SHIRLEY JACKSON &
“THE LOTTERY”
AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND
SHIRLEY JACKSON
• Born: December 14, 1916
• Died: August 8, 1965
• Best known for “The Lottery” and “The Haunting of Hill House”
• 1961: Edgar Allan Poe Award for “Louisa, Please”
S. JACKSON
• Born in San Francisco
• Wrote Poetry and Short Stories as a child
• Attended University of Rochester, withdrew and spent a year at home writing 1,000 words a day
• Graduated from Syracuse University
• Best known for writing in the Gothic Genre
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
“THE LOTTERY”
• Published in The New Yorker in 1948
• After World War 2 – very negative reaction
• “Explaining just what I had hoped the story to say is very difficult. I suppose, I hoped, by setting a
particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a
graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.”
EDGAR ALLAN POE &
“THE CASK OF
AMONTILLADO”
EDGAR ALLAN POE
• Born: January 19, 1809
• Died: October 7, 1849
• American author, poet, editor, literary critic
• Creator of the Detective genre
• More well known in Europe, particularly France, than in the US during his life.
"THE MOST DISCRIMINATING, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND
FEARLESS CRITIC UPON IMAGINATIVE WORKS WHO
HAS WRITTEN IN AMERICA"
-JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
RICHARD CONNELL &
“THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME”
AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND
RICHARD CONNELL
• Born: October 17, 1893
• Died: November 22, 1949
• American
• Author, Journalist, and Screenwriter
• Nominated for an Academy Award: 1942, Meet John Doe
R. CONNELL
• Born in Poughkeepsie, NY
• Father was an editor and reporter for local paper
• Attended Georgetown and Harvard
• Served in WW1 and wrote his camp’s newspaper
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
“THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME”
• First published in 1924
• After World War 1, during the Roaring Twenties
• Affects of the roaring Twenties
• Boredom
• Secrecy
• Excess
“THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME”
• Real Life connections
• Robert Hansen
• Serial Killer 1980’s
• Kidnapped women then released them armed with a knife and mini rifle
• Haynes Noel, Bob Gurnsey, & Charles Gaines
• Discussed gaines 1976 trip to Africa to hunt buffalo
• Inspired by TMDG, created paintball
JAMES HURST &
“THE SCARLET IBIS”
JAMES HURST
• Born: January 1, 1922
• Died: October 24, 2013
• Studied Chemical Engineering
• Served in WWII, then pursued a career in Opera
• Wrote in his spare time