Sometimes you just get lucky. I believe that. About six months ago I started this column, writing about books I’d come to love dearly and early on, I praised Shirley Jackson, a writer that almost seemed forgotten. My mother had loved her work and introduced me to it at an early age. That was lucky because, in those days, Jackson’s work (with the exception of one story) wasn’t reprinted. At that time, Jackson wasn’t often remembered in literary circles and when she was the discussions were limited to her supernatural or psychologically disturbing tales. The author also wrote a lot of well-crafted stories about family life but these were given less weight because a)they were funny or b) they were “chick lit.” Of all of her works, these looked like they had the least chance of getting back into print. Except, now they are. Ms. Jackson’s books about life with one husband, one sheep dog, four children, 10,000 books and innumerable cats are back in print. Life Among the Savages follows two parents and their two young children from a New York City apartment to an old Vermont house with Pillars in the Front and ends with the arrival of…
Readers love a seldom-read story or an under-praised author. To appreciate a less-known work or author is the a mark of a book connoisseur and readers delight in being seen as connoisseurs. Without knowing it, my sister and I trained to be gourmet readers when we grew reading the work of an under-appreciated writer. You may or may not have heard of Shirley Jackson but do you know about her books Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons? When Ms. Jackson’s work is recalled (which isn’t often enough) she is remembered for disturbing tales such as The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived at the Castle and the short story, “The Lottery”. These are artful, unsettling, well-constructed narratives that leave the reader with the impression they would not want to meet Ms. Jackson in a dark alley. The titles Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons may sound like more “tales of terror” but these are something different. These stories would be called domestic humor. Now domestic humor has never enjoyed a great reputation. The same critics that sneered over the pulp paper tales of crime and science fiction in the 1940’s ignored the later stories about raising…