![]() ![]() ![]() In such works as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson took the American gothic tradition of Poe, Hawthorne, and Lovecraft and brought it down to earth, revealing that broad daylight held more subtle but no less chilling horrors. We are shocked when their dreams become nightmares, and terrified by Jackson’s suggestion that there are unseen powers-“demons” both subconscious and supernatural-malevolently conspiring against human happiness. We are moved by these characters’ dreams, for they are the dreams of love and acceptance shared by us all. “It is a place where things are not what they seem even on a morning that is sunny and clear there is always the threat of darkness looming, of things taking a turn for the worse.” Jackson’s characters-mostly unloved daughters in search of a home, a career, a family of their own-chase what appears to be a harmless dream until, without warning, it turns on its heel to seize them by the throat. ![]() ![]() “The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable,” writes A. ![]()
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