No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

Born Shirley Hardie Jackson in San Francisco California to Leslie and Geraldine Jackson Shirley and her family lived in the community of Burlingame California an affluent middle-class suburb that would feature in Shirley's first novel The Road Through the Wall (1948). In addition to the aforementioned Hangsaman her other novels include The Bird's Nest (1954) and The Sundial (1958). Hill House not sane stood by itself against its hills holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.

She has influenced such writers as Neil Gaiman Stephen King Nigel Kneale and Richard Matheson. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work as evidenced by Hyman's statement that Shirley Jackson "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned 'The Lottery' and Shirley Jackson felt that they at least understood the story". In her critical biography of Jackson Lenemaja Friedman notes that when "The Lottery" was publiShirley Jacksond in the June 26 1948 issue of The New Yorker it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received".