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The Spectral Presence of (Un)dead Mother in Shirley Jackson’s Short Stories
Abstract
The objective of the article is to analyse how Shirley Jackson’s interpretation of Gothic literature became a tool with which the writer could present the social and cultural changes of her time. Jackson uses elements of the Female Gothic to describe the situation of women in the 1950s in the United States. In the article, the author discusses Jackson’s two short stories – The Daemon Lover and The Tooth. Focusing on the mother–daughter relationship, the author uses psychoanalytical theories to prove that women in the American author’s writings attempt to oppose the social roles attributed to them. The denied longing for a mother makes it difficult or even impossible for the protagonists of Jackson’s short stories to develop their own personality and achieve independence – and thus a significant position in society.
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Jackson, Shirley. (2005a). The Daemon Lover. In: Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories (pp. 30–66). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Jackson, Shirley. (2005b). The Tooth. In: Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories (pp. 497–538). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ff.2020.38.2.191-203
Date of publication: 2020-12-29 08:16:54
Date of submission: 2019-11-25 00:09:32
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