web01.fireside.fm Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:19:11 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Shirley Jackson” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/shirley%20jackson Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:00:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 43: On Shirley Jackson https://www.weirdstudies.com/43 e8c7c7b4-3c5c-445c-b67e-55e556def4de Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:00:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 43 On Shirley Jackson full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel JF and Phil discuss two weird masterworks, "The Lottery" and "The Summer People" by the American horror luminary, Shirley Jackson. 1:15:52 yes Shirley Jackson's stories and novels rank among the greatest weird works produced in America during the 20th century. However, unlike authors such as Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft, Jackson didn't cut her teeth in the pulps but among the slick pages of such illustrious publications as The New Yorker. On the other hand, whether because her most famous novel uses the traditional ghost story form or because she was a woman, Jackson only rarely appears in the litanies of weird literature, where she most definitely belongs. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss two of Jackson's short works, "The Lottery" and "The Summer People." The conversation touches on such cheerful topics as human sacrifice, the use of tradition to license evil, and the alienness that can infect even the most familiar things ... when the stars are right. Header image by Hussein Twabi (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Storm_clouds_gathering.jpg), Wikimedia Commons REFERENCES The Weird Studies Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) Shirley Jackson (http://shirleyjackson.org/) Zoë Heller, “The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-haunted-mind-of-shirley-jackson),” review of Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (https://www.amazon.com/Shirley-Jackson-Rather-Haunted-Life-ebook/dp/B01BX7S014) American writer Mitch Horowitz (https://mitchhorowitz.com/) Rhonda Byrne, The Secret (https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Rhonda-Byrne/dp/1582701709) Stuart Wilde, [The Trick to Money is Having Some](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67752.TheTricktoMoneyIsHavingSome) Seymour Ginsburg, [Gurdjieff Unveiled](https://www.theosophical.org/files/resources/books/Gurdjieff/GUNVEILEDFINALWHOLEBOOK1305d.pdf) Randall Collins, Violence: A Microsociological Theory (https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8547.html) James Hillman, A Terrible Love of War (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078ZZYR56/) Homer, The Iliad Phil & JF at Octopus Books (https://www.patreon.com/posts/jf-martel-with-25148548) in Ottawa, 2015 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (http://seinfeld.co/library/meditations.pdf) “Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you.” David Lynch, Blue Velvet (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090756/) Shirley Jackson, lottery, summer people, weird fiction, human sacrifice, evil Shirley Jackson's stories and novels rank among the greatest weird works produced in America during the 20th century. However, unlike authors such as Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft, Jackson didn't cut her teeth in the pulps but among the slick pages of such illustrious publications as The New Yorker. On the other hand, whether because her most famous novel uses the traditional ghost story form or because she was a woman, Jackson only rarely appears in the litanies of weird literature, where she most definitely belongs. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss two of Jackson's short works, "The Lottery" and "The Summer People." The conversation touches on such cheerful topics as human sacrifice, the use of tradition to license evil, and the alienness that can infect even the most familiar things ... when the stars are right.

Header image by Hussein Twabi, Wikimedia Commons

REFERENCES

The Weird Studies Patreon
Shirley Jackson
Zoë Heller, “The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson,” review of Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
American writer Mitch Horowitz
Rhonda Byrne, The Secret
Stuart Wilde, The Trick to Money is Having Some
Seymour Ginsburg, Gurdjieff Unveiled
Randall Collins, Violence: A Microsociological Theory
James Hillman, A Terrible Love of War
Homer, The Iliad
Phil & JF at Octopus Books in Ottawa, 2015
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations “Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you.”
David Lynch, Blue Velvet

]]> Shirley Jackson's stories and novels rank among the greatest weird works produced in America during the 20th century. However, unlike authors such as Philip K. Dick and H.P. Lovecraft, Jackson didn't cut her teeth in the pulps but among the slick pages of such illustrious publications as The New Yorker. On the other hand, whether because her most famous novel uses the traditional ghost story form or because she was a woman, Jackson only rarely appears in the litanies of weird literature, where she most definitely belongs. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss two of Jackson's short works, "The Lottery" and "The Summer People." The conversation touches on such cheerful topics as human sacrifice, the use of tradition to license evil, and the alienness that can infect even the most familiar things ... when the stars are right.

Header image by Hussein Twabi, Wikimedia Commons

REFERENCES

The Weird Studies Patreon
Shirley Jackson
Zoë Heller, “The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson,” review of Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
American writer Mitch Horowitz
Rhonda Byrne, The Secret
Stuart Wilde, The Trick to Money is Having Some
Seymour Ginsburg, Gurdjieff Unveiled
Randall Collins, Violence: A Microsociological Theory
James Hillman, A Terrible Love of War
Homer, The Iliad
Phil & JF at Octopus Books in Ottawa, 2015
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations “Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove both of them together: your own existence and the things that happen to you.”
David Lynch, Blue Velvet

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