"Like Mother Used to Make": A meek man struggles to cope with his intrusive friend."The Daemon Lover": A woman frets over her upcoming wedding and searches for her missing fiancée."The Intoxicated": A drunk man and a teenage girl have a confrontation in the kitchen during a house party.And, indeed, characters named James Harris or at least similarly named ones appear or are referenced in nine of the stories. The original title for the collection was The Lottery, or, The Adventures of James Harris. Now, however, it's seen as well-written and chilling critique on the pointlessness of violence and has been heralded as one of the best American short stories ever written. Jackson received much hate mail for it, it caused many readers to cancel their New Yorker subscriptions, and it was briefly banned in some places. The collection's most famous story is " The Lottery", first published in The New Yorker in 1948, which concerns a seemingly normal small-town ritual that suddenly and horrifically turns deadly. Themes such as racism, sexism, the societal roles of women and children, and supernatural forces are presented and critiqued. The only collection of her stories to appear during the author's lifetime, this book deals with the darkness that lies under seemingly normal, ordinary life, most notably suburban neighborhoods and the big city. The Lottery and Other Stories is a 1949 short story collection written by Shirley Jackson.
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