The New York Times Book Review
May 8, 2015
When “Life Among the Savages,” a collection of warm and funny magazine pieces chronicling the ups and downs of Shirley Jackson’s household, was first published in 1953, Jackson was already a well-known writer — of a rather different kind.
“The ‘Lottery’ Letters”
newyorker.com, June 25, 2013
“The Lottery” has been adapted for stage, television, opera, and ballet; it was even featured in an episode of “The Simpsons.” By now it is so familiar that it is hard to remember how shocking it originally seemed: “outrageous,” “gruesome,” or just “utterly pointless,” in the words of some of the readers who were moved to write.
Q & A with Signature on Shirley Jackson
Signature: How did you decide on Shirley Jackson as a subject?
Ruth Franklin: I’ve always loved Jackson’s writing. I remember reading The Haunting of Hill House as a teenager, and being absolutely blown away by it. And of course no one can forget “The Lottery.” But I confess I hadn’t read much of Jackson’s other work until 2010, when the Library of America brought out a new anthology of her writing with a wide range of her short stories. As I started poking around, I discovered there was a fair amount of archival material that hadn’t been available to Jackson’s first biographer, Judy Oppenheimer. Naturally, that was irresistible….