From reflection to reflection – a review of the book “Lottery”

Neil Gaiman called the author of The Lottery extraordinary, and Stephen King rated the woman as an accomplished writer. Such recommendations may make you eagerly reach for the collection of short stories by Shirley Jackson, an American writer who has been deceased for many years, published by the Poznań-based Replika publishing house.

Past

Twenty-five of the author’s stories have been collected in a collection of less than four hundred pages. Lottery is a perverse title, revealing little, and yet so important in the context of the writer’s work. One of the stories in the aforementioned collection is about the ritual game of chance, and I would indicate this story as one of the most interesting. In a small American town, everyone knows their names. As part of the mystery lottery, once a year the names of all the current residents are written on cards and then placed in a wooden box. The draw allows you to choose a winner; but no one wants to become one. Why? I can’t reveal that to you. As a curiosity, however, it is worth recalling that when the New York Times published the Lottery, it caused a social scandal – readers began to give up subscriptions, and the author was lynched in public, even threatening letters were sent to her. Nevertheless, years passed and Shirley’s work became popular, it was appreciated, among others, by debuting writers – Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, for whom she became an undisputed inspiration.

Present

The stories collected under the collective title Lottery make up one of the most important collections in the history of literature of the twentieth century. In the United States, Jackson’s work is liked and complimented, in Poland – not necessarily known. The Replika publishing house allows you to get to know Jackson’s flagship works (apart from the Lottery, we ‘ve also always lived in a castle and the Haunted House on the Hill)), their styles and conventions. The reader who decides to read the collection will surely be satisfied. We should not talk about the terror as such (ghosts or monsters), but rather about strange stories that move the recipient and remain in his memory for a long time. The true nature of man was exposed by Jackson in her work, and the way the writer did this is likely to touch the hearts of modern readers.

Future

Poznań Publishing House Replika has decided to publish a collection of Jackson stories under an abbreviated title ( The Lottery and other stories ). However, this does not change the fact that the hard cover, decorated with graphics by Krzysztof Wroński, as well as Mira Michałowska’s translation are integral parts of the publication and deserve a distinction. Lottery is another part of the author’s trilogy, which was released in Poland in 2021. So far, a review of The Haunted House on the Hill has appeared on the website , and a review of the novel We’ve Always Lived in a Castle will be published soon . In my opinion, it is really worth getting acquainted with these proposals; check it out!