© Lauren Caldwell September 2002
Shirley Jackson Biography
| Shirley Jackson was born in 1919, in San Francisco, California. Her mother was a housewife and her father was an employee of a lithographing company. Most of her early life was spent in Burlingame, California. As a child, Shirley was already interested in writing. At age twelve she won a poetry prize, and in high school she began keeping a diary to record her writing progress. | |
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After high school she shortly attended University at Rochester and left because of her mental depression, which did recur numerous times throughout her later years. Shirley tried the best she could to recover from her mental illness by living quietly at home and writing. In 1937 she attended Syracuse University, where she published many stories in the student literary magazine. Also, while at Syracuse University she met a man by the name of Stanley Edgar Hyman, who became a good friend and later a noted literary critic. Three years later, in 1940 Shirley and Stanley were happily married and Shirley also received her degree. They soon had four children and both continued active literary careers. They settled and raised their family in a large Victorian house in Vermont, where Hyman taught literature at Bennington College. Shirley Jackson's first national publication was a humorous story, "My Life with R.H. Macy," which appeared in The New Republic in 1941. Jackson wrote everyday with a disciplined schedule. She sold her stories to magazines and published three novels. Her best-known work was "The Lottery." Click here for a list of her works. Shirley still refused to take herself as a serious writer. Jackson thought writing was "great fun" and she loved it. | |
| Shirley Jackson died in Bennington on August 8,1965. Since her death, several of Shirley Jackson's collections have been published by her husband as well as her children. | |
More:
Shirley Jackson Biography :: Shirley Jackson Timeline :: Shirley Jackson Works :: Shirley Jackson Criticism :: Review of "The Lottery" | |