Here’s a fascinating interview with Joyce Carol Oates on Shirley Jackson, most known for the short story The Lottery. Oates talks about Jackson’s novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which I tooootttaaaalllllly want to read now. (In fact, I just ordered it off the Internet.) It is about two sisters who live isolated from the nearby town in a castle. It has a dark, gothic vibe similar to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

In the interview, Oates draws parallels between the themes of the book and Jackson’s life, which sounds awful. Jackson became agoraphobic, feared the people in the town around her, believed she was a witch, and probably had a some serious mental illnesses. It’s remarkable she was able to produce good writing in the middle of all that chaos. (Via Bookslut)