Hangsaman

Hangsaman is a 1951 gothic novel by American author Shirley Jackson. The second of Jackson's published novels, Hangsaman is a bildungsroman centering on lonely college freshman Natalie Waite, who descends into madness after enrolling in a liberal arts college.[1]

Hangsaman
Cover of first edition
AuthorShirley Jackson
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreSpeculative fiction | Gothic fiction
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Young
Publication date
1951
Pages191
ISBN978-0143107040 current edition, published by Penguin
Preceded by'The Road Through the Wall 
Followed by'The Lottery and Other Stories 

The novel takes its title from an old folk ballad. The official publisher's description of Hangsaman says the novel is “loosely based on the real-life disappearance of a Bennington College sophomore in 1946," referencing the case of Paula Jean Welden.[2] At the time, Jackson was living in Bennington, Vermont, as her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, was employed at Bennington College, where Welden had been a student.[1] However, Ruth Franklin's research for her 2016 biography of Jackson found no evidence the novel was inspired by Welden's disappearance.[3] Jackson's text mixes satire with psychological elements as her protagonist spends half her time in an imaginary world.[4]

Plot summary

Hangsaman tells the story of Natalie Waite, whose longing to move away from an oppressive home environment sees her attend a liberal arts school similar to Bennington College.[1]

References in other media

The 2020 film Shirley is a fictionalized account of the time in which Jackson was writing Hangsaman, depicting the novel's creation as being inspired both by the Welden disappearance and the life of a fictional boarder in the home of Jackson and her husband Stanley Hyman.[5]

References
  1. "Shirley Jackson's Horror Novel 'Hangsaman' Was Inspired By A Real-Life Disappearance". Bustle. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  2. "Shirley Jackson's Horror Novel 'Hangsaman' Was Inspired By A Real-Life Disappearance". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  3. "What 'Shirley' gets very wrong about Shirley Jackson". Los Angeles Times. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  4. Parks, John G. (1984). "Chambers of Yearning: Shirley Jackson's Use of the Gothic". Twentieth Century Literature. 30 (1): 15–29. doi:10.2307/441187. ISSN 0041-462X. JSTOR 441187.
  5. Sims, David (2020-06-08). "'Shirley' Is an Unconventional Biopic About a Horror Master". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-07-12.


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