Take Your Time #11

my shirley jackson appreciation issue

Oct 31, 2023

Listen To Take Your Time

This is a very spooky edition of the audio version of Take Your Time #11. Allow me to read the short story by Shirley Jackson called The Intoxicated. I think, like everything Shirley Jackson wrote, it gets under your skin and reminds you of the everyday and existential horrors of life. Enjoy!

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Illustration

A drawing inspired by Shirley, objects I picture around her as she’s writing her tales.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this issue comes from various artists and writers I admire. Below, you’ll find some haunting paintings that only get worse the longer you look and a few of my favorite spooky stories that I like to re-read around every Halloween. (I’ve linked all of them below, and you can find them and more to read for free via Project Gutenberg.)

Scary Art Scary Paintings Frida Kahlo Girl with Death Mask — Frida Kahlo, Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone), 1938, Image courtesy of WikiArt

The Daemon Lover Shirley Jackson

Spider, 1967 - Leonora Carrington — Leonora Carrington, Spider, 1967, Image courtesy of WikiArt

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Francisco de Goya, The Forcibly Bewitched, 1798, Image courtesy of the National Gallery

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Sunrise with Sea Monsters, 1845, Image courtesy of the Tate

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oats

Most Famous Scary Paintings — Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781, Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Northanger Abbey Jane Austen

Ideas

Below are my favorite spooky podcast episodes. The first is a beautiful reading of “The Story We Used to Tell” by the incomparable LeVar Burton. The following three podcasts deal more with unexplained sightings and experiences. I think I’ll leave it at that! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.