Shirley Jackson wrote award winning horror stories but her actual birthday remains a mystery. She was fortunate to enjoy success as a writer during her life. Her books and short stories were immensely popular because they explored the dark corridors of human nature. Her best-known tale, The Lottery,tells the story where one person in the community was hung every year as a community sacrifice for a good harvest. She received hundreds of letters of disbelief after it was published in The New Yorker. Jackson’s literary work has inspired many modern story tellers, including Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, Joanne Harris and Richard Matheson.
Two dates are circulated regarding Jackson’s birthdate. She was adamant in her decision to not share the details of her personal life. Her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, stated in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work, “She consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years.” He also attempted to correct the rumors that there was a dark side to Jackson’s life. According to Hyman, there was nothing complicated about Jackson. She was simply portraying human behavior as she saw it in the past and now in the rigid Cold War era.
Actually Jackson’s personal life was rather dark. Yes, she and her husband were gracious hosts who surrounded themselves with literary figures, but problems lurked beneath the surface. Even though she was a professional writer, Jackson’s husband insisted that she raise the children and handle the household alone. He controlled the finances and cheated serially on her with his literature students. In turn she drank, smoked cigarettes and gained too much weight. She ended seeing a psychiatrist who prescribed barbiturates and amphetamines, which together are a lethal combination.
In 2007 Jackson died of heart failure at the age of 48. In the same year the Shirley Jackson Award was established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. So long live the spirit of creative expression through literature especially where readers are compelled to explore the dark complexities of life.
On which of these two days do you think Jackson was born?
  #56 THU SAG 12/14/1916 |
 #09 SUN SAG 12/14/1919 |
The give-away is the way that Jackson responded to her husband’s neglect and abuse. A Sunday Scorpio female would have had more pride in what happened to her health and appearance by her smoking, drinking and overeating. A Thursday Scorpio female would not have noticed the harm she was causing herself, the reason being that she is more likely to be imprisoned by habits, especially those that were experiences as indulgences. Aside from these Dayology impressions, Wikipedia states that Jackson was born in 1916. She used the 1919 birthdate to “be” younger than her husband, who may have felt that it was unattractive to have an “older” wife. If so, it might be asked if as being a Thursday type posing as a Sunday type may have helped her achieve some fame, but instead it actually crashed her life.
