--- title: Shirley Jackson at 100: What 1950s and '60s Critics Said description: On the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, revisit the original reviews of her haunting stories. canonical: https://time.com/4595609/shirley-jackson-100-reviews/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-14T14:15:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:13:08.216Z article:section: History og:title: This Is What 1950s and '60s Critics Said About Shirley Jackson's Work og:description: On the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, revisit the original reviews of her haunting stories og:url: https://time.com/4595609/shirley-jackson-100-reviews/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt322c6e381f3996d9/6988b254cf40a82566c45cff/shirley-jackson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Shirley Jackson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is What 1950s and '60s Critics Said About Shirley Jackson's Work twitter:description: On the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, revisit the original reviews of her haunting stories twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt322c6e381f3996d9/6988b254cf40a82566c45cff/shirley-jackson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Shirley Jackson at 100: What Critics Said About Her Work by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 14, 2016 2:15 PM UTC  Shirley Jackson, the author of "The Road Through the Wall", is seen in this April 16, 1951 photo. Shirley Jackson, the author of "The Road Through the Wall", is seen in this April 16, 1951 photo.AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 14, 2016 2:15 PM UTC _A full century after the birth of the author Shirley Jackson—who was born on Dec. 14, 1916—her name remains synonymous with the psychological drama of her stories and novels, most famously the_ Hunger Games _precursor_ The Lottery_. During Jackson’s short career, before her death at 48 of a heart attack, critics often noted with surprise that her work “came from a contented wife and good-humored mother of four,” as her TIME obituary_ [_noted_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-08-20/page/86/)_. Today, those expressions of surprise can be noteworthy for their sexist undertones (“_[_When busy Housewife Shirley Jackson finds time for a new novel…”_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1959-10-19/page/112/)_), but they also reveal one of the truths of Jackson’s fiction: even within the most ordinary of circumstances, danger may lurk._ _Here’s what TIME’s critics said about some of her most chilling work:_ **The Lottery and Other Stories (1949)** --- > “” --- [_Read the full review_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1949-05-23/page/107/) **Hangsaman (1951)** --- > “” --- [_Read the full review_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1951-04-23/page/116/) **The Bird’s Nest (1954)** --- > “” --- [_Read the full review_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1954-06-21/page/110/) **The Haunting of Hill House (1959)** --- > “” --- [_Read the full review_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1959-10-19/page/112/) **We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)** --- > “” --- [_Read the full review_](http://time.com/vault/issue/1962-09-21/page/95/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4595609/shirley-jackson-100-reviews/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4595609/shirley-jackson-100-reviews/"},"headline":"Shirley Jackson at 100: What Critics Said About Her Work","datePublished":"2016-12-14T14:15:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:13:08.216Z","description":"On the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, revisit the original reviews of her haunting stories","url":"https://time.com/4595609/shirley-jackson-100-reviews/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt322c6e381f3996d9/6988b254cf40a82566c45cff/shirley-jackson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt322c6e381f3996d9/6988b254cf40a82566c45cff/shirley-jackson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shirley Jackson","caption":"Shirley Jackson","creditText":"AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4595609/shirley-jackson-100-reviews/","name":"Shirley Jackson at 100: What Critics Said About Her Work"}}]}] ```