The lottery short story5/26/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Though it provoked much reaction and contained (a perceived) multitude of themes, The Lottery had a surprisingly impulsive and unarchitected origin. In a recent article, Slate reveals that Jackson wrote the story with apparent ease that, “it went quickly and easily, moving from beginning to end without pause”. Maybe for a certain movie more than half a century later? Because of its abrupt and shocking ending, some readers even thought the printer had mistakenly cut the story in half. There were even accusations of a publicity stunt. ![]() One correspondent believed to have discovered a hidden communist agenda, while others accused the author of perversion and “incredibly bad taste”. The Lottery provoked an inundation of letters to the New Yorker, which first published the story in 1948, some more bizarre than others. The lottery takes place in other towns around the same time and its purpose is unclear, however the consequences of having one’s name drawn, without spoiling the entire plot are, to say the least, dire. It centres around a small town, whose residents meet for the annual ‘lottery’. ![]() Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is one of the most famous American short stories and perhaps one of the most baffling. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |