Shirley Jackson Case

Shirley Hardie Jackson was born in San Francisco, CA on December 14, 1916. She was a very popular author in her time, and her work still gets attention from literary critics now. When she was a young girl, Shirley began to write poetry and short stories. She then attended the University of Rochester. In 1936, she dropped and had a sabbatical year, writing short stories every day and preparing for what was coming for her.

Shirley published her first story, "Janice", in 1937 while attending Syracuse University. She was shortly selected fiction editor of the campus humor magazine. She then met her future husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman. He was a young aspiring literary critic, and together they worked to found a literary magazine, Spectre.

After graduating, Hyman and Jackson got married. They moved to Vermont and had four children. Jackson wrote a story, The Lottery, in 1948. It was published in The New Yorker, and started many controversies. Shirley description of a practicing witch caught many people's attention.

Shirley Jackson never let her occupation as a writer come in the way between her jobs as a wife and a mother. Although she is not critically acclaimed today as other American authors of the twentieth century, Jackson definitely has enjoyed her triumphant career.

Jackson had a very poor health throughout her life. She was a heavy smoker and gained a lot of weight. Jackson died when she was 49 from heart failure. Before she died, she was working on a novel called Come Along With Me.

Shirley's literary works have earned her a reputation as a Gothic horror writer. Her works have influenced several others such as Stephen King. Many of her stories, like The Lottery, have even been adapted into television series and films.