Ghost-hunting or homemaking: Which is scarier? 

Shirley Jackson was terrified of—and celebrated—both.

Dorothy Parker said, “Shirley Jackson is unparalleled as a leader in the field of beautifully written, quiet, cumulative shudders.” 

In time for spooky season, we’ll spend four weeks exploring Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. A grievously underappreciated American genius, Jackson was known for far too long as the wife of the Bennington professor and literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. 

While her husband played poker and toiled with co-eds, Jackson’s madcap tales of motherhood and housework kept the family in baseball gear, working appliances, and tuna casseroles. Then she stunned the literary world with “The Lottery,” one of the first short stories to “go viral.” 

Generations of school children have read this tale of small-town evil, but it’s only one piece of Jackson’s extraordinary legacy. Jackson’s genius lies in illuminating the quiet wickedness of the everyday, the nasty neighbors, and the dark desires and secrets that hide in every heart. 

In the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe and Henry James, Jackson had an abiding curiosity about the spiritual realm and how the places people inhabit—and what has been there before—can feel like home or hell.

That interplay between space and spirit runs through The Haunting of Hill House, a short but powerful tale that explores what it means to be alive and conscious, and what it means to know yourself. 

Word to the wary: Don’t read it at night. 

Before our first night, read "The Lottery" — you can find it in most anthologies of American short stories, or you can read it on The New Yorker's website.

We’ll spend our first night talking about it, as well as Jackson’s life, family, and legacy. Over the next three weeks, we’ll read about 60 pages a week of The Haunting of Hill House and discuss the unforgettable characters, settings, and drama. You won’t forget it.

Who is leading this class?

Audrey Van Buskirk is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. She has previously led FrizzLit classes on A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, and more. A mother of three boys, she learned everything she needed to know about parenting from Shirley Jackson.

Are meetings recorded?

Yes. All meetings are recorded and automatically sent out to all ticketholders.

Which edition are we reading?

This is the edition of The Haunting of Hill House we recommend.

If you decide to get this one—or another version with the intro by Laura Miller— please DO NOT read the intro. It has major plot spoilers and no spoiler alert. If only we could stone the publisher! 

What do I do before our first meeting?

Get your hands on a copy of "The Lottery" and read it before our first meeting. It's Shirley Jackson's most famous piece of writing. You can find it here on The New Yorker's website, or in any good anthology of American fiction.

Thank you for donating

Thank you to everyone who pays extra to make a donation to financial assistance. We see your name on the list, and we do a happy dance of gratitude in your name. Thank you for making this class accessible to folks who would not be able to afford it otherwise.

Art

Shirley Jackson portrait by Kathryn Rathke