Eerie and Cheery

As recently as six years ago, when the Library of America released a collection of Shirley Jackson’s writings, her legacy was uncertain. “Shirley Jackson?” Newsweek critic Malcolm Jones wrote. “A writer mostly famous for one short story, ‘The Lottery.’ Is LOA about to jump the shark?” True, no one who’s read “The Lottery” is ever going to forget it. The story created such a sensation when it appeared in the New Yorker in 1948 that the magazine issued a press release saying it had received more mail in response to it than to any work of fiction it had ever published. But Jackson also wrote many other indelible short stories, as well as two great short novels, one of which, The Haunting of Hill House, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1960. Continue reading at 'Slate'

[ Slate | 2016-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Eerie and Cheery"


A Summary and Analysis of Sandra Cisneros’ ‘Mexican Movies’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Mexican Movies’ is a short story from Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, a 1991 collection of short stories by the American writer Sandra Cisneros (born 1954). In the story, a young Chicana girl describes going to her local movie theatre to... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-07-03 14:00:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Michael Caine’s novel will most likely be rubbish, but I’m glad he’s found his happy ending | Xan Brooks

Most actors make terrible novelists – but writing the ‘cracking thriller’ Deadly Game was life-affirming for the veteran star, so never mind the finished productGod spare us another millionaire actor who fancies themself as a bestselling author –unless the actor is Michael Caine, in which case... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-08 12:30:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Best Short Stories about Art and Artists

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) What are the best short stories about painters, artists, and the world of art? From Gothic pioneers like Edgar Allan Poe to realist writers like Edith Wharton, masters of the short story have often touched upon the subject of art and painting, using... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-05-10 14:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Meaning of ‘Lottery in June, Corn be Heavy Soon’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ This line is a quotation from one of the most disturbing short stories of the entire twentieth century; but what does it mean? Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’, published in the New Yorker in 1948, has been read […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-04-25 17:00:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Angela Carter’s ‘Wolf-Alice’

‘Wolf-Alice’ is a short story from The Bloody Chamber, the 1979 collection of modern fairy tales written by the British author Angela Carter (1940-92). The story tells of a girl raised by wolves who goes to live with a Duke who is a werewolf. You can read ‘Wolf-Alice’ here before […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-03 15:00:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Peter Turchi on the Power of the Literary Aside

The following first appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. William Trevor famously described the short story as “the art of the glimpse,” and compression is generally a virtue. But the most engaging and compelling short stories and novels are not necessarily the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-27 09:52:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How Do You Know If Your Short Story Should Be a Novel?

The list of novels that began their lives as short stories is long and well known. Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides, Eudory Welty’s The Optimist’s Daughter, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake (which began as a short story titled “Gogol”), Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (expanded from her 1923... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-15 09:52:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Margaret Atwood’s ‘Simmering’

‘Simmering’ is a short story by the Canadian author and poet Margaret Atwood (born 1939). Published in Atwood’s 1983 collection Murder in the Dark, the story might be regarded as a piece of flash fiction, micro-fiction, or even an example of prose poetry. ‘Simmering’ posits a society in which... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-11-28 15:00:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Sandra Cisneros’ ‘Salvador Late or Early’

‘Salvador Late or Early’ is a short story in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, a 1991 collection of short stories by the American writer Sandra Cisneros (born 1954). The story – which lacks a conventional plot and is more of a character study – briefly describes the life of […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-11-25 15:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Richard Wright’s ‘The Man Who Was Almost a Man’

‘The Man Who Was Almost a Man’ is a short story by the American author Richard Wright (1908-60), originally published as ‘Almos’ a Man’ in Harper’s Bazaar in 1940 before being revised by Wright later in his life. The final version was published in 1960. In the story, a black […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-11-11 15:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Meta is spinning off the Pytorch framework into its own AI research foundation

In 2016, Meta (then but a simple country Facebook) launched its open-source AI research library, the Pytorch framework. Six years and 150,000 projects from 2,400 contributors later, Meta announced on Monday that the Pytorch project will soon spin out from the company’s direct control to become... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-09-12 14:00:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Frederick Douglass Books, a new imprint, will publish nonfiction by writers of color.

Forefront Books and the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives are teaming up to form Frederick Douglass Books, a publishing imprint meant to “establish a pathway for Black and Brown authors” into the publishing industry, the two organizations announced in a press release last week. The imprint... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-16 13:04:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Unseen works by ‘queen of gothic fiction’ Shirley Jackson published

Two previously unseen short stories by Jackson, rated by Stephen King as one of the great horror fiction writers, are to appear in US magazine the StrandTwo previously unpublished short stories by Shirley Jackson, the queen of gothic fiction, have been released.Charlie Roberts and Only Stand and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-06-09 14:05:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Veldt’

‘The Veldt’ is a short story by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), included in his 1952 collection of linked tales, The Illustrated Man. The story concerns a nursery in an automated home in which a simulation of the African veldt is conjured by some children, but the lions which […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-06-06 14:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of John Steinbeck’s ‘The Snake’

‘The Snake’ is a short story by the American author John Steinbeck (1902-68), published in The Monterey Beacon in 1935 before being included in Steinbeck’s collection The Long Valley in 1938. The story tells of a young scientist who is at work experimenting with animals in his laboratory when he […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-05-26 14:00:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘The Nine Billion Names of God’

‘The Nine Billion Names of God’ is a short story by the British-born science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008). It was first published in the 1953 anthology Star Science Fiction Stories #1, before being collected in Clarke’s The Other Side of the Sky. A short tale about religion,... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-05-16 14:00:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


15 of the Best Short Stories Written by Women

What are some of the best short stories by female writers? Women have been making their mark on the short story form since the form became popular in the nineteenth century, and many notable female practitioners of the short story, such as Katherine Mansfield and Kate Chopin, were among the […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-03-23 15:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan’s ‘Two Kinds’

‘Two Kinds’ is a short story by the American author Amy Tan (born 1952), published as part of her book The Joy Luck Club in 1989. The story is about a young American girl born to Chinese parents; her mother pushes her to become a child prodigy, but the daughter […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2022-03-08 15:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


George Saunders on Overcoming Uncertainty in Writing

The following first appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. It is from Story Club with George Saunders, a Substack publication and literary community where Saunders offers weekly discussions of the craft of the short story. Both free and paid subscriptions are... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-25 09:51:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


London indie championing short stories to launch in March

Independent press Scratch Books, "dedicated to the art of the short story", is to launch in London in March, kicking off with an event featuring authors including Irenosen Okojie and Sarah Hall. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-24 22:49:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this