December 17, 2020, 11:17am
This week is a whirlwind for Shirley Jackson fans! On Monday we learned we’re getting a Jackson tribute anthology in 2021, and now, an unseen Shirley Jackson story has been published in The Strand Magazine.
Jackson’s son, Laurence Hyman, found the story—“Adventure on a Bad Night”—among Jackson’s papers at the Library of Congress. The story follows a dissatisfied wife’s evening walk, on which she meets a pregnant immigrant being verbally abused by a shop clerk.
Andrew Gulli, managing editor of The Strand Magazine, described the story as representative of “why Jackson’s works have been re-evaluated and have been so popular these last few years.” Said Gulli, “[Jackson] had the unique talent to say so much with so little and could create a microcosm of the problems of society and personal responsibility in a very humble setting . . . During this challenging time, we need this message from Jackson about shared humanity and how heroes who fight prejudice and ignorance can make a difference.”
Jackson’s work has seen a resurgence in the last few decades, and especially recently: since 2016 we’ve gotten (among other things) a movie adaptation of We Have Always Lived In The Castle, a The Haunting of Hill House Netflix series, and a 2020 film fictionalizing her life with Elizabeth Moss in the title role. Said Hyman, “I’m sure [my mother] would find the relevance of her work today pretty unsettling . . . the ‘possibility of evil’ she saw, even on a sunny spring day, is indeed still with us, more than ever.”
You can acquire the Shirley Jackson issue of The Strand Magazine here.
[via The Guardian]