Disappeared at the early age of 48, Shirley Jackson left a number of unpublished texts, loose among 52 boxes of documents housed by the Library of Congress, in the United States. A little over a year ago, Andrew F. Gulli, the editor of the literary magazine The Strandhad obtained one of these texts, entitled Adventure on a Bad Night.
The magazine does it once more, with two texts, this time quite short, entitled Charlie Roberts et Only Stand and Wait [Seulement attendre]. The first unfolds the conversation of two lovers who have just reconciled, around a dinner to be prepared, but drifts towards a third character who sows discord…
The second text, dazzling, details the reaction of a blind patient who, following an operation, regains his sight. Impatience is followed by apprehension, then raw fear.
According to Gulli, who signs an introduction to the two texts, Jackson ” was born far too early, given the books and short stories she loved to write, and her works proved to be much more suitable for later generations of readers than for those of her time ».
The latest issue of The Strand can be ordered on the journal’s website.
Photographie : The Strand et Shirley Jackson (Armen, CC BY SA 4.0)