- Dark Tales

by Shirley Jackson

Other authorsOttessa Moshfegh (Foreword)
Paperback, 2017

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Collection

Publication

Penguin Classics (2017), 208 pages

Description

"For the first time in one volume, a collection of Shirley Jackson's scariest stories, with a foreword by PEN/Hemingway Award winner Ottessa Moshfegh After the publication of her short story "The Lottery" in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller. This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the "The Possibility of Evil" and "The Summer People." In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There's something sinister in suburbia. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member SumisBooks
Devilishly dark.
"After her short story 'The Lottery' was published in the New Yorker in 1948, Shirley Jackson quickly established a reputation as a master storyteller of horror. this collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling tales, including 'The
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Possibility of Evil' and 'The Summer People'. In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide-and-seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts, and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In The haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There's something sinister in suburbia."
I have the penguin classics version of this book and at first the cover art did not make sense to me. But then I read the first story and now the cover art makes me laugh every time I see it. These are dark tales yes, but some I find rather humorous in nature. Irony always strikes me as funny.
This was my introduction to Shirley Jackson's writings. I have to say that her writing style is very clean and, though she paints a vivid picture, is also very to the point. I definitely look forward to reading more of her works in the near future.
I would recommend these stories to just about everyone considering that most of these stories have a PG rating in the horror genre.
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LibraryThing member AngelaJMaher
The title says it all. These are dark tales, but not all are what you would usually class as horror. There is a sense of menace, suspense or mystery to them all, but it's more an unsettling feeling they give rather than fear. A misleading sense of normality gives rise to strange or unexpected
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revelations in these exceedingly well written tales.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2017-09-28

Physical description

208 p.; 7.69 inches

ISBN

0143132008 / 9780143132004
Page: 0.6674 seconds