Just an Ordinary Day [Hardcover]

Shirley Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1996

The stories in this edition represent the great diversity of her work, from humor to her shocking explorations of the human psyche. The tales range, chronologically, from the writings of her college days and residence in Greenwich Village in the early 1940s, to the unforgettably chilling stories from the period just before her death. They provide an exciting overview of the evolution of her craft through a progression of forms and styles, and add significantly to the body of her published work.



Just an Ordinary Day is a testament to how large a talent Shirley Jackson had and to the depth, breadth, and complexity of her writing. Though this remarkable literary life was cut short, Jackson clearly established a unique voice that has won a permanent place in the canon of outstanding American literature, and remains a powerful influence on generations of readers and writers.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The late Shirley Jackson (1919-65) is the author of the classic short story, "The Lottery," a dark, unforgettable tale of the unthinking and murderous customs of a small New England town. She is also the author of several American Gothic novels, such as We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House. Her atmospheric stories explore themes of psychological turmoil, isolation, and the inequity of fate. Just an Ordinary Day is a posthumous collection of 54 short stories (many of which have never been published), edited and introduced by two of Jackson's children. Jackson penned many of the stories in this volume for the popular press, for titles ranging from Fantasy and Science Fiction and The New Yorker to women's magazines such as Charm and Good Housekeeping. The disparity of the intended audience and the divergent styles result in an uneven collection of short stories, some that are outstanding and will be much appreciated by the reading public, others that hold interest only to the die-hard fan or chronicler of Jackson's work.

From Publishers Weekly

From the hilarious first story in this treat of a collection, in which a college girl tricks the devil (horns, hoofs and all) into selling her his soul, we know we are in Jackson territory-the Jackson of the classic short story "The Lottery" and the novel The Haunting of Hill House. For Jackson devotees, as well as first-time readers, this is a feast: more than half of the 54 short stories collected here have never been published before. The circumstances that inspired the volume are appropriately bizarre. According to Jackson's children, "a carton of cobwebbed files discovered in a Vermont barn" arrived in the mail one day without notice; along with the original manuscript of her novel, the box contained six unpublished stories. Other pieces, culled from family collections, and from archives and papers at the San Francisco Public Library and the Library of Congress, appeared in print only once, in various magazines. The stories are diverse: there are tales that pillory smug, self-satisfied, small-town ladies; chilling and murderous chronicles of marriage; witty romantic comedies; and tales that reveal an eerie juxtaposition of good and evil. The devil, who can't seem to get an even break, makes several appearances. Each of Jackson's ghost stories-often centered around a child, missing or dead-is beautifully anchored in and thoroughly shaped by a particular point of view. A few pieces that qualify as humorous takes on the predicaments of modern life add a relaxed, biographical element to a virtuoso collection. (Dec.) FYI: Jackson, who died in 1965 at age 48, is poised for a literary revival: the BBC is releasing a biography in the fall, and a new film version of The Haunting of Hill House is currently in production.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553103032
• ISBN-13: 978-0553103038
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco in 1919. She first received wide critical acclaim for her short story 'The Lottery', which was published in 1948. Her novels--which include The Sundial, The Bird's Nest, Hangsaman, The Road through the Wall, We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House--are characterised by her use of realistic settings for tales that often involve elements of horror and the occult. Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages are her two works of nonfiction. Come Along With Me is a collection of stories, lectures, and part of the novel she was working on when she died in 1965.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag by a short-story master, January 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Just an Ordinary Day (Hardcover)

You might be familiar with Shirley Jackson's writing; her novels "Hangsaman" and "The Haunting of Hill House" come to mind, and you would be hard pressed to find someone who had made it through middle and high school in this country without reading Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the eerie tale of sinister crowd psychology and tradition gone bad.

Now, we have the first collection of "new" works by Jackson since her death in 1965 at the age of 48. Some published only once thirty or more years ago, many never before published in any form, the stories that make up "Just An Ordinary Day" have been collected by Jackson's heirs from some unlikely sources -- crates at the Library of Congress, forgotten file drawers -- even an old barn in Vermont.

This is an uneven collection. Some of the stories seem unresolved works-in-progress, some mere sketches of ideas still needing to be fleshed out, and several are outright throwaways. But among the 52 pieces here are some remarkable examples of storytelling.

Jackson was a master of the updated gothic horror tale. She could take an everyday situation and inject it full of a sense of unease that would slowly grow into full-blown terror. It's hard to read her work without looking at the world slightly suspiciously. That happily married couple you know - are they thinking murderous thoughts? The quiet clerk in your office with all the cats - what dark secrets does he keep?

In the story "Nightmare," an early bright spot in the book, a young, single woman named Miss Morgan starts her day in the usual fashion: she dresses carefully in her nondescript clothes, goes to her nondescript office and performs her nondescript secretarial work. This day is like any other for her until her boss asks her to run a seemingly simple errand. From there on, it's pure Shirley Jackson. The people on the street, taxi cabs, barking dogs - even a simple supermarket promotional contest - all take on new, menacing overtones.

But while Jackson is known best for her darker work, this compilation shows that she was comfortable working in a broad mix of styles. "My Recollections of S. B. Fairchild" is a humorous story of the troubles of catalog shopping, and several romantic pieces include "The Omen" and "Come To The Fair." And of course, you'll find plenty of simply frightening storytelling here - most notably "The Story We Used To Tell," "The Good Wife" and "Jack The Ripper."

If a few of the offerings are not among Jackson's best (there is a reason, after all, why some stories are never published), this collection is still a lot of fun, and certainly adds to the body of Jackson's known work. She was a gifted, diligent writer, and "Just An Ordinary Day" is a rare chance to see deeper into the writer's strengths and weaknesses as well as a glimpse of an artist developing her craft.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely a mixed bag from a master storyteller., January 7, 2000

By 

Jarrod Kirkland - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories Of Shirley Jackson (Paperback)

As much as my friends and myself admire Jackson's classic works, I must agree that this is a pretty mediocre collection of short stories. Because many have not been seen for over 50 years however, they certainly belong in the library of every Shirley Jackson fan. "The Possibility of Evil" is stunning. Sometimes Shirley either tried too hard, had writer's block or simply experimented with the bizarre; whatever the reason, most of her works were ahead of her time and when she was good she was the BEST-there are, unfortunately too many rather dull and uninspired stories in this collection. Shirley was the female Stephen King of her day!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Discovery, November 9, 2005

By 

Notnadia (Currently upstairs.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories Of Shirley Jackson (Paperback)

Shirley Jackson was a gem. She was a suburban mom and wife who managed to find the time to crank out loads of short fiction as well as authoring The Haunting of Hill House, easily the greatest haunted house novel yet done. Jackson's uncollected, often unpublished stories are here in this volume that arrives in the world like a late Christmas present. Some of these tales are hilarious, a few are disturbing, many are weird, and a handful are touchingly personal and concern Jackson's life raising her kids in post-War America. (Those last types were the ones I enjoyed most of all.) Shirley Jackson left the world far too soon and her like won't be seen again, but this volume, compiled by her son, is a nice keepsake for her fans, who never knew most of this existed.