Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

[brextyn33]

Is Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" literary or commercial?

[PeterL]

Yes, it is one or the other or both, depending on one's view of such things.

[lisahead]

I think it's literary-scary! Ever read "We have always Lived in the Castle"?

[jlb4tlb]

Is Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" literary or commercial?


Its a fine story. One of her best. I have no clue what that makes it.

Jeff

[JBI]

Literary. How many mainstream readers do you know that read short stories. Especially classic short stories.

[jlb4tlb]

Literary. How many mainstream readers do you know that read short stories. Especially classic short stories.

Greetings

For what its worth, I read mainstream fiction, horror fiction, Science fiction and detective fiction as well as classic fiction. Short stories are in my mind the over looked aspect of writing.

Jeff

[rmd]

Is Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" literary or commercial?

The looks like a question that might appear on a test. "The Lottery" has certainly been commercially successful since the day it first appeared in the pages of The New Yorker magazine. And it's hard if not impossible to find an American Lit textbook that doesn't include "The Lottery."

But is it literary, as in being a work of literature, or merely fiction? I don't think there is any objective way to determine that. Entirely in the eyes of the beholder.

[HotKarl]

The answer is both. Just because a fictional work is popular doesn't mean its not savvy writing. While we tend to look at this story from a literary standpoint nowadays (it's alway anthologized), we also forget that this story was very popular when first published. We're talking about a time when TV wasn't in every house yet. Lots of people read "The New Yorker," "The Atlantic," "The Saturday Evening Post," etc. for entertainment. Shirley Jackson was something of a celebrity. Readers sort of looked at her the same way we look at Martha Stewart (before the prison stuff anyways). She had all kinds of stories published. She was definitely a commercial success.

That said, "The Lottery" possesses literary elements. The way it's writing in 3rd person POV to conceal the surprise, the theme of the dangers of following blind customs, the use of Gothic motifs--yes, "The Lottery" is very finely writen.

[jlb4tlb]

The answer is both. Just because a fictional work is popular doesn't mean its not savvy writing. While we tend to look at this story from a literary standpoint nowadays (it's alway anthologized), we also forget that this story was very popular when first published. We're talking about a time when TV wasn't in every house yet. Lots of people read "The New Yorker," "The Atlantic," "The Saturday Evening Post," etc. for entertainment. Shirley Jackson was something of a celebrity. Readers sort of looked at her the same way we look at Martha Stewart (before the prison stuff anyways). She had all kinds of stories published. She was definitely a commercial success.

That said, "The Lottery" possesses literary elements. The way it's writing in 3rd person POV to conceal the surprise, the theme of the dangers of following blind customs, the use of Gothic motifs--yes, "The Lottery" is very finely writen.

Greetings

The Story had a extremely negative response when it was first published. The following is from Wikipedia;

"The Lottery" is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in the June 28, 1948 issue of The New Yorker. The only change New Yorker editors made to Jackson's original manuscript was to alter the date in the story to make it one day before the date of the magazine's publication.

The magazine and Jackson herself were surprised by the highly negative reader response. Many readers cancelled their subscriptions, and hate mail continued to arrive throughout the summer. In South Africa the story was banned. Since then, it has been accepted as a classic American short story, subject to many critical interpretations and media adaptations."