Odd Woman Out_ , which was based on her short story "The Ghost and the Goblin," was published by Scribner's in May 1936. It was also serialized in _The American Magazine_ , which sold over three million copies during the 1920s and 1930s. In fact, the serialized publication of this story was the first time readers were able to see how a fictional story was worked out. In _The Woman in Green_ , published by Scribner's in 1937, a young couple on vacation in Scotland meet a group of gypsies who help them solve a mystery. For fans of _The Borrowers_ series, the Scottish location suggests that the author had moved away from the New England setting where the series had started. > • > > > At dinner one night at a hotel in Scotland, Helen and Robert were startled when an attendant appeared with a basket of goldfish and set them in the middle of the table. On a whim, Robert suggested that the goldfish could provide clues to the couple's future in the form of omens and warnings. The couple had originally planned to spend the weekend camping with their fellow university students but had received a telegram canceling the trip. The delay was fortuitous, however, for it allowed time for Robert and Helen to have their fortune told by a gypsy. > • > > > An encounter with gypsies usually spells trouble for a couple. The gypsies in _The Woman in Green_ predict that the couple will travel together, and they are right—but the journey will end in disaster. Helen and Robert are happy and satisfied with their lives as artists living together on an apartment in London, but they are both attracted to other people, especially women, and they are disappointed when the love they had been certain would never fade away doesn't work out. A car accident puts an end to this love, but not before Robert attempts to prevent it by killing himself. A year after _The Woman in Green_ was published, the author left England for the United States. She settled in New York City in 1940, where she became friends with Carson McCullers, who had published her own first novel, _The Member of the Wedding_ (Scribner's). After the couple lived together for two years, Helen married McCullers in 1945. _—SUSAN SHERIDAN_ ### _The Haunting of Hill House_ _The Haunting of Hill House_ by Shirley Jackson (Vintage Books [Random House] 1972; reprint ed., Vintage Books [Random House] 1999) _The Haunting of Hill House_ is set in the summer of 1959, when Jackson was on a break from teaching at Syracuse University, where she taught English and creative writing. > • > > > The author says that she wrote _The Haunting of Hill House_ in response to a letter from a fan who wanted to know why there were no children's books. The story of Hill House "was actually a combination of the two things," she says. "I had been a fan of this writer named Roger Corman, who made several movies of Edgar Allan Poe's works, like _House of Usher_ , and I wrote him about it and he was kind enough to write back and say, 'You should write children's books. You've got to write children's books.'" The Hill House in the story is the residence of the Hill family, and it becomes the setting for a series of strange occurrences that culminate in the murder of one of the residents. The fact that the author used to live in the area around Syracuse and had visited the Hill House makes _The Haunting of Hill House_ a true New England ghost story. > • > > > Jackson wrote the novel while living on a houseboat in Milford, Massachusetts, between 1947 and 1951. This was not a happy time in her life; the story is about an unhappy marriage. "She wanted a house of her own," says her niece, Joanna Russ, "and she wanted a child, and her husband was not going to cooperate." An account in _The Boston Globe_ in August 1975 said that Jackson was planning to write an illustrated children's book about Hill House. She had recently finished the manuscript for _The Bird Catcher_. It never appeared, and so the manuscript has not been published. > • > > > The novel was set on "a hill that could be seen for miles." As a writer, Jackson "loved to do research" and visited Hill House during one of her trips to New England, says Russ. The house was a "massive, imposing structure" built by a wealthy lumber baron and his son, who had "the idea that the two of them could play at the house with a toy castle in a box and never grow up, so they built this massive mansion with elaborate grounds." It had been converted into an inn, but Jackson describes the exterior as "a white-painted concrete cube with an ugly, functional look." The building "wasn't impressive-looking on the outside, but when you got inside and saw all those trees . . . the massive lawns and the great elms and maples, the whole feel of the thing was very elegant, and very stately. It was the nicest house I'd ever been in." The Hill House is an ominous place. The ghosts move in and out of rooms without making a sound. The characters are constantly trying to find some way to communicate with the ghosts, such as knocking on the walls to ask who is there. "It is an important lesson that nothing is ever as simple or as innocent as it appears to be," Jackson wrote in her preface. The question remains, however: Why would someone create a house haunted by ghosts? ### _The Ghost Writer_ _The Ghost Writer_ by Jonathan Lethem (Vintage Books [Random House] 1999; New York: Doubleday, 2000) This is the fictional story of Richard Ford, who is a ghost writer for a book-a-year author, Arthur Herzog. One book the authors had in common was _The Book of Shadows_ , a bestselling novel about witches. It was Richard Ford's idea to write about a demon in Arthur Herzog's books. > • > > > Richard Ford is also interested in publishing a book of true stories about witches. He suggests that a book that contains only true stories should be a good seller. In "The End of Arthur's Rope," a short story about a ghost and his ghost writer who go on a cross-country trip, he describes a fictional publishing company and its products: "A publisher of true crime had a good chance of finding success. One book of true stories on haunted houses, another on the history of the local haunted house, a third on the history of the surrounding towns." > • > > > The characters in _The Ghost Writer_ become aware of what people want from them; they want to escape from the pressures of reality and be loved by readers. "And this year," Ford tells Herzog in the book's second section, "one day you will hear a voice that says, 'I will make you famous.' And one year from now, they will still be talking about the book you wrote. Your career will not begin with fame; you will find it soon enough." ### _The History of the World in 10½ Chapters_ _The History of the World in 10½ Chapters_ by Julian Jaynes (Vintage Books [Random House] 1985; New York: Doubleday, 1991) The title of _The History of the World in 10½ Chapters_ has inspired many interpretations, but the most often repeated is "time-traveler." In chapter 11, Julian Jaynes mentions how he sees things and has conversations with people whom he knows are alive and are not there. Julian Jaynes was born in 1944. He went to Yale University and then served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, where he saw many soldiers who were "possessed by gods." > • > > > The author's theories about time-travel and his religious beliefs might have a basis in a previous book he wrote. _The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind_ is an analysis of many instances of myth, mythological creatures, and magic. It suggests that in ancient cultures, language was understood differently than it is today. The bicameral mind consisted of two separate groups of "interpreters": the conscious and the unconscious. Conscious thought interprets thoughts while unconscious thought interprets emotions. There is no need for the conscious mind to be in contact with the unconscious in order to understand or appreciate the message. In _The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind_ , Jaynes uses the terms "consensus" and "unconsensus." The conscious "consensus" interprets what is happening in language and in the world. The unconscious "unconsensus" interprets emotions and thoughts to arrive at a decision or belief about the world. > • > > > The book includes a theory about how people can see objects and people through closed eyes. The theory