
If you have not read Jackson before, I would recommend the Library of America edition of Jackson's work to begin with. This includes her most famous writings and numerous and varied short stories. "Let Me Tell You" is a great companion to her other works and a wonderful read!
You may recognize Jackson from her most popular stories "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Lottery". Her stories often incorporate elements of psychological suspense, the supernatural and the fantastic, all under the guise of a seemingly normal person or situation. Her stories are also humorous and reveal an acute understanding of the human psyche. Included with her several novels and countless short stories are two memoirs she wrote about her family, which included her husband (a literary critic) and her four children.
"Let Me Tell You" is divided into sections which include her short stories, essays and reviews, humor and family and finally lectures about the craft of writing. I was especially delighted to read her personal essays which find Jackson just as charming and twisted in real life as her fictional stories. This is a woman who wrote a musical for her children to perform (at their request) based on Hansel and Gretel where the witch is the sympathetic character with the children being the monsters that ate her house, even after she begged them to leave. She also kept an Egyptian scarab, crystal ball, tarot cards and skull laying around her house. She cherished and respected the classics and lauded Dr. Suess for introducing children to reading "for the sheer joy of it". I believe you'll find all of these qualities in her writing.
If you have not read Jackson before, I would recommend the Library of America edition of Jackson's work to begin with. This includes her most famous writings and numerous and varied short stories. "Let Me Tell You" is a great companion to her other works and a wonderful read!
February 22, 2016
Easily 5 Stars!!
More to come shortly, but for now....I love this book so much that I pre-ordered a finished copy pretty much as soon as I received the ARC from Tue Goodreads First Reads Program. I've been sick and mostly offline for awhile. Will be reviews asap, but I will say that I recommend this book highly! It's Shirley Jackson!, It's "Twilight Zone" meets "Hitchcock" and awesome!! Seriously, this is a treasure. I am so blessed and thankful to have had the chance to read it! That cannot be expressed enough.
Thank you very much for the amazing book Goodreads & Random House!!
More to come shortly, but for now....I love this book so much that I pre-ordered a finished copy pretty much as soon as I received the ARC from Tue Goodreads First Reads Program. I've been sick and mostly offline for awhile. Will be reviews asap, but I will say that I recommend this book highly! It's Shirley Jackson!, It's "Twilight Zone" meets "Hitchcock" and awesome!! Seriously, this is a treasure. I am so blessed and thankful to have had the chance to read it! That cannot be expressed enough.
Thank you very much for the amazing book Goodreads & Random House!!
January 17, 2015
Some of these stories are very Twilight Zone-esque, in such a good way. The subtext between the words is as important as the characters and the dialogue. Some things I wished she had made into actual novels, not short stories, because they were so intriguing (like 6 A.M. Is The Hour). I keep reminding myself that she died in 1965, her stories are timeless but also timely, it's a delightful paradox.
I really liked this collection - not everything was amazing, but most of it was so engaging, and I loved the personal essays. Makes me want to read everything Shirley ever wrote.
I really liked this collection - not everything was amazing, but most of it was so engaging, and I loved the personal essays. Makes me want to read everything Shirley ever wrote.
May 13, 2018
Me faltan estrellas y palabras para hablar de este libro o de cualquiera de Shirley Jackson. Todo lo que ha salido de su pluma es una joya. En este libro recopilatorio de relatos y ensayos no publicados vemos otra cara de la autora. A pesar de ser un must creo que es un libro que se disfruta más si ya se conoce la obra de Jackson (cualquier obra da igual todas son brutales). No puedo decir qué cuentos o ensayos han sido mis favoritos porque no exagero si digo que todos. Tenemos mucha suerte de que cada vez tengamos más cosas en castellano de esta escritora faraónica. En serio no tengo palabras suficientes para referirme a ella y a su trabajo. Léanla.
March 19, 2023
This is a collection of fifty-some stories and essays by Jackson, most of which were unpublished or previously uncollected. Jackson was one of the greats of American literature, and while none of the pieces in this book rival The Lottery or The Haunting of Hill House, it's still a good and involving read. The book is broken into five categories (though many of the individual items would fit just as comfortably into one as another): short fiction, essays and reviews, early short stories, humor and family, and lectures about writing. The essays, for the most part, are similar in style and theme to her two autobiographical books, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons, and give a fascinating portrayal of 1950's idealized American lifestyle in addition to being amusing and entertaining. Some of the stories are really gripping, such as the mythic The Man in the Woods, and some seemed vague and incomplete as if they were trying too hard to be of high literary merit. For example, one of the best-known ones included here, Family Treasures (which was nominated for an Edgar Award), is about a girl at college who steals things from her housemates after her mother dies and then she leaves. It went completely over my head, and I got nothing from it. Many of the early ones are set during WWII and seem particularly bleak. It's a very thought-provoking and worthwhile book.
March 13, 2021
La mia situazione è particolarmente toccante. Forse non triste come quella di un orfanello condannato a spazzare camini, ma quasi più triste di ogni altra cosa. Sono una scrittrice che, a causa di una serie di ingenui e inconsapevoli errori di giudizio, si ritrova con quattro figli e un marito, una casa di diciotto stanze senza una domestica, due alani, quattro gatti e - sempre che sia ancora vivo - un criceto. Forse da qualche parte c'è anche un pesce rosso.
Questa raccolta contiene delle vere e proprie perle, che ci permettono di inquadrare la vita di Shirley Jackson e, soprattutto, l'influenza che le vicissitudini quotidiane hanno sui suoi scritti. La prima e la quarta parte valgono, da sole, la lettura.
Nella prima parte troviamo quattro racconti: Paranoia, Mrs. Spencer e gli Oberon, La bugia e Mille e una notte. Trovo sempre molto semplice immedesimarmi nelle storie di questa scrittrice, il cui punto di forza è la descrizione di situazioni quotidiane in modo inquietante. I miei racconti preferiti sono i primi due: il primo fa chiedere al lettore se sia sicuro anche tra le sue stesse mura domestiche, il secondo tratta un'aspra critica sociale alle casalinghe, alcune troppo attaccate alle apparenze e all'ipercontrollo domestico.
Nella quarta parte le cose si fanno interessanti: entriamo nella vita dell'autrice, leggendo passi esilaranti come quello riportato all'inizio della recensione. Qui vengono svelati molti retroscena sulla scrittura de "La lotteria" e de "L'incubo di Hill House". Inoltre, ho trovato una vera chicca: la spiegazione del processo creativo dietro "La luna di miele di Mrs. Smith", racconto che dà il titolo alla raccolta, sempre edita Adelphi, letta da me il mese scorso. Un'altra chicca è costituita dalle lettere recapitate alla povera Shirley, diventata ormai una scrittrice di successo. Soprattutto una risulta per me indimenticabile: "i nostri fratelli pensano che Miss Jackson è una Vera Profeta e Discepola della Vera Fede della Luce Redentrice. Quando saranno pubblicate le prossime Rivelazioni? Vostro nello Spirito" (dopo la pubblicazione del racconto "La lotteria"). Trovo anche molto interessante la tecnica della Jackson, che la portava a scrivere in qualunque angolo della casa mentre faceva le pulizie, infatti teneva taccuini e matite ovunque.
Da questo ritratto emerge una personalità eccentrica e dissacrante e per tutto il tempo di lettura ho pensato che mi sarebbe piaciuto molto conversare con lei. Peccato che nella versione italiana non siano inclusi tutti i racconti e i saggi del volume originale, solo per questo motivo non posso dare una votazione piena. A parte questo, però, davvero notevole.
Questa raccolta contiene delle vere e proprie perle, che ci permettono di inquadrare la vita di Shirley Jackson e, soprattutto, l'influenza che le vicissitudini quotidiane hanno sui suoi scritti. La prima e la quarta parte valgono, da sole, la lettura.
Nella prima parte troviamo quattro racconti: Paranoia, Mrs. Spencer e gli Oberon, La bugia e Mille e una notte. Trovo sempre molto semplice immedesimarmi nelle storie di questa scrittrice, il cui punto di forza è la descrizione di situazioni quotidiane in modo inquietante. I miei racconti preferiti sono i primi due: il primo fa chiedere al lettore se sia sicuro anche tra le sue stesse mura domestiche, il secondo tratta un'aspra critica sociale alle casalinghe, alcune troppo attaccate alle apparenze e all'ipercontrollo domestico.
Nella quarta parte le cose si fanno interessanti: entriamo nella vita dell'autrice, leggendo passi esilaranti come quello riportato all'inizio della recensione. Qui vengono svelati molti retroscena sulla scrittura de "La lotteria" e de "L'incubo di Hill House". Inoltre, ho trovato una vera chicca: la spiegazione del processo creativo dietro "La luna di miele di Mrs. Smith", racconto che dà il titolo alla raccolta, sempre edita Adelphi, letta da me il mese scorso. Un'altra chicca è costituita dalle lettere recapitate alla povera Shirley, diventata ormai una scrittrice di successo. Soprattutto una risulta per me indimenticabile: "i nostri fratelli pensano che Miss Jackson è una Vera Profeta e Discepola della Vera Fede della Luce Redentrice. Quando saranno pubblicate le prossime Rivelazioni? Vostro nello Spirito" (dopo la pubblicazione del racconto "La lotteria"). Trovo anche molto interessante la tecnica della Jackson, che la portava a scrivere in qualunque angolo della casa mentre faceva le pulizie, infatti teneva taccuini e matite ovunque.
Da questo ritratto emerge una personalità eccentrica e dissacrante e per tutto il tempo di lettura ho pensato che mi sarebbe piaciuto molto conversare con lei. Peccato che nella versione italiana non siano inclusi tutti i racconti e i saggi del volume originale, solo per questo motivo non posso dare una votazione piena. A parte questo, però, davvero notevole.
January 11, 2020
come tenere in ordine la casa, senza uccidere i pupi ma scrivendo di quello che si annida nel tostapane di casa
racconti inediti, articoli ironici, chiacchiere oziose sul mestiere di scrittrice e varie altre cose
si legge bene, molto attuali le considerazioni sul portare i figli fuori a cena, un poco meno quelle sul tenere la casa come fosse un lavoro, al momento verrebbero considerate sessiste: come sarà mai possibile che questa simpatica signora non metta in campo l'illuminante idea di farsi aiutare a tenere in ordine casa per dedicarsi a quello che le piace fare, cioè scrivere?
A parte questo unico punto che data di molto gli articoli, il resto sono lucide e illuminanti considerazioni che spiegano "da dove mi vengono le idee" e "come faccio a non strangolare i miei figli e i vicini di casa ogni due per tre"
racconti inediti, articoli ironici, chiacchiere oziose sul mestiere di scrittrice e varie altre cose
si legge bene, molto attuali le considerazioni sul portare i figli fuori a cena, un poco meno quelle sul tenere la casa come fosse un lavoro, al momento verrebbero considerate sessiste: come sarà mai possibile che questa simpatica signora non metta in campo l'illuminante idea di farsi aiutare a tenere in ordine casa per dedicarsi a quello che le piace fare, cioè scrivere?
A parte questo unico punto che data di molto gli articoli, il resto sono lucide e illuminanti considerazioni che spiegano "da dove mi vengono le idee" e "come faccio a non strangolare i miei figli e i vicini di casa ogni due per tre"
November 11, 2018
In questo memoriale messo a punto dai figli, viene fuori la grandezza di questa scrittrice.
June 10, 2018
What an extraordinary writer Shirley Jackson is. I had read 4 of her novels, a short story collection and a hefty biography (by Ruth Frankin) before and though I knew what is coming. But what totally surprised me were the stories about family life. I do like the domesticity genre but I thought that Persephone books have covered it best. Well, Shirley does it even better because her writing is so funny and I imagine people with children would say - oh so painfully true! It is astonishing that she wrote all that she did in addition to raising four children with a rather inept husband by her side.
The other essays, reviews, articles and lectures (all the "non-fiction" stuff in the book) were remarkably good too. Especially the last bit where she talks about what it means to write and how she goes about it. Actually, I would go as far as to say that those were above the short stories themselves, although there were gems among the latter too.
This is an equally good choice If you have not read any Jackson before and want the first glimpse or if you are familiar with her work and yearn for more.
The other essays, reviews, articles and lectures (all the "non-fiction" stuff in the book) were remarkably good too. Especially the last bit where she talks about what it means to write and how she goes about it. Actually, I would go as far as to say that those were above the short stories themselves, although there were gems among the latter too.
This is an equally good choice If you have not read any Jackson before and want the first glimpse or if you are familiar with her work and yearn for more.
September 28, 2015
There is a degree of excitement that occurs when an author you respect and admire puts out a new collection of stories, or a new novel. It is downright magical when an author you respect and admire and who is also dead puts out a new collection of stories.
That's what happened here. Magic.
A couple of Jackson's children discovered a wealth of previously unpublished short stories and essays, along with a few of Jackson's cute doodles, and they helped bring them to the light of day by publishing this book. This is a charming collection that left me wanting even more.
As with any collection of writing, some stories/essays are better than others, but as a whole it's wonderful to have new words to read from Jackson's mind. She was an entertaining woman which I think comes across strongest in her essays on family life, or her day-to-day experiences. She used her own experiences in her short stories, as well, I think, though it didn't really occur to me until I made it to the section that dealt solely with her family that I could see some of the similarities and cross-overs.
I highly recommend this collection to anyone who is a fan of Jackson's writing. I would love to see more, and from what it sounds like from the children's Afterword, there might just be more left to publish. Jackson wrote at every opportunity for many years, so that the children began to no longer notice so much the sound of the typewriter in the other room - it was just a part of their environment.
There is still a lot of Jackson's previously published works I have yet to read. She is one of those authors I want to take my time with, just because one never knows when a new collection of will be compiled. In the meantime, I'm happy to know there are other books of Jackson's waiting for me to read.
That's what happened here. Magic.
A couple of Jackson's children discovered a wealth of previously unpublished short stories and essays, along with a few of Jackson's cute doodles, and they helped bring them to the light of day by publishing this book. This is a charming collection that left me wanting even more.
As with any collection of writing, some stories/essays are better than others, but as a whole it's wonderful to have new words to read from Jackson's mind. She was an entertaining woman which I think comes across strongest in her essays on family life, or her day-to-day experiences. She used her own experiences in her short stories, as well, I think, though it didn't really occur to me until I made it to the section that dealt solely with her family that I could see some of the similarities and cross-overs.
I highly recommend this collection to anyone who is a fan of Jackson's writing. I would love to see more, and from what it sounds like from the children's Afterword, there might just be more left to publish. Jackson wrote at every opportunity for many years, so that the children began to no longer notice so much the sound of the typewriter in the other room - it was just a part of their environment.
There is still a lot of Jackson's previously published works I have yet to read. She is one of those authors I want to take my time with, just because one never knows when a new collection of will be compiled. In the meantime, I'm happy to know there are other books of Jackson's waiting for me to read.
June 9, 2023
The second helping of unpublished and/or uncollected Jackson compiled by her children (the first was Just an Ordinary Day). It's quite the miscellany, with a mix of mature short fiction, early stories, lectures, light humorous pieces, and more besides.
If that sounds like a ragbag of odds and sods, I guess it is. But this is Shirley Bloody Jackson, which means that even the discarded and the unfinished have the power to thrill. Some of the stories may be slight, but they snap their jaws and lash their tails all the same. And "Garlic in Fiction" has to be one of the best ever essays on the writer's craft, an absolute must-read.
If that sounds like a ragbag of odds and sods, I guess it is. But this is Shirley Bloody Jackson, which means that even the discarded and the unfinished have the power to thrill. Some of the stories may be slight, but they snap their jaws and lash their tails all the same. And "Garlic in Fiction" has to be one of the best ever essays on the writer's craft, an absolute must-read.
April 28, 2019
Non ho una conoscenza molto approfondita di shirley Jackson in quanto ho letto solamente Lizzie , ma mi sono imbattuta nella lettura di questo piccolo gioiellino “Paranoia “ . Un libro che racchiude dei racconti in alcuni c’è proprio Shirley come protagonista; una serie di racconti estrapolati dai tanti suoi scritti , inediti , piombati tra le mani del figlio maggiore. Ritroviamo in questo libro una parte della sua vita , dalle cene in famiglia, dalle risate in compagnia è tutta la bella atmosfera che si respira . Tutti i figli vengono coinvolti tra indovinelli , barzellette , rompicapi è così che i quattro figli sono diventati anche i personaggi delle storie della loro madre . Ma il lato che mi ha più entusiasmato e come ha saputo coniugare la vita domestica con la sua carriera , ha saputo sopportare il peso delle incombenze domestiche rendendole poi fonte di ispirazione per la sua scrittura . Un vero esempio di Donna .
May 14, 2018
I haven't felt this connected to a book and author in a while- probably since Sylvia Plath's journals.
I have a lot of respect for Shirley's children who worked to compile previously unpublished works long after their mother's death. The project began when a box of Jackson's work was mysteriously left on one of the sibling's doorstep.
There are short stories, lectures on writing, and biographical musings- all of which I loved in their own way.
I have a lot of respect for Shirley's children who worked to compile previously unpublished works long after their mother's death. The project began when a box of Jackson's work was mysteriously left on one of the sibling's doorstep.
There are short stories, lectures on writing, and biographical musings- all of which I loved in their own way.
February 23, 2018
This woman delights me to no end, I find myself smiling knowingly along with her characters, and feel myself fully in the worlds she creates. I can't wait to read more more more...
October 22, 2018
Paranoia comprende quattro racconti, poi saggi e piccoli articoli che descrivono ironicamente la vita familiare e lavorativa di Shirley Jackson.
Dei racconti ho preferito il primo, Paranoia, che trovo essere un racconto perfetto con un finale che mi ha messo grande ansia addosso. L'altra parte del libro, i saggi, gli articoli, le riflessioni sulla scrittura, li ho trovati adorabili. E' stato bello entrare a contatto con questa personalità affascinante, estrosa, lugubre, poetica, divertente, forbita. Io di solito non mi interesso alla vita privata degli scrittori, preferisco leggerne l'opera e andare avanti, ma Shirley Jackson fa eccezione. Avrei voluto che il libro durasse almeno il doppio e lei entra a far parte della cerchia dei miei autori preferiti.
Dei racconti ho preferito il primo, Paranoia, che trovo essere un racconto perfetto con un finale che mi ha messo grande ansia addosso. L'altra parte del libro, i saggi, gli articoli, le riflessioni sulla scrittura, li ho trovati adorabili. E' stato bello entrare a contatto con questa personalità affascinante, estrosa, lugubre, poetica, divertente, forbita. Io di solito non mi interesso alla vita privata degli scrittori, preferisco leggerne l'opera e andare avanti, ma Shirley Jackson fa eccezione. Avrei voluto che il libro durasse almeno il doppio e lei entra a far parte della cerchia dei miei autori preferiti.
December 31, 2020
"Chi non avrebbe paura di una forchetta arrabbiata?"
Quattro racconti, poi una serie di scritti, saggi, riflessioni autobiografiche.
Nei racconti, soprattutto nei primi due, si ritrova quella tensione che si dice contraddistingua la scrittura della Jackson: sottile, crescente, mai urlata eppure sempre lì, che ti penetra nelle ossa. Gli ultimi due racconti sono altrettanto disturbanti, anche se in un modo diverso: il climax è più lento ma c'è, l'elemento che infastidisce è ancora più sussurrato, le situazioni sono più "riconoscibili", più quotidiane, assolutamente plausibili.
Ma è dagli scritti successivi che emerge lei, Shirley Jackson, con la sua vita domestica e familiare, tra piatti da lavare, figli da accudire, equilibri da mantenere. Ma quando uno scrittore ha talento potrebbe rendere irresistibile anche la descrizione della fila in posta e Shirley talento ne ha, e tanto.
Ho passato qualche ora in sua compagnia, senza riuscire a posare il libro, complice il fatto che si tratta di scritti brevi e che uno tira l'altro, come ciliegie. E la sensazione che mi resta è quella di una donna piena di ironia, con un mondo interiore straordinariamente ricco e uno sguardo curioso anche sulle cose più banali.
Nota di colore: questo libro è stato scelto in una rosa di più di 130 titoli per una lettura condivisa con due amici. E' stata una selezione lunghissima, sfibrante, durata circa un mese. Alla fine "Paranoia" è riuscita a scalzare tutti gli avversari (e a dirla tutta non sarebbe stato tra i mei candidati favoriti) e... trovare tre copie del libro si è rivelata un'impresa! Abbiamo coinvolto 8 librerie in 3 province per riuscire ad avere ognuno la propria copia cartacea e sì, ne è valsa la pena. Raramente divoro un libro a questa velocità, un buon modo per chiudere il 2020.
Quattro racconti, poi una serie di scritti, saggi, riflessioni autobiografiche.
Nei racconti, soprattutto nei primi due, si ritrova quella tensione che si dice contraddistingua la scrittura della Jackson: sottile, crescente, mai urlata eppure sempre lì, che ti penetra nelle ossa. Gli ultimi due racconti sono altrettanto disturbanti, anche se in un modo diverso: il climax è più lento ma c'è, l'elemento che infastidisce è ancora più sussurrato, le situazioni sono più "riconoscibili", più quotidiane, assolutamente plausibili.
Ma è dagli scritti successivi che emerge lei, Shirley Jackson, con la sua vita domestica e familiare, tra piatti da lavare, figli da accudire, equilibri da mantenere. Ma quando uno scrittore ha talento potrebbe rendere irresistibile anche la descrizione della fila in posta e Shirley talento ne ha, e tanto.
Ho passato qualche ora in sua compagnia, senza riuscire a posare il libro, complice il fatto che si tratta di scritti brevi e che uno tira l'altro, come ciliegie. E la sensazione che mi resta è quella di una donna piena di ironia, con un mondo interiore straordinariamente ricco e uno sguardo curioso anche sulle cose più banali.
Nota di colore: questo libro è stato scelto in una rosa di più di 130 titoli per una lettura condivisa con due amici. E' stata una selezione lunghissima, sfibrante, durata circa un mese. Alla fine "Paranoia" è riuscita a scalzare tutti gli avversari (e a dirla tutta non sarebbe stato tra i mei candidati favoriti) e... trovare tre copie del libro si è rivelata un'impresa! Abbiamo coinvolto 8 librerie in 3 province per riuscire ad avere ognuno la propria copia cartacea e sì, ne è valsa la pena. Raramente divoro un libro a questa velocità, un buon modo per chiudere il 2020.
Want to read
July 23, 2015OMG hyperventilating as you do when a new book is "found" or "collected" by a long-dead favorite author. AUGUST 4!
August 13, 2015
I'm ashamed. The last and only time I read Shirley Jackson was in high school. "The Lottery" was prominently featured in one of our textbooks (the concept of English/"Language Arts" textbooks blows me away. It's weird, right?). I remember liking the story, finding it dark and subversive in all the ways I normally fawn over, but something just seemed off. It didn't fit in with the rest of the lesson. It didn't resonate with me the way it probably should have. No one offered any context, any background on Jackson, or really any analysis on the story itself. We just said, "Yeah, that was creepy," and continued on. It was one of the only pieces in high school that I felt was read just to satisfy a syllabus requirement. So, by default, I resented it.
Perhaps because of this dismissive reading of her most prominent work, I always thought of Shirley Jackson as a literary "one hit wonder." I once saw a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle at a bookstore and disregarded it as a posthumous, half-baked melodrama.
What the hell was wrong with me!? Why did no one tell me!?
Shirley Jackson is a goddess.
I figured I'd give Let Me Tell You, a collection of essays, short stories, lectures, and other writings, a try. The cover was pretty, there seemed to be a bit of buzz about it, and there was an ARC available. Why not? I am so, so glad. I feel like I have found a kindred spirit in Jackson, and this is what reading is all about for me - finding those few souls who, though filtered through time, culture, and the calcified shells of self-perception and identity, make me feel like me.
So it is no surprise that in addition to enjoying the short stories in this collection, I was fascinated by her personal essays.
I got a sick joy out of "A Garland of Garlands," her tongue-in-cheek commentary about the follies of professional book reviewers. "Book reviewing is just nothing for a healthy young women to be married to," Shirley says of her literary critic husband. I recognized some of my own bad reviewing habits in the section on "The Earmarked Pen," which is a trend for reviewers to cling to a set of cherished words (see: heartrending). Jackson's comments on "The Development of the Theory of the Universality of Art" were also interesting - reviewers and critics do tend to believe themselves to be artists, but why? I, at least, see my reviews as holding their own in the literary world because of the emotion, honesty, and eloquence with which I attempt to imbue them. But of course I feel this way - I wrote them. If I find meaning in art and communicate it to you in a relatable, heartfelt (heartrending?) way, does that make me an artist too? Maybe not always, but I like to try.
I was also very excited to find that Shirley Jackson has an affinity for the strange. Ghosts, demons, synchronicities, and prophetic dreams are not things to be ignored in Shirley's world. She addresses these topics with a graceful, humble humor without shirking their wonder. Jackson's writing is decorated with no-nonsense mysticism (which sounds like an oxymoron, but isn't, I promise). In "How I Write," Jackson says, "What I am trying to say is that with the small addition of the one element of fantasy, or unreality, or imagination, all the things that happen are fun to write about." I couldn't agree more.
I feel kind of silly just now discovering these things about Jackson - I read a few other reviews and it seems like what I'm pointing out is what she's known best for - but I don't mind too much. Her immense talent is exciting no matter who points it out, or how often they do it.
There were times when I was bored with Let Me Tell You. I didn't care too much about the fork she cooked with; I got frustrated when I couldn't remember her children's names. But maybe, after reading the rest of the Jackson canon, as I surely (resisting every urge to make a horrendous pun here) will now, I'll come back and savor every character of those drier passages.
Let Me Tell You, edited by Jackson's children, is an insightful look into the world of an intriguing, brilliant woman. I was quick to learn that you don't need to be a long-time Jackson fan to appreciate the anthology - I can't imagine the joy a dedicated follower would find in this book.
4.5 stars: Like writing an essay about a ghost puking into a glass bowl that sits on the piano, which you dusted and polished this morning. The essay is pretty smart, if you say so yourself, and so is the piano.
www.bookpuke.com
Perhaps because of this dismissive reading of her most prominent work, I always thought of Shirley Jackson as a literary "one hit wonder." I once saw a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle at a bookstore and disregarded it as a posthumous, half-baked melodrama.
What the hell was wrong with me!? Why did no one tell me!?
Shirley Jackson is a goddess.
I figured I'd give Let Me Tell You, a collection of essays, short stories, lectures, and other writings, a try. The cover was pretty, there seemed to be a bit of buzz about it, and there was an ARC available. Why not? I am so, so glad. I feel like I have found a kindred spirit in Jackson, and this is what reading is all about for me - finding those few souls who, though filtered through time, culture, and the calcified shells of self-perception and identity, make me feel like me.
So it is no surprise that in addition to enjoying the short stories in this collection, I was fascinated by her personal essays.
I got a sick joy out of "A Garland of Garlands," her tongue-in-cheek commentary about the follies of professional book reviewers. "Book reviewing is just nothing for a healthy young women to be married to," Shirley says of her literary critic husband. I recognized some of my own bad reviewing habits in the section on "The Earmarked Pen," which is a trend for reviewers to cling to a set of cherished words (see: heartrending). Jackson's comments on "The Development of the Theory of the Universality of Art" were also interesting - reviewers and critics do tend to believe themselves to be artists, but why? I, at least, see my reviews as holding their own in the literary world because of the emotion, honesty, and eloquence with which I attempt to imbue them. But of course I feel this way - I wrote them. If I find meaning in art and communicate it to you in a relatable, heartfelt (heartrending?) way, does that make me an artist too? Maybe not always, but I like to try.
I was also very excited to find that Shirley Jackson has an affinity for the strange. Ghosts, demons, synchronicities, and prophetic dreams are not things to be ignored in Shirley's world. She addresses these topics with a graceful, humble humor without shirking their wonder. Jackson's writing is decorated with no-nonsense mysticism (which sounds like an oxymoron, but isn't, I promise). In "How I Write," Jackson says, "What I am trying to say is that with the small addition of the one element of fantasy, or unreality, or imagination, all the things that happen are fun to write about." I couldn't agree more.
I feel kind of silly just now discovering these things about Jackson - I read a few other reviews and it seems like what I'm pointing out is what she's known best for - but I don't mind too much. Her immense talent is exciting no matter who points it out, or how often they do it.
There were times when I was bored with Let Me Tell You. I didn't care too much about the fork she cooked with; I got frustrated when I couldn't remember her children's names. But maybe, after reading the rest of the Jackson canon, as I surely (resisting every urge to make a horrendous pun here) will now, I'll come back and savor every character of those drier passages.
Let Me Tell You, edited by Jackson's children, is an insightful look into the world of an intriguing, brilliant woman. I was quick to learn that you don't need to be a long-time Jackson fan to appreciate the anthology - I can't imagine the joy a dedicated follower would find in this book.
4.5 stars: Like writing an essay about a ghost puking into a glass bowl that sits on the piano, which you dusted and polished this morning. The essay is pretty smart, if you say so yourself, and so is the piano.
www.bookpuke.com
April 8, 2019
I am an enormous fan of Shirley Jackson's work, and have been eager to read Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings since its publication in 2015. For various reasons, I hadn't managed to pick it up, but finally requested a copy from my local library. The volume, which contains a great deal of unseen work of Jackson's, from early stories to pieces of observation, has been edited by her son and daughter, Laurence Jackson Hyman and Sarah Hyman DeWitt. The foreword to the book has been written by Jackson's biographer, Ruth Franklin.
The blurb explains that Let Me Tell You 'brings together a treasure trove of short stories - each a miniature masterpiece of unease - with candid, fascinating essays, lectures, articles and drawings.' In each of these pieces, 'strange encounters occur, unwanted visitors arrive, places and objects take on lives of their own.' They shift between the 'ordinary and the uncanny, the comic and the horrific.' Many of the stories collected here are from Jackson's earliest writing period; they were written in a time of 'impressive productivity as well as inspiring persistence.'
In her introduction, Franklin talks at length about the importance of Jackson's posthumous collection. She writes that the real highlight in Let Me Tell You is 'especially for aspiring writers', as Jackson shares 'succinct, specific advice about creating fiction' in both essays and transcripts of lectures which she gave.
Let Me Tell You has been split into several sections, which are often thematic. Due to the emphasis which Jackson placed on writing about her family and her own life, many of the sections which are not purely made up of her short stories have overlapping content.
Let Me Tell You further demonstrates just how marvellous Jackson was at writing, and how she could so deftly create atmosphere and foreboding. She had an innate ability to know just where to end a story, when all of the reader's senses are heightened, and the tension which she is built is almost unbearable. Jackson was also wonderful at suggestion, and of making her readers question often quite ordinary things. As with her better known work, her stories contain clever and surprising twists. At first, the situations which she crafts, and the lives which she lets us glimpse, appear ordinary; however, her stories are anything but. Even the shortest of her stories has been meticulously plotted, and strikes just the right balance. A mixture of narrative perspectives has been used throughout, the characters are varied, and there is an unsettling quality to each.
Many of Jackson's stories are steeped in the domestic, and the everyday: for instance, Mrs Spencer in 'Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons', who sets about preparing a party with no help whatsoever from her indifferent husband; and the wife of a professor talking to two of his young female students in 'Still Life and Students', one of whom has been having an affair with him. We meet a man who walks around a park fabricating stories to tell to everyone he meets, and a woman who returns to her hometown after many years, and finds that nothing at all is the same, or is as she expected. In this last story, 'The Lie', Jackson writes: 'She felt wary of going too close to her old house, although she had been anxious to see it again; perhaps if she came within its reach it would capture her again, and never let her go this time. Or perhaps it was only because she was embarrassed about being seen by people looking out their windows and telling one another, "There's Joyce Richards come back. Thought she was doing so well in the city?"'
The accompanying illustrations, of which there are surprisingly few, are whimsical, and her essays witty and amusing. Throughout, there is a sharpness to Jackson's writing, perhaps more apparent in her short stories than her non-fiction pieces. She was an extremely perceptive and intelligent author.
For a Jackson fan, Let Me Tell You is a real treat. To those unfamiliar with her work, it could act as a great introduction to both her stories and style. Jackson is quite unlike any other author I have ever come across, and it feels like a real privilege to be able to read these previously unpublished and forgotten pieces. They are polished, written with the hand of a very talented author who already seems at the height of her craft.
The blurb explains that Let Me Tell You 'brings together a treasure trove of short stories - each a miniature masterpiece of unease - with candid, fascinating essays, lectures, articles and drawings.' In each of these pieces, 'strange encounters occur, unwanted visitors arrive, places and objects take on lives of their own.' They shift between the 'ordinary and the uncanny, the comic and the horrific.' Many of the stories collected here are from Jackson's earliest writing period; they were written in a time of 'impressive productivity as well as inspiring persistence.'
In her introduction, Franklin talks at length about the importance of Jackson's posthumous collection. She writes that the real highlight in Let Me Tell You is 'especially for aspiring writers', as Jackson shares 'succinct, specific advice about creating fiction' in both essays and transcripts of lectures which she gave.
Let Me Tell You has been split into several sections, which are often thematic. Due to the emphasis which Jackson placed on writing about her family and her own life, many of the sections which are not purely made up of her short stories have overlapping content.
Let Me Tell You further demonstrates just how marvellous Jackson was at writing, and how she could so deftly create atmosphere and foreboding. She had an innate ability to know just where to end a story, when all of the reader's senses are heightened, and the tension which she is built is almost unbearable. Jackson was also wonderful at suggestion, and of making her readers question often quite ordinary things. As with her better known work, her stories contain clever and surprising twists. At first, the situations which she crafts, and the lives which she lets us glimpse, appear ordinary; however, her stories are anything but. Even the shortest of her stories has been meticulously plotted, and strikes just the right balance. A mixture of narrative perspectives has been used throughout, the characters are varied, and there is an unsettling quality to each.
Many of Jackson's stories are steeped in the domestic, and the everyday: for instance, Mrs Spencer in 'Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons', who sets about preparing a party with no help whatsoever from her indifferent husband; and the wife of a professor talking to two of his young female students in 'Still Life and Students', one of whom has been having an affair with him. We meet a man who walks around a park fabricating stories to tell to everyone he meets, and a woman who returns to her hometown after many years, and finds that nothing at all is the same, or is as she expected. In this last story, 'The Lie', Jackson writes: 'She felt wary of going too close to her old house, although she had been anxious to see it again; perhaps if she came within its reach it would capture her again, and never let her go this time. Or perhaps it was only because she was embarrassed about being seen by people looking out their windows and telling one another, "There's Joyce Richards come back. Thought she was doing so well in the city?"'
The accompanying illustrations, of which there are surprisingly few, are whimsical, and her essays witty and amusing. Throughout, there is a sharpness to Jackson's writing, perhaps more apparent in her short stories than her non-fiction pieces. She was an extremely perceptive and intelligent author.
For a Jackson fan, Let Me Tell You is a real treat. To those unfamiliar with her work, it could act as a great introduction to both her stories and style. Jackson is quite unlike any other author I have ever come across, and it feels like a real privilege to be able to read these previously unpublished and forgotten pieces. They are polished, written with the hand of a very talented author who already seems at the height of her craft.
December 27, 2021
Shirley Jackson is a Queen. She writes so succinctly about the everyday and manages to turn the mundane into something fantastic, either with a slight turn toward the sinister that fills the ordinary with dread or makes you laugh with her biting wit.
Let Me Tell You is divided into five parts and I will review each as I complete them in a new post.
First up:
I. Sudden and Unusual Things Have Happened Unpublished and Uncollected Short Fiction
Twenty two short stories, one unfinished (and what I wouldn’t give to know where SJ was going with it), and not a bad one in the bunch!
The vast majority are stories of families/relationships that take a bizarre turn. From something as simple as a man walking in to the wrong home and not realizing until he’s sat down for supper or a woman increasingly frustrated by a family beneath her social status using her name to settle in to town. These vignettes and short stories manage to be both unsettling and amusing with Jackson’s signature writing charm.
II. I Would Rather Write Than Do Anything Else
Essays and Reviews
A brief collection of musings on reading/writing in correlation to Jackson’s personal life. My favorites of the eleven are A Vroom for Dr. Seuss (“I am mortally afraid of offending Dr. Seuss.”) and Good Old House about her home which may or may not have been haunted. I loved seeing how motherhood shaped her views and her writing - from the mundane to the spooky.
Let Me Tell You is divided into five parts and I will review each as I complete them in a new post.
First up:
I. Sudden and Unusual Things Have Happened Unpublished and Uncollected Short Fiction
Twenty two short stories, one unfinished (and what I wouldn’t give to know where SJ was going with it), and not a bad one in the bunch!
The vast majority are stories of families/relationships that take a bizarre turn. From something as simple as a man walking in to the wrong home and not realizing until he’s sat down for supper or a woman increasingly frustrated by a family beneath her social status using her name to settle in to town. These vignettes and short stories manage to be both unsettling and amusing with Jackson’s signature writing charm.
II. I Would Rather Write Than Do Anything Else
Essays and Reviews
A brief collection of musings on reading/writing in correlation to Jackson’s personal life. My favorites of the eleven are A Vroom for Dr. Seuss (“I am mortally afraid of offending Dr. Seuss.”) and Good Old House about her home which may or may not have been haunted. I loved seeing how motherhood shaped her views and her writing - from the mundane to the spooky.
August 14, 2016
5 stars for content; Shirley Jackson is brilliant beyond belief. Reading straight through, I did at times find the shift in content style (fiction to non-fiction back to fiction) a little jarring. But still amazing.
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