Shirley Jackson’s works have been adapted and scrutinized for decades but have we always done her work justice? For Jezebel, Emily Alford examines the hazards of loneliness seen in Jackson’s books like The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and the ways their various film and TV adaptations have missed the mark. “The question of what Jackson’s work is ‘about’ is one that persists over half a century since much of it was published,” Alford writes, “yet the recent revival of interest hasn’t seemed to push us any closer to ‘getting it,’ at least not in any screen adaptation we’ve had so far.”
The Mad and Feral Works of Shirley Jackson
