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Pillar of Salt
A short story. A married couple vacation in New York City.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Shirley Jackson
340 books11.8k followersShirley Jackson was an influential American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years. She has influenced such writers as Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, and Richard Matheson.
She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."
Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years." Hyman insisted the darker aspects of Jackson's works were not, as some critics claimed, the product of "personal, even neurotic, fantasies", but that Jackson intended, as "a sensitive and faithful anatomy of our times, fitting symbols for our distressing world of the concentration camp and the Bomb", to mirror humanity's Cold War-era fears. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work, as revealed by Hyman's statement that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned The Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
In 1965, Jackson died of heart failure in her sleep, at her home in North Bennington Vermont, at the age of 48.
She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."
Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years." Hyman insisted the darker aspects of Jackson's works were not, as some critics claimed, the product of "personal, even neurotic, fantasies", but that Jackson intended, as "a sensitive and faithful anatomy of our times, fitting symbols for our distressing world of the concentration camp and the Bomb", to mirror humanity's Cold War-era fears. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work, as revealed by Hyman's statement that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned The Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
In 1965, Jackson died of heart failure in her sleep, at her home in North Bennington Vermont, at the age of 48.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 8, 2019
A much anticipated trip to NYC turns sour after a small fire. Everything in the big city is going well for the protagonist and she is having a good time on vacation until a small fire that affects her personally in no discernable way starts to transform the trip into something horrible. If you've ever suffered from anxiety I think you'd be able to relate to this protagonist. There is no logical reason for this fire to have impacted her and she cant explain to others or herself why or that it did. But, ever since she starts seeing the people and places of NYC in a completely different light. What was once bright, exciting, and full of life is now gray, harrassed, and deteriorating. Her anxiety builds over the next couple of days until she is literally unable to cross the street. The irrational realities of anxiety are displayed with terrifying accuracy in this fantastic short.
February 25, 2020
Itt valaki nagyon tud valamit az elidegenedésről. Azt, hogy az elidegenedés nem úgy tragédia, ahogy a görögöknél láthatjuk – alig vannak erős drámai beállítások, időmérték sincs, és ha van is kórus a háttérben, inkább azzal tüntet, hogy nem is figyel a szereplőkre. Az elidegenedést inkább valami menzai répafőzelékhez hasonlítanám: langyos, kétségbeejtően unalmas és teljességgel megszokhatatlan. Shirley Jackson szereplői jellemzően kétféle élethelyzetet élnek meg: egyrészt belecsöppennek a nagyvárosba, ahol szinte traumatizálja őket a környezet részvétlensége és közönye. Menjen akkor vidékre ez a szereplő, mondaná az olvasó, és tessék, a szereplő hallgat rá, vidékre megy, az amerikai kisvárosba. Mert ez meg ugye a másik élethelyzet, amellyel Shirley Jacksonnál találkozhatunk. De hát ez meg – ha lehet – még rosszabb. Mert ha a nagyvárost rohadtul nem érdekli, hogy a benne élő individuum él-e vagy hal-e, akkor a kisvárosi közösséget nagyon is érdekli – csak éppen brutálisan megbünteti az individuumot, ha az nem aszerint az érték szerint rendezi be életét, amelyet a közösség elvár tőle. Bármelyik ujját harapja a szerző, a szereplőnek ugyanúgy fáj. És az olvasónak is. Innen tudni, hogy jó íróról van szó: ha az ujját harapdálja, az az olvasónak fáj.
Ui.: Pár száz forintért vettem az antikváriumban. Boldogság, hogy ekkora novellistákat lehet pár száz forintért vásárolni. Ilyenkor az ember megbékél vele, hogy meglehetős gyakorisággal elköltött már más száz forintokat olyan novellistákra, akik mondjuk egy szikkadt (menzai?) zsömlét se értek. Mert ha tízből egy ilyet talál, akkor az egész behozza az árát.
Ui.: Pár száz forintért vettem az antikváriumban. Boldogság, hogy ekkora novellistákat lehet pár száz forintért vásárolni. Ilyenkor az ember megbékél vele, hogy meglehetős gyakorisággal elköltött már más száz forintokat olyan novellistákra, akik mondjuk egy szikkadt (menzai?) zsömlét se értek. Mert ha tízből egy ilyet talál, akkor az egész behozza az árát.
March 13, 2025
City people.
Margaret and Brad are leaving the children and New Hampshire behind to spend a few weeks in New York, thanks to a kind friend that left them a place while he's out of town for awhile. The vacations starts well at first, but then there's a fire nearby, and someone's leg is found at the beach.
Another pointless dud that for the life of me I can't even come close to grasp, least of all enjoy. Maybe because I'm not acute, or New Yorker enough to understand. I'm not acute, I'm obtuse, dammit!
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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1949] [15p] [Fiction] [1.5] [Not Recommendable]
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???????? The Lottery and Other Stories <--
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Gente de la ciudad.
Margaret y Brad dejan sus hijos y New Hampshire detrás para pasar unas semanas en Nueva York, gracias a un amable amigo que les dejó un lugar mientras por un tiempo él está fuera de la ciudad. Las vacaciones empiezan bien al principio, pero luego hay un incendio cerca, y se aparece la pierna de alguien en la playa.
Otro terrible sinsentido que por mi vida no puedo ni siquiera acercarme a comprender, ni mucho menos disfrutar. Tal vez porque no soy lo suficientemente agudo, o lo suficientemente neoyorquino para entender. ¡No soy agudo, soy obtuso, maldita sea!
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1949] [15p] [Ficción] [1.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
Margaret and Brad are leaving the children and New Hampshire behind to spend a few weeks in New York, thanks to a kind friend that left them a place while he's out of town for awhile. The vacations starts well at first, but then there's a fire nearby, and someone's leg is found at the beach.
Another pointless dud that for the life of me I can't even come close to grasp, least of all enjoy. Maybe because I'm not acute, or New Yorker enough to understand. I'm not acute, I'm obtuse, dammit!
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1949] [15p] [Fiction] [1.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
???????? The Lottery and Other Stories <--
-----------------------------------------------
Gente de la ciudad.
Margaret y Brad dejan sus hijos y New Hampshire detrás para pasar unas semanas en Nueva York, gracias a un amable amigo que les dejó un lugar mientras por un tiempo él está fuera de la ciudad. Las vacaciones empiezan bien al principio, pero luego hay un incendio cerca, y se aparece la pierna de alguien en la playa.
Otro terrible sinsentido que por mi vida no puedo ni siquiera acercarme a comprender, ni mucho menos disfrutar. Tal vez porque no soy lo suficientemente agudo, o lo suficientemente neoyorquino para entender. ¡No soy agudo, soy obtuso, maldita sea!
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1949] [15p] [Ficción] [1.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
May 21, 2023
shirley jackson's short stories - 19/25
another hit or miss, miss jackson. i don't know what to think. my head is full with shirley jackson
another hit or miss, miss jackson. i don't know what to think. my head is full with shirley jackson
September 1, 2023
Jackson has such a way of expressing the horrors of the everyday. this was a great one to read while traveling through New Hampshire to NY
February 27, 2023
at first I didn’t get it. the writing is accessible and the story flowed but I didn’t get it. then, upon reflection, this story is about trauma and the often nonsensical after effects that it bares in changing your responses to the world. themes of isolation, paranoia, fear and loneliness cloud the story as a panicked mind does when encountering perceived danger. whilst I like these themes, and these ideas, and the fact that analysis elevates the story. I can’t help but kneecap my rating to 3 stars because when reading it and immediately after, I felt nothing, overall unsatisfied and like ‘oh, is that it?’
worth the read though
worth the read though
July 9, 2024
Margaret would not last a week in Sex and the City.
November 30, 2017
Jackson delivers excellent storytelling yet again with a story about the anxieties of the Big City, and what it means to be a woman in the city, disappearing and not being heard. Amazing, as expected. The feelings of powerlessness and invisibility the main character experiences are accompanied by the decay of the city around her; a story about a woman in a world too fast and too bright.
April 14, 2022
In this short story about a woman on vacation in NYC, Shirley Jackson does a good job of capturing what it's like to have anxiety, especially when you can recognize it but are helpless to push past it.
Read
September 21, 2022I actually really liked this
July 22, 2024
I also get stressed and overstimulated in cities, Shirley Jackson.
February 27, 2026
This is like experiencing a panic attack in slow motion, and I mean that in the very very best way. Jackson, the woman you are!!!
February 10, 2025
manhattan coldwar female madness
Read
March 16, 2021Was bit on the longer side.
But again amazing piece of work by Shirley Jackson.
The ending is haunting and heartbreaking—the whole sequence of Margaret’s anxiety crossing the street is way too real. And how she sees other people—like the two girls—so casually do it. Shirley Jackson captures anxiety perfectly.
She keeps gradually turning the dial, every annoyance / difference gets heightened and heightened, paints the picture.
And yes I was right, it’s a perfect story to double feature with the summer people—is the other side of the coin from the city to a calmer place, romanticising it & being out of their element, feeling trapped and paranoid. Tho there the couple went through it together, here Margaret alone. There’s also this parallel:
“She stopped suddenly when it seemed to her that the windowsill she had just passed had soundlessly crumpled and fallen into fine sand; when she looked back it was there as before”
//
“ Mrs. Allison hurried with her pie. Twice she went to the window to glance at the sky to see if there were clouds coming up. The room seemed unexpectedly dark, and she herself felt in the state of tension that preceded a thunderstorm, but both times when she looked the sky was clear and serene, smiling indifferently down on the Allisons' summer cottage as well as on the rest of the world.”
But again amazing piece of work by Shirley Jackson.
The ending is haunting and heartbreaking—the whole sequence of Margaret’s anxiety crossing the street is way too real. And how she sees other people—like the two girls—so casually do it. Shirley Jackson captures anxiety perfectly.
She keeps gradually turning the dial, every annoyance / difference gets heightened and heightened, paints the picture.
And yes I was right, it’s a perfect story to double feature with the summer people—is the other side of the coin from the city to a calmer place, romanticising it & being out of their element, feeling trapped and paranoid. Tho there the couple went through it together, here Margaret alone. There’s also this parallel:
“She stopped suddenly when it seemed to her that the windowsill she had just passed had soundlessly crumpled and fallen into fine sand; when she looked back it was there as before”
//
“ Mrs. Allison hurried with her pie. Twice she went to the window to glance at the sky to see if there were clouds coming up. The room seemed unexpectedly dark, and she herself felt in the state of tension that preceded a thunderstorm, but both times when she looked the sky was clear and serene, smiling indifferently down on the Allisons' summer cottage as well as on the rest of the world.”
August 29, 2021
A woman's anxiety gets the best of her during a trip to New York with her husband
December 27, 2023
Not her best moment but I'm still vibing.
September 27, 2024
This book is a perfect picture of overwhelming anxiety. A married couple goes on vacation in New York City and when a small house fire starts, the wife spirals out of control. I love how Shirley Jackson makes us feel the wife's paranoia about the city. I could imagine myself standing there paralyzed with fear about crossing a busy street. Another great read from Shirley Jackson!
June 23, 2023
Despite being a short story Pillar of Salt perfectly encapsulates how anxiety builds and overwhelms, while also focusing on modern society moving too quickly and with apathy. I loved this, despite leaving me with a knot in my stomach.
September 2, 2023
Great portrayal of how scary big cities are for smalltowners
December 21, 2023
I totally understand her overwhelming with the city... The leg was a nice touch, lol.
April 26, 2024
Kinda mid
October 28, 2024
fun read. made me read the bible verse about lot's wife and i was very shocked about how short and bereft it was. finding that to be very true about the bible. regardless this was fun to read!
November 7, 2024
Is Pillar of Salt code for Panic Attack. Is the world coming to destruction due to mass hysteria? When did it all start? How?
January 7, 2026
Relatable holiday experience
March 16, 2026
A young woman panics amid the hustle and bustle of New York City.... And???????????? Kristi & Abby Tabby
October 24, 2014
Egy kötet tele félelemmel, gátlással, halállal, emberi durvasággal. Ijesztő néhány történet, de nem maga a novella az, ami megijeszti az olvasót, hanem az olvasó saját magának okoz minden történet végén félelmet. Shirley Jackson ugyanis csak tényszerűen leírja a dolgokat úgy, ahogyan azok vannak. Az olvasó dolga a történet megszakadása után az, hogy kitalálja mi lehet a végkifejlet. viszont közben olyan mindennapi szereplőket ismerünk meg, akik akár lehetnének a szomszédaink, rokonaink, vagy mi magunk is. Számomra kellemes volt a legtöbb novella, és tényleg csak azon gondolkodtam el negatívan, ahol a logika mentén túl sok jó nem várhat a szereplőkre.
Egy dolog nem tetszett a kötetben, és ehhez Shirley Jacksonnak nincs köze, mégpedig az utószó, ahogy elmagyarázza miről is szóltak a novellák. Nem szeretem, ha valaki más mondja meg, hogy miről szól az a történet, amit olvastam, pláne úgy nem, ha sokkal borongósabb dolgot akar belelátni a magyarázó a történetekbe.
Egy dolog nem tetszett a kötetben, és ehhez Shirley Jacksonnak nincs köze, mégpedig az utószó, ahogy elmagyarázza miről is szóltak a novellák. Nem szeretem, ha valaki más mondja meg, hogy miről szól az a történet, amit olvastam, pláne úgy nem, ha sokkal borongósabb dolgot akar belelátni a magyarázó a történetekbe.
September 1, 2017
The sometimes traumatic experience of finding oneself in a new place with an alien culture is captured in this story of a couple visiting New York. Shirley Jackson, writer of the classic horror The Lottery, manages to make the anxiety of just being out of place into a familiar and human horror story. What seems an exciting adventure soon becomes an environment that makes our protagonist look away and back to home, even in the midst of fire. She becomes unable to move - a Pillar of Salt. This story is brilliant.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews