Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson’s stories and books arose out of the complex, sad, and joyous magic of her life. Often her stories were based on her own family or strange little customary romances, well suited for the magazines she wrote for. Jackson’s restrictive upbringing created a struggle within her to both fulfill and deny the ways of her mother to whom appearance and social acceptance was all important. She was an odd, plain girl rejecting the gracious country-club lifestyle of her family, preferring to keep to herself for most of her life.

Born on the 14th of December, 1916 in San Francisco, CA, Shirley Jackson struggled throughout her life with a conflict between her individuality and society’s requirement that she adhere to its norms and standards. She saw a second level of human nature, an inner identity lurking beneath the one which outwardly conforms within society’s expectations. She did not feel completely comfortable in the society around her, preferring to sit in her room and write poetry rather than play with the other children in her neighborhood (Oppenheimer 16)

Her family moved to Rochester, NY in 1933. Jackson graduated with a BA in English from Syracuse University and in 1940 she married Stanley Edgar Hyman. They moved to a secluded shack in New Hampshire where