“The Possibility of Evil” is a short story by Shirley Jackson published in 1965 in The Saturday Evening Post, shortly after Jackson’s death. It tells the story of Adela Strangeworth, an older woman who has lived in the same town in the same house her entire life, best known for her beautiful rose garden. But, unbeknownst to the townspeople, Miss Strangeworth lives a secret life generating gossip about them through anonymous letters. “The Possibility of Evil” won the Edgar Allen Poe award for Best Mystery Short Story in 1965. It explores themes of traditionalism, two-facedness, and the manifestation of evil among average people.
Shirley Ann Jackson (born 1946), a theoretical physicist, was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. at MIT. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her as chairwoman of the Nuclear Regula...
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Biography EssayShirley Jackson's name is most often associated in readers' minds with the haunting short story "The Lottery," which was originally published in 1948 and has since become a frequently a...
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Despite a long writing career that included best-selling novels, plays, children's books, and humorous sketches, Shirley Jackson was best known to most readers as the author of "The Lottery," a chilli...
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Shirley Jackson's name is most often associated in readers' minds with the haunting short story "The Lottery," which was originally published in 1948 and has since become a frequently anthologized Ame...
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Shirley Jackson is most often associated with the chilling short story "The Lottery". First published in The New Yorker in 1948, it immediately met with an unprecedented public reaction, generating a ...
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Shirley Ann Jackson
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson