The unforgettable name of horror and gothic fiction literature: Who is Shirley Jackson?

Jackson has managed to influence many master writers of speculative fiction, from Stephen King to Neil Gaiman; Recently, it has been remembered again by the cultural world. The writer played by Elisabeth Moss in the biopic about her, Shirley; was also the subject of a Netflix series in 2018.

Mike Flanagan's series The Haunting of Hill House, published on Netflix, made the author's name and works talked about worldwide. On the other hand, Shirley Jackson's life story is as full of oddities as the books she wrote.

Here Are Some Facts About Shirley Jackson

Jackson's Relationship With His Mother Was Tough

Shirley Jackson did not get along with her mother from childhood until her death, and she outlived both parents. Despite her daughter's high level of literary success, Jackson's mother, Geraldine, spent much of her daughter's life criticizing her, from the way she dressed to the way she combed her hair, from her interest in the supernatural and communism to her choice of career and partner.

Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two memoirs, and more than 200 short stories.

"We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a novel that tackles the ironic miracle of persuading the reader that the house where a madman, a poisoner, and an arsonist live is a world richer in sympathy, love, and kindness than the real world," Times said. When she was praised; Instead of congratulating her daughter on her success, Geraldine wrote the following to criticize her photo featured in the article:

“Even if you don't care about how you look or what you are like, think about the sake of your children and your husband. "I was upset all day because you showed yourself to people like this."

Jackson Kept Multiple Diaries with Multiple Perspectives

Many writers keep diaries throughout their lives, and Jackson was no exception. But the way she did this was different from the usual. Rather than keeping a single diary, Jackson would keep multiple diaries at once, some even written on the same day.

Jackson wrote in one of her diaries “in the modest tone of an all-American girl,” Franklin said and talked constantly about her hobbies, her social life, her arguments with her mother, and her favorite movies and songs. In a different diary she kept during the same period, Jackson wrote a special love letter to a schoolmate named Harold "Bud" Young, who was older than her and whom she liked.

In these diaries, Franklin claims that Jackson “tried writing different personas and tried to find out which one worked and which one didn't.” Jackson would continue to explore this method throughout his life.

He Treated Their Moods As If They Were Different Personalities, Even Giving Them Names

Not only did Shirley Jackson keep multiple journals, each with their own style and voice, but she also kept her moods separate and distinct from each other, attributing their own personalities to each other. As in the novel The Bird's Nest, a book about a woman's mind cracking - splitting into several personalities - Jackson's moods were different from each other and adopted their own personalities, at least this was the case in Jackson's mind.

His Wife Decided to Marry Jackson After Reading His Story "Janice"

Shirley Jackson married writer and literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman in 1940, two years after they met at Syracuse University, where they were both enrolled. Their marriage was doomed by both unbridled love and support for each other and conflict over Hyman's frequent infidelities. But despite other women coming in and out of Hyman's life, he claimed that Jackson was always his one true love and that his infatuation with the writer began before the two even met.

She Found Motherhood Inspiring

While many other female writers of her time, often the wives of male writers, avoided traditional models of home and family and avoided having children of their own, Jackson saw her own motherhood as a great source of inspiration.

Motherhood not only informed her popular stories about children and home life, first published in women's magazines and later collected in her fictionalized memoir, Life Among Savages, but also inspired her other writings.