The Letters of Shirley Jackson

Starred review from April 5, 2021
The life of Shirley Jackson (1916–1965)—as a mother and a writer—emerges in vivid detail in this collection of correspondence, edited by her son Hyman (Let Me Tell You). The letters begin with Jackson at college writing to her future husband, Stanley Hyman. As the couple marries and starts a family, missives describe her burgeoning writing career and the comic escapades of being a mother. Primarily written to her agent and parents, the letters hit a high note in 1953, when the then-bestselling author and mother of four wrote to her parents that it was “the best year we’ve ever known.” But by 1955, Jackson’s downhill slide had begun: she got colitis and her health was failing, her marriage began to collapse, and her agoraphobia worsened. Two poignant letters were left unsent: one to Stanley, outlining the pain his womanizing, disregard, and mockery caused her—“indifference breeds indifference”—and another to her parents, reacting to their criticism of her appearance. Her cartoons, one of the most charming elements of the collection, also chronicle a marriage in decline. Full of wit and heartbreak, this volume shines, and Jackson’s singular prose never fails to entertain. Agent: Murray Weiss Agency, Catalyst Literary Management.

June 1, 2021

Twentieth-century neo-Gothic novelist and short story writer Jackson comes to life in this accessible and revealing collection of letters. Lovingly edited by her son, Laurence Jackson Hyman, this volume contains the author's correspondence from 1938 to just before her death in 1965. From her years at Syracuse University where she met her future husband Stanley Hyman, to her busy life as a mother and professional writer, Jackson chronicled her days with acerbic wit. In many ways, her letters are as cleverly crafted as her fiction; indeed, writes Laurence in his preface to the collection, "They are constructed like marvelous miniature magazines, full of news and gossip." Jackson lays herself bare on almost every page, whether she's confessing her budding love for Stanley ("i miss your funny hair. and your dimples"), or describing to her parents the endless chores of an author/housewife ("the dishes are still in the sink, stanley's pants are not sewn where he ripped them, the animals are still unfed and so, in my usual fashion, i sit down to write you a letter"). Several of Jackson's hand-drawn cartoons are included throughout, adding an extra layer of charm to this amusing and informative collection. VERDICT At turns hysterical and heartbreaking, this collection is an entertaining and intriguing read even for those who are just discovering Jackson's many literary gifts. Recommended.--Megan Duffy, Glen Ridge P.L., NJ

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2021
Famed for such chillers as "The Lottery" and The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson reveals a warm, witty side in her voluminous correspondence. There's still an edge to the hilarious domestic vignettes she sends her parents, clearly the raw material for the now less famous magazine pieces collected in Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons: Tending to four rambunctious children while cranking out the magazine pieces and novels on which the family income depended was a perennial challenge. Husband Stanley Edgar Hyman, a professor at Bennington for most of his career, never made much money, and his urgings to Jackson to get back to work form a disquieting undercurrent to the generally cheerful letters. The earliest letters are her lovestruck missives to Hyman when both were students at Syracuse University, but an angry letter from 1938 reveals a darker side to their relationship, delineated in more explicit detail 22 years later. Her anguish over his unrepentant womanizing and habit of demeaning her in public while ignoring her in private makes a heartbreaking counterpoint to delightful portraits of family activities that also ring true but tell only part of the story. The dark side so evident in Jackson's fiction is kept for her work, but we see its origins in a 1938 letter to Hyman declaring, "you know my rather passive misanthropic tendencies, and how i [sic] hate this whole human race as a collection of monsters." Jackson's avoidance of capital letters adds to her correspondence's charmingly idiosyncratic flavor, though she adheres to more conventional punctuation in letters to her agents Bernice Baumgarten and Carol Brandt, which offer candid snapshots of a working writer's life. Later letters chronicle without self-pity the years of declining physical and emotional health that preceded her untimely death at age 48 in 1965. A vivid, engaging, and engrossing collection from one of American literature's great letter writers.

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