June 26, 1948: “The Lottery” is published in The New Yorker.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story tells the chilling tale of a small American town and the horrific ritual - the “lottery” - that its residents practice each year. The story was received negatively, to both the magazine’s and author’s surprise; throughout the summer, Jackson reportedly received a dozen letters or messages a day - some speculative, and others full of, in the author’s words, “plain old-fashioned abuse”. One reader’s reaction (probably a common one) was “my only comment is what the hell?” Other readers suggested that the magazine had put the short story in to “get people talking”. And, when asked by a reader what her story meant, Jackson simply replied: “I wish I knew.”
Another interesting (and also rather grim) point Jackson noted about some of these letters:
The general tone of the early letters, however, was a kind of wide-eyed, shocked innocence. People at first were not so much concerned with what the story meant; what they wanted to know was where these lotteries were held, and whether they could go there and watch.
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