The outlier hails from my one of my favorite works-“The Lottery,” of course. All of their stories are told by outsiders peering into these women’s lives, and twelve out of thirteen stories construct a world where we might know their names as well. Some, like Butterfly McQueen and the conjoined Hilton twins, may receive vague recognition even if their names have been mostly forgotten. Some are on the outskirts of history-for instance, Dolly Wilde, Allegra Byron, and Norma Millay-while others are downright obscure, such as Hazel Eaton. Though Jackson is a canonical author and her work is still studied regularly in schools, the fantastically chilling story seems to have been pushed to the edges of their consciousness.Īlmost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman, the 2017 Common Reader, centers around women who likewise have been shifted aside. Yet, in non-English major company, when I fondly name “The Lottery” as my favorite short story I tend to get blank stares. Jackson was one of the many eerie authors who influenced my taste today, her stories read alongside those of Poe, Asimov, and Bradbury. When I first read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” in eighth grade, I was struck by one primary thought: I wanted to write like that someday.
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