Charles & The Night We All Had the Grippe by Shirley Jackson ~ Short Stories

[JoanP]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome.

Short Story Event - JUNE/JULY Book Club Online

It is said that a good short story should include: * a strong theme, * a fascinating plot, * a fitting structure, * unforgettable characters, * a well-chosen setting, * an appealing style.  Let's consider these elements as we discuss the following stories.  Is it necessary to include them all in a successful story? 
 

Notice that the titles are all links to the stories.

Discussion Schedule:
June 1 -June 9: *The Book of The Funny Smells--and Everything (1872) by Eleanor H Abbott *The Necklace or The Diamond Necklace (1880) -  by Guy de Maupassant
  *A Pair of Silk Stockings (1896) by Kate Chopin
June 10- 14: *Babylon Revisited (1931) by F.Scott Fitzgerald
June 15- 17: *First Confession (1939) by Frank O'Connor
June 18-20: *A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1953) by Flannery O'Connor 
June 21-24: *The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973) by Ursula LeGuin
June 25-28: *The Half-skinned Steer (1997) by Annie Proulx
June 29-July 2 *The Bear Came Over the Mountain(1999) by Alice Munro
July 5 - July 8:  *The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chechov 1899
July 9 - July 13?:  *The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1890
July 14 - July 17:  *Chip Off the Old Block by Wallace Stegner1890
July 18 - July 21: *Charles &   *The Night We All Had Grippe by Shirley Jackson 1949,1952
 

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"Charles"
"The Night We All Had Grippe"


by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) is not generally associated with humor. She is best known for  her gruesome short story, The Lottery.  When "The Lottery" was published in the June 26, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received  an outpouring of reactions and questions.  What did it mean?  In Come along With Me,  Joyce Carol Oates presents a collection of Jackson's novels and stories that, from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, "wittily remade the genre of psychological horror for an alienated, postwar America." Most of us cannot imagine Shirley Jackson as a humorist after having read "the Lottery." That same year she turned to humorous tales of family life - and  published “Charles,” the hilarious sketch that launched Jackson’s secondary career as a domestic humorist. Was this a response, a reaction to the reception "The Lottery" had received?  Four years later in 1952 she wrote the humorous, quite autobiographical "The Night We all had the Grippe." Shirley Jackson died in 1965 at the age of 48, leaving the children we have come to know in these stories. Shirley Jackson's Obituary Let's consider these two humorous short stories -  first "Charles" and then "The Grippe Mystery" and see if we can detect any of the qualities Jackson exhibited in "The Lottery" that indicate these stories were written by the same author!

Topics for Consideration

July 18 - July 21

1. Had you read "The Lottery" before?   What do you remember about it most? 2. Do you think Shirley Jackson must have shocked her readers with "Charles" published immediately after  "The Lottery?"  Did you enjoy her sense of humor in this story? How would you describe it? 3.   Are parents the last to realize their offspring's shortcomings? 4.  Do you think there's a reason Jackson exaggerates the bad behaviour, (really bad behaviour) for the sake of telling the tale - or did the boy really have such a difficult time adjusting to school?  Did he act out, just to get his parents attention and then keep escalating the bad behaviour when he wasn't getting it?   6. Do you think Laurie's behaviour and his lack of respect ought to have been taken more seriously by his parents? 7. When did we stop calling flu "grippe?"  Are there other indications that this story was written in the 50"s? 8. Do you see any similar elements in "The Lottery" as you find in "Charles" and "The Grippe Mystery"?

DL Contact: JoanP

[JoanP]

Still hunting for more of the humerous short stories  Shirley Jackson wrote about her children - She wrote *so many, but they are part of collections, under copyright..see the list below. I did find the last short story she wrote,
published on December 18, 1965 in the Saturday Evening Post,  a few months after her death, it won the 1966 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery short story.  

 

The Possibility of Evil

*Shirley Jackson's short stories:

In 1996, a crate of unpublished stories was found in the barn behind Jackson's house. The best of those stories, along with previously uncollected stories from various magazines, were published in the 1996 collection, Just an Ordinary Day. The title was taken from one of her stories for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, "One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts"

From the publishers of the collection, Just An Ordinary Day...

For Jackson devotees, as well as first-time readers, this is a feast: more than half of the 54 short stories collected here have never been published before. The circumstances that inspired the volume are appropriately bizarre. According to Jackson's children, "a carton of cobwebbed files discovered in a Vermont barn" arrived in the mail one day without notice; along with the original manuscript of her novel, the box contained six unpublished stories. Other pieces, culled from family collections, and from archives and papers at the San Francisco Public Library and the Library of Congress, appeared in print only once, in various magazines. The stories are diverse: there are tales that pillory smug, self-satisfied, small-town ladies; chilling and murderous chronicles of marriage; witty romantic comedies; and tales that reveal an eerie juxtaposition of good and evil. The devil, who can't seem to get an even break, makes several appearances. Each of Jackson's ghost stories-often centered around a child, missing or dead-is beautifully anchored in and thoroughly shaped by a particular point of view. A few pieces that qualify as humorous takes on the predicaments of modern life add a relaxed, biographical element to a virtuoso collection. (Dec.) FYI: Jackson, who died in 1965 at age 48, is poised for a literary revival: the BBC is releasing a biography in the fall, and a new film version of The Haunting of Hill House is currently in production

Short stories (incomplete list)
 
"About Two Nice People," Ladies Home Journal, July 1951.
 "Account Closed," Good Housekeeping, April 1950.
 "After You, My Dear Alphonse." New Yorker, Jan 1943.
 "Afternoon in Linen." New Yorker, Sept 4, 1943.
 "All the Girls Were Dancing," Collier’s, Nov 11, 1950.
 "All She Said Was Yes," Vogue, Nov 1, 1962.
 "Alone in a Den of Cubs," Woman’s Day, Dec 1953.
 "Aunt Gertrude," Harper’s, April 1954.
 "The Bakery." Peacock Alley, Nov 1944.
 "Birthday Party." Vogue, 1 Jan 1963.
 "The Box." Woman’s Home Companion, Nov 1952.
 "Bulletin," Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Mar 1954.
 "Call Me Ishmael." Spectre, Fall 1939 v1 n1.
 "A Cauliflower in Her Hair." Mademoiselle, Dec 1944.
 "Charles," Mademoiselle, July 1948.
 "The Clothespin Dolls." Woman’s Day, Mar 1953.
 "Colloquy." New Yorker, Aug 5, 1944.
 "Come Dance with Me in Ireland." New Yorker, May 15, 1943.
 "Concerning…Tomorrow." Syracusan, Mar 1939 v4 n6.
 "The Daemon Lover ['The Phantom Lover']," Woman's Home Companion, Feb 1949.
 "Daughter, Come Home." 'Charm, May 1944.
 "Day of Glory." Woman’s Day, Feb 1953.
 "Don’t Tell Daddy." Woman’s Home Companion, Feb 1954.
 "Every Boy Should Learn to Play the Trumpet." Woman’s Home Companion, Oct 1956.
 "Family Magician." Woman’s Home Companion, Sept 1949.
 "A Fine Old Firm." New Yorker, Mar 4, 1944.
 "The First Car is the Hardest." Harper’s, Feb 1952.
 "The Friends." Charm, Nov 1953.
 "The Gift." Charm, Dec 1944.
 "A Great Voice Stilled," Playboy, Mar 1960.
 "Had We but World Enough." Spectre, Spring 1940 v1 n3.
 "Happy Birthday to Baby." Charm, Nov 1952.
 "Home." Ladies Home Journal, Aug 1965.
 "The Homecoming." Charm, April 1945.
 "The House." Woman’s Day, May 1952.
 "I Don't Kiss Strangers." Just an Ordinary Day (Bantam, 1995)
 ”An International Incident.” New Yorker, Sept 12, 1943.
 ”I.O.U.” Just an Ordinary Day (Bantam, 1995)
 "The Island." New Mexico Quarterly Review, 1950 v3.
 ”It Isn’t the Money.” New Yorker, Aug 25, 1945.
 "It’s Only a Game." Harper’s, May 1956.
 "Journey with a Lady." Harper’s, July 1952.
 "Liaison a la Cockroach." Syracusan, April 1939 v4 n7.
 "Little Dog Lost." Charm, Oct 1943.
 "A Little Magic." Woman’s Home Companion, Jan 1956.
 "Little Old Lady." Mademoiselle, Sept 1944.
 "The Lottery." New Yorker, June 26, 1948.
 "Louisa, Please Come Home." Ladies’ Home Journal, May 1960.
 "The Lovely Night." Collier’s, 8 April 1950.
 "Lucky to Get Away." Woman’s Day, Aug 1953.
 "Men with Their Big Shoes," Yale Review, Mar 1947
 "The Missing Girl," Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dec 1957.
 "Monday Morning." Woman’s Home Companion, Nov 1951.
 "The Most Wonderful Thing." Good Housekeeping, June 1952.
 "Mother is a Fortune Hunter." Woman’s Home Companion, May 1954.
 "Mrs. Melville Makes a Purchase." Charm, Oct 1951.
 "My Friend." Syracusan, Dec 1938 v4 n4.
 "My Life in Cats." Spectre, Summer 1940 v1 n4.
 "My Life with R.H. Macy." New Republic, 22 Dec 1941.
 "My Son and the Bully." Good Housekeeping, Oct 1949.
 "Nice Day for a Baby." Woman’s Home Companion, July 1952.
 "Night We All Had Grippe." Harper’s, Jan 1952.
 "Nothing to Worry About." Charm, July 1953.
 "The Omen," Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mar 1958.
 "On the House." New Yorker, Oct 30, 1943.
 "One Last Chance to Call." McCall’s, April 1956.
 "One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts," Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan 1955.
 "The Order of Charlotte’s Going." Charm, July 1954.
 "Pillar of Salt" Mademoiselle, Oct 1948.
 "The Possibility of Evil," The Saturday Evening Post, Dec 18, 1965.
 "Queen of the May." McCall’s, April 1955.
 "The Renegade," Harper's, Nov 1949.
 "Root of Evil." Fantastic, March–April 1953.
 "The Second Mrs. Ellenoy." Reader’s Digest, July 1953.
 "Seven Types of Ambiguity," Story, 1943.
 "Shopping Trip." Woman’s Home Companion, June 1953.
 "The Smoking Room." Just an Ordinary Day (Bantam, 1995)
 "The Sneaker Crisis." Woman’s Day, Oct. 1956.
 "So Late on Sunday Morning." Woman’s Home Companion, Sept 1953.
 "The Strangers." Collier’s, 10 May 1952.
 "Strangers in Town." Saturday Evening Post, 30 May 1959.
 "Summer Afternoon." Just an Ordinary Day (Bantam, 1995)
 "The Summer People," Charm, 1950.
 "The Third Baby’s the Easiest." Harper’s, May 1949.
 "The Tooth." The Hudson Review, 1949 v1 n4.
 "Trial by Combat." New Yorker, Dec 16, 1944.
 "The Very Strange House Next Door." Just an Ordinary Day (Bantam, 1995)
 "The Villager," The American Mercury, Aug 1944.
 "Visions of Sugarplums." Woman’s Home Companion, Dec 1952.
 "When Things Get Dark." New Yorker, Dec 30, 1944.
 "Whistler’s Grandmother." New Yorker, May 5, 1945.
 "The Wishing Dime." Good Housekeeping, Sept 1949.
 "Worldly Goods." Woman’s Day, May 1953.
 "Y and I." Syracusan, Oct 1938 v4 n2.
 "Y and I and the Ouija Board." Syracusan, Nov 1938 v4 n3.
 "The Witch." 1949.

[JudeS]

Thanks JoanP for all the info about Shirley Jackson.
Never having been aware of her work before, I am now fascinated.
The story about the ashtray was amazing.
 I will be following her revival.
Hope there are more stories in this short story series coming  down the pike. I will miss them  when they stop.

What a successful discussion.
One of the best!

[JoanP]

 I'm as fascinated and amazed as you are, Jude at the complex and unhappy woman we see emerging in these stories of hers - even the humorous ones we've enjoyed reading.  I'm even seeing "Charles" in a different light now, knowing how unhappy Shirley Jackson was, not even going out of that big house, feeling  inferior as she did to the other women in the town.  I can see her as the mom in her "Charles" story...learning that the other moms had all been talking about her own son's terrible behavior in the school behind her back.  (Or her husband's terrible behavior at the college.)  Obviously she had no friends who clued her in.My only hope is that the stories brought her some degree of satisfaction, if not happiness.

And though I don't believe she intended to kill her husband...I hope she was able to relieve  some of the pent-up rage within, as she wrote The Possibility of Evil
Yes, let's do Short Stories again - next summer, maybe?  Thank you - thank everyone for helping to select these stories keeping the discussions lively, taking us places where we never would have been on our own.  And very special thanks to our DLs who took turns at the helm through June and July.

We'll leave this discussion and the other short story discussions open another week for further comment.  Again, thanks everyone!

[pedln]

Although I couldn't keep up with all of them, I'm glad we did the short story series.  Not only were the stories good to read, but I think I learned a lot about their authors, and am now ready to learn more about them.  Especially Shirley Jackson and Wallace Stegner.

[JoanP]

Pedln, what stands out foremost in my mind is just how autobiographical nearly all of the short stories turned out to be. Did anyone else notice that? Does that  say anything about short stories in general?  Or do you think it was just coincidental in the stories we selected?

[BarbStAubrey]

I think all novels are from a slice of life the author encounters however, I get a short story a week delivered to my email and most are not autobiographical - also, there is a site for the most recent published short stories from UK - problem there was no link to an individual story - about a week ago there is now a link to the one recent short stories that is being made into a movie with Hugh Grant.

The story is about a middle class folks with two kids in college who are financially struggling and on the brink. On the way home from visiting one of the kids in collage at a stop someone gives them  a brass tea kettle that, after used at home, the wife gradually realizes if they genuinely hurt themselves or speak of their awful feelings the kettle produces money. They realize for each hurt the next must be more severe and the more severe the hurt the more money the tea kettle produces. Soon they are sharing all their complaints with each other and their secrets that hurt each other and after they wife hits herself with an iron they hit each other. The hitting becomes really severe with broken bones - the kids come home and see their parents all banged up and the parents say they had walked into doors etc. With their realization  that more and more money can be extracted the story ends with them gleefully nearly kill each other and decide to kill a neighbor. You get the impression they will then go on a killing spree.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935902/

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/BrasTeap.shtml

Sounds to me this story is more of a political statement and how we went into Iraq, planned before 9/11, for control of the oil and how we are killing ourselves through our daily habits for our own ease and profit as well as cooperate profit that has and is affecting the environment. Many of us still buy what is cheapest without thinking of the human toil by workers in Asia nor do we go to the effort to find and only eat grass fed beef since mega farms are putting out of the possible profits fpr a small farmer because we have mega feed lots and mega land areas only producing one crop using underground water and altered seed to keep bugs away etc. etc. During WWII in order to take care of a need we had victory gardens today we will slip into what is easy without the determination to take on what is hurting us, our fellow countrymen or the workers of the world so we are all culpable hurting each other to satisfy the kettle.

[PatH]

That reminds me of D. H. Lawrence's 1926 story The Rocking Horse Winner.  It describes a family which always seems to be short of money.  The young son finds that he can predict the winners of horse races by riding his rocking horse furiously until he knows.  He secretly bets, winning more and more money, which he funnels to his parents anonymously.  But they only spend more and need more.

I won't say how it ends, but it's a very good story.

[JudeS]

Do we want to take an opinion poll about which two stories we liked the most and the ones we liked the least?

Could be interesting.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, I remember that story PatH - nothing really new is there - someone sacrificing themsleves for runaway keeping up with the Jones'

Jude do you have a favorite - I tried and for each there was something I really really liked and something that made me feel queasy and sometimes, down right horrified. Even the last one, without knowing her personal life story. it was so much mixing and tangles that for me it was not an easy read - but then I am not a big puzzle fan. Reminded me of one of those monkey puzzles.

[JoanP]

I hunted for something about  the author of "The Brass Teapot" - without any success, Barb. I'd wanted to see if there was any sort of autobiographical link...as far out as that might sound.  You have a vivid imagination to arrive at your interpretation.

[JoanP]

The D.H Lawrence story of The Rocking Horse Winner is a different matter.  If you read it first, and then consider the author's childhood, the connection is to the author's background is clear-

"The fourth child of Arthur John Lawrence, a barely literate miner, and Lydia (née Beardsall), a former pupil teacher who, owing to her family's financial difficulties, had to do manual work in a lace factory. His working-class background and the tensions between his parents provided the raw material for a number of his early works. Lawrence would return to this locality and often wrote about nearby Underwood, calling it; "the country of my heart,"[8] as a setting for much of his fiction."

[JoanP]

I've been thinking about your question, Jude. The stories were all so different from one another, but one of the stories that stands out and stays with me -Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas."  

[JudeS]

There are two stories which I will never forget. I felt that the protaganists in both had the mark of such veracity and sadness-perhaps even hopelessness that the authors were putting their hearts in our hands.

The stories were The Yellow Wallpaper by C.P.Gilman and Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The former one I liked immediately but the latter story took me by surprise. I simply can't get over the father who could never be well enough to take care of his daughter.
Perhaps I liked it so much because I read so much background on the author trying to understand what he was expressing in this work.

[JoanP]

You didn't mention your least favorites, Jude.  That's more difficult, isn't it?  I think I'd have to say - Annie Proulx's "Half-Skinned Steer" - and I thought I'd like whatever Annie Proulx wrote.  I just never got the point - although there were many possible explanations.

These short story discussions have rekindled my interest in short stories - from old New Yorker days.  I once repapered my bathroom wall with covers from those magazines.  It was a rental appartment.  Can't remember what I did when it came time to move.

 Coming in August, Elizabeth Olson's "Those Angry Years" - FDR and Lindbergh.  Hope you will join us .. there's so much in that book sure to rouse personal memories of long ago.

Don't worry, we'll leave this, the last of the Short Story discussions open for a while longer...

[JoanP]

Pedln recently posted the new Man Booker nominations.  One familiar name on the list -  Jhumpa Lahiri, an author Will Schwalbe wrote about in his End of Your Life Book Club, you might remember we read his book together here recently.

Jhumpa Lahiri is nominated for the Booker prize  for her new book - The Lowland .
In 2000 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her first book, ''Interpreter of Maladies''  is a collection of nine short stories evoking the isolation  South Asian immigrants in America. She is quite young, born in India, raised in Rhode Island.  The short story collection also won the  Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in the year 2000 and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. It was also chosen as The New Yorker's Best Debut of the Year and is on Oprah Winfrey's Top Ten Book List.

I'm thinking of nominating Interpreter of Maladies for our September Book Club Online to see if there is interest in more short stories.  If you'd like to sample one of her prize-winning stories, A Temporary Matter is the first story in the collection...