Beyond King, Lovecraft, Poe, James, and countless others, the true master of the spooky short story is Shirley Jackson. Born into an affluent family in the suburbs of San Francisco, Jackson's uneasy childhood and homelife in such idealized circumstances and surroundings left her with a gift to read into the internal stories of people. This vision makes many of Jackson's nearly 200 short stories, portraits of normal life subjected to the aberrations of paranoia, fear, and claustrophobia.
Making her debut with 1948's "The Lottery," a village welcomes its newest residents in the most chilling manner possible. Like Roald Dahl, Richard Matheson, and Ray Bradbury, Jackson's stories are often constructed upon the comfort and common aspects of life with a severe twist. "The Lottery" (and its reaction) predates the psychological horror of classic television like the timeless "The Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." When "The Lottery" was published in The New Yorker on June 26, 1948, it elicited nearly 300 letters from readers shocked that anyone would constitute an act of barbarism as "normal behavior."
Besieged by health problems, her writing slowed down dramatically when Science Fiction and Horror tales were all the rage. Thankfully, her 1959 novel "The Haunting of Hill House" became a silver-screen sensation. Following the unsettling "We Have Always Lived in The Castle" in 1962, 1965's "The Possibility of Evil" would be among those published after her death. Unlike many of her other stories (we heartily recommend "Dark Tales,") "The Possibility of Evil" carries with it the legacy of Southern Gothic literature especially William Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily" and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find."
Miss Adela Strangeworth, note her moniker, seems to rule her quaint little town. Jackson, always a narrator with a hint of mystery, paints this community as bucolic and friendly. Miss Adela takes a walk down Main Street and greets "tourists" who stop to admire her roses. These roses are the pride of her family and a symbolic link to the past - which Jackson hints was possibly better.
My grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street. This house, right here. My family has lived here for better than a hundred years. My grandmother planted these roses, and my mother tended them, just as I do.
We know older women like this. We can see them dressed in their classic outfits, fresh from the weekly visit to the salon, and see them carrying on the traditions of "Yes Ma'am," "after you," and "let me hold the door for you." However, Jackson is not celebrating the past or even sugar-coating it, because, Miss Adela's internal monologue turns to how people want them for themselves to "carry away into strange towns and strange streets." Jackson even tells us that "Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses."
Of course, those roses represent a lot of hard work. Time and energy to cultivate, water, and survive clipping them around those razor-sharp thorns. Miss Adela Strangeworth is not only celebrated for her roses but she is also revered for her elder status. At the grocery, avid shoppers do their best to greet her, and the staff know her and her needs by heart. When Mr. Lewis forgets that on Tuesday, she needs to be reminded to buy her tea - he is politely scolded. On her way home with her groceries, she runs into the Cranes whom Jackson/Strangeworth immediately describes as "the most infatuated young parents she had ever known." Much like the conversation with Mr. Lewis, her conversation with the Cranes is a smarmy comment accompanied (perhaps tempered) by a unique compliment. Nonetheless, Jackson is letting you in on yet another little secret. These roses and this elder status display an outward look of old-style respect for the world around you, while the inner focus is more prying and less mindful.
How does one assuage the efforts of the world outside to grow and change without them? This is a question that Faulkner asks in "Emily" where memories inside the Grierson must remain unchanged. Miss Adele Strangeworth sits down at her desk and writes letters. Pink, green, yellow, and blue pale paper, commonly found at the store in town. Even though her house is constantly in a state of elegance with its trimmed lawn, and bowls of roses on the tables, Miss Adele Strangeworth writes this correspondence with the gray stub of a pencil in plain print. This process pleases her - perhaps too much.
As long as evil existed unchecked in the world, it was Miss Strangeworth's duty to keep her town alert to it...The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded, and needed to be watched.
YOUR HONORABLE MENTION
Perhaps the reason why the previous story from Shirley Jackson is not taught in elementary Literature is not just because 1948's "The Lottery" makes a better choice. Perhaps it is because Southern Gothic is far better represented by those from the locality. Flannery O'Connor's 1953 short story "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is an equally chilling read that probably trades its post-WWII shock for modern appeal. Looking back on Miss Adele Strangeworth's town today, it is a bit like Haddonfield and the other fictional suburbs from slasher-era Horror film classics. Given one of these and even David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," you as a viewer will doubt the true bliss hidden within any well-manicured community forever.
So, what if you and the entire family piled into the car for a long-awaited vacation? With a long drive ahead, and in the claustrophobic confines of an automobile, taking a wrong turn and winding up on some old county dirt road (see also: Herschell Gordon Lewis' 1964 "Two Thousand Maniacs!") would be enough for already tense and unfamiliar proceedings to become heated. O'Connor knows this is the nature of family: to knowingly rub each other the wrong way. The "old lady" like Miss Adele Strangeworth establishes herself as a relic. She even lassoes her tentacles of control through mild manipulation and the settling-yet-unsettling announcement that it is "neither too hot nor too cold."
A quick stop for Red Sammy's barbecued sandwiches at The Tower is envisioned as a respite of freedom from the cramped car and perhaps one to either restart this trip on better footing or even lull everyone into full-stomach relaxation. Almost immediately, O'Connor makes this part of the journey uncomfortable enough that you want to head back to the car. And then, there's talk of The Misfit.
"A good man is hard to find," Red Sammy said. "Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unattached. Not no more."
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
NEW MUSIC This Week
TAYLOR SWIFT - 1989 (Taylor's Version)[BLUE 2LP/CD/CS](Republic) • The most carefully guarded secret of the week involves Taylor's re-version of reinvention as a Pop star in 2014's "1989." This being the second-to-last "Taylor's Version," Swift knows how to pull out all the stops. What was already among her most timeless productions (Jack Antonoff, Ryan Tedder, Max Martin and Shellback, Imogen Heap) is among her most autobiographical. For the first time, Swift told Big Machine that she would not do the prerequisite "country" song for them diving fully into Eighties synths and swish. Swift's "new wave" of ideas yielded massive success with five US Top Ten hits and her emergence as a feminist icon. This new "Taylor's Version" adds five new songs from the vault.
BLACK PUMAS - Chronicles of A Diamond [RED LP/CD](ATO) • For their long-awaited second album, the core unit of Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada has gelled into a full-on Seventies Soul outfit with enough touches of Folk/Americana (the acoustic guitar, mainly) that they should easily continue their reign at AAA. With Burton contributing more vocals and hints at direction here, "Chronicles" strives for the classic continuity of Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye where singles ("More Than A Love Song") exist outside on radio but elicit different feelings inside of a larger narrative.
MOUNTAIN GOATS - Jenny From Thebes [BLACK/YELLOW LP/CD] (Merge/AMPED) • "Headed for a season in exile/As the oracle predicted/According to reliable sources/In thirty days I'm getting evicted" from "Fresh Tattoo" is as indicative as it gets that John Darnielle has the most lyrical fun when conjoining elements of the distant past with the moments of ennui that we wish were history today. "Jenny From Thebes" is another almost showtunes-esque version of modern Mountain Goats. However, with horns and harmonies, Darnielle and company make it work. Bonus points for writing in a lyric mentioning "Copiah, MS."
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - The Silver Cord [COLOR 2LP/LP/CD](KGLW) • Best known for veering from one extreme to another, King Gizzard follows its heroic run of the luminous Psychedelia of "Ice, Death" and the Motorhead-metal madness of "PetroDragonic" with a simmering Synth Rock album. For "The Silver Cord" to be mostly Electronic devices whirring and whizzing around them, it is surprisingly human. Listening to their vocal harmonies, melodies, and counter-melodies obtain more presence ("Theia/The Silver Cord/Set") is equally dramatic to their aforementioned pair and more emotional.
REISSUES OF THE WEEK
MOTLEY CRUE - Shout at The Devil [PICTURE DISC](BMG Rights Mgmt) • Mötley Crüe to their credit, gave the Los Angeles Hair Metal scene a much-needed kick. 1981's self-released "Too Fast For Love" (and their US Festival set) is weirdly prescient of the 1988 firestorm from Guns N'Roses that eradicates all the hair spray-craving metal urchins. "Shout At The Devil" still does a great job at arming the Crüe for both the battle ahead ("Shout At the Devil" and "Too Young To Fall In Love") while also aiming their rays toward the oncoming wave of Pop/Metal ("Looks That Kill.") Nibbles at "Knock Em Dead, Kid" and "Ten Seconds To Love" were great for the Hit Parader/Circus set, but would see them improve on their ribald writing.
JOURNEY - Frontiers DLX [2LP/CD](Legacy) • 1983's "Frontiers" is Journey at the height of its powers. Having found the winning combination of producer/engineers Mike Stone and Kevin Elson (the diamond seller "Escape,") "Frontiers" is the beginning of Journey becoming the first multiplatinum artist to obsess over topping the previous record. In hindsight, "Frontiers" does not get close (that flaccid second side, compared with the side two cohesion on "Escape.") However, they get in some serious singles with the tense "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart") and "Chain Reaction" before falling prey to Jonathan Cain's ballads ("Faithfully" and "Send Her My Love.") In the end, they managed to cut off what could have been another hit in "Only The Young" (later used in the film "Visionquest") for an album that would only move six million units. This new version, adds "Young" and "Ask the Lonely" as a 7-inch single.
