Private Demons (Magill’s Literary Annual 1989)
At a glance:
- Author: Judy Oppenheimer
- First Published: 1988
- Type of Work: Literary biography
- Time of Work: 1916-1988
- Setting: San Francisco and Burlingame, California; Rochester and Syracuse, New York; and Bennington, Vermont
- Principal Characters: Shirley Jackson, Geraldine Bugbee Jackson, Leslie Jackson, Stanley Edgar Hyman, Laurence Hyman, Joanne “Jai,” Hyman, Sarah “Sally,” Hyman, Barry Hyman
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Authors or writers, Marriage, 1940’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, 1980’s, Novelists, Adultery
- Locales: San Francisco, CA, Bennington, VT, Syracuse, New York
A wallet-sized inset photograph on the jacket of Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson depicts her as a stylishly dressed, trim, and vibrant young woman, smiling sunward in obvious joy of life. Surrounding this snapshot, and filling two-thirds of the cover with its somber blue and black tones, is a haunting study by her son Laurence shortly before Jackson's death. Here, the camera portrays a woman aged beyond her actual forty-eight years, seriously overweight, pensive and withdrawn, perhaps a bit mad.
Together, the two pictures symbolize the range of Shirley...
[The entire page is 2403 words long]
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