1. Shirley Jackson & “The Lottery”

2. Author’s Background

3. Shirley Jackson Born: December 14, 1916 Died: August 8, 1965
Best known for “The Lottery” and “The Haunting of Hill House”
1961: Edgar Allan Poe Award for “Louisa, Please”

4. S. Jackson Born in San Francisco
Wrote Poetry and Short Stories as a child
Attended University of Rochester, withdrew and spent a year at home writing 1,000 words a day
Graduated from Syracuse University
Best known for writing in the Gothic Genre

5. Historical Background

6. “The Lottery” Published in The New Yorker in 1948
After World War 2 – very negative reaction
“Explaining just what I had hoped the story to say is very difficult. I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.”

7. Edgar Allan Poe & “The Cask of Amontillado”

8. Edgar Allan Poe Born: January 19, 1809 Died: October 7, 1849
American author, poet, editor, literary critic
Creator of the Detective genre
More well known in Europe, particularly France, than in the US during his life.

9. "the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America"
-James Russell Lowell

10. Richard Connell & “The Most Dangerous Game”

11. Author’s Background

12. Richard Connell Born: October 17, 1893 Died: November 22, 1949
American
Author, Journalist, and Screenwriter
Nominated for an Academy Award: 1942, Meet John Doe

13. R. Connell Born in Poughkeepsie, NY
Father was an editor and reporter for local paper
Attended Georgetown and Harvard
Served in WW1 and wrote his camp’s newspaper

14. Historical Background

15. “The Most Dangerous Game”
First published in 1924
After World War 1, during the Roaring Twenties
Affects of the roaring Twenties
Boredom
Secrecy
Excess

16. “The Most Dangerous Game”
Real Life connections
Robert Hansen
Serial Killer 1980’s
Kidnapped women then released them armed with a knife and mini rifle
Haynes Noel, Bob Gurnsey, & Charles Gaines
Discussed gaines 1976 trip to Africa to hunt buffalo
Inspired by TMDG, created paintball

17. James Hurst & “The Scarlet Ibis”

18. James Hurst Born: January 1, 1922 Died: October 24, 2013
Studied Chemical Engineering
Served in WWII, then pursued a career in Opera
Wrote in his spare time