May 30th
My first experience with works by Shirley Jackson was the semi-autobiographical “Raising Demons” and “Living Among the Savages” which are collections of funny stories about raising a family in rural New England in the 50s. Interesting mostly from a sociological standpoint as a description of a rather unusual American family at that time and so full of warmth and joy. When I first read “The Lottery” as an assignment in high school I was stunned — that was so much different writing, so dark and disturbing. The same with “We Have Always Lived in a Castle” — a classic American Gothic horror story.
“The Haunting of a Hill House” is in a lot of ways similar to that previous work by Shirley Jackson. A group of people signs for a summer experiment and exploration of a supposedly haunted house. Not much really happens there outside typical banging on the walls, strange writings on the wall, etc. More important is the development of people staying there — they are trying to be civil, funny and understanding of each other, but there is a lot of tension. And that tension is becoming more and more unbearable. There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding between them that goes unspoken and unresolved. The way they talk to a protagonist and the snippets of conversation that she overhears when she is not around don’t make any sense. There is something missing, some clue that is still hidden. And then — the last page, or more exactly last paragraph when suddenly the action and real horror starts. And then the last sentence…
I don’t recall any other book that had this kind of impact on me, where after reading the last sentence I immediately had to go back and rethink all that I previously read in it. I had to deconstruct all that I took from this book as I was reading it and unexpectedly see it in a completely different light. Finally, the previous loose ends made sense, and I could, at last, see how much darker the story actually was. A masterstroke and masterpiece from the writer.
