Jun 2, 2020
Today we have a special guest joining us. Jill E. Anderson is a professor of English in Nashville, TN. She's currently at work on her book about domestic horror narratives from the Atomic Age, and, like us, she’s a big fan of Shirley Jackson’s work, especially her 1958 book The Sundial, which will be the topic of today’s discussion.
The novel begins with a mother returning home with her family from the funeral of her son, a son she most likely murdered in order to have controlling interest in the family home and property. What follows is a darkly comic domestic novel about a deeply dysfunctional family facing a possible apocalypse. Complicating matters is that the end of the world has been predicted by a ghost who will only speak to the most vulnerable and unreliable member of the family, but no one wants to ignore an opportunity to gain points and shore up power in the New Order. The apocalyptic prophecy is most likely a grand delusion. But what if it’s not?
Also discussed: dream casting and Lizzie Borden
Jill and Mel have a book coming out soon on Shirley Jackson, more information here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/shirley-jackson-and-domesticity-9781501356667/