The Evil House

Name: The Evil House
ISBN: 9787108062420

杰克逊SDX Joint Publishing Company · ChinaJun 2025

4.4

Word count: 123K words
Chapters: 12
ISBN: 9787108062420

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Summary

Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, a National Book Award finalist now regarded as one of the finest Gothic novels of twentieth-century literature. The story unfolds in an eighty-year-old hill house, a place known far and wide as a "haunted house." Dr. Montague, a scholar of the supernatural, brings three young people to stay in the house. They encounter strange phenomena, sink ever deeper into its eerie atmosphere, and at last cannot extricate themselves. The Haunting of Hill House is one of the Modern Library's readers' choices for the 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century and is also included in the Penguin Classics series.

Editor's review

"The Haunting of Hill House" is one of the representative works of the American writer Shirley Jackson. Published in 1959, this novel is not only a milestone of psychological horror literature but also a profound exploration of the eternal tension between reason and superstition, scientific explanation and the supernatural. The edition introduced by SDX Joint Publishing Company, with its refined translation and detailed background materials, offers Chinese readers an opportunity to immerse themselves in a classic. The book does not rely on gore or visual shocks; instead, through delicate environmental description, the layer-by-layer unraveling of characters' psyches, and the portrayal of the ancient mansion 'Hill House' itself as a 'living entity,' it creates a bone-deep unease and claustrophobia. In the editor's view, its greatness lies in blurring the boundary between reality and hallucination, leading readers, as they follow the protagonist Eleanor in her search for the truth, to constantly question their own perceptions and judgments. This psychological sense of 'invasion' lifts "The Haunting of Hill House" beyond the category of a mere ghost story, making it a complex allegory of loneliness, repression, family trauma, and the condition of women. For modern readers, it can still precisely touch our primal fear of unknown spaces and uncontrollable forces.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a strong interest in classic psychological horror and Gothic literature
Literature lovers who enjoy exploring the depths of human nature and psychological depiction in stories
Readers who wish to understand mid-twentieth-century American literature and its cultural context
Writing enthusiasts who can use it as a model text for studying atmosphere creation and suspense construction

Not a good fit for

Readers of horror stories seeking fast pacing, strong plotting, and direct sensory thrills
Readers lacking patience for slowly developed psychological narrative and extensive environmental description

Reading tips

Read in a relatively quiet, undisturbed environment to fully feel the oppressive and tense atmosphere the text creates.
Pay attention to the correspondence between the house's structure and history and the characters' psychological states; this is key to understanding the themes.
After reading, extend your reading with Shirley Jackson's life and other short works (such as "The Lottery") to gain a more complete grasp of her creative style and intellectual trajectory.

About the publisher

SDX Joint Publishing Company China · Founded in 1932

SDX Joint Publishing Company is a publisher known for its humanities and social science titles, covering classics, culture, history, social fiction and politics. Its catalogue of 826 books includes Chinese and foreign literary classics such as The Scholars, Camel Xiangzi and Selected Short Stories of Chekhov, scholarly works such as Studies of Chinese Cave Temples, A Study of the Tuoba History (Revised Edition) and The Nine-Rank System: A Prehistory of the Imperial Examination, and translations such as Red Star Over China and Notes from the House of the Dead. Its authors include renowned Chinese and foreign writers such as Wu Jingzi, Lao She, Su Bai and Chekhov, as well as scholars and translators such as Chen Xiaoming, Wang Benhua, Guo Changbao and Zhu Xiansheng. Its publishing character lies in balancing the popularisation of classics with academic depth, with attention to textual quality and the transmission of knowledge.

版权信息
作者简介
译者简介
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章

FAQ

How is this book different from the film adaptation?

This book is the original novel behind the classic 1963 film "The Haunting." Though the film is a classic, the novel is more detailed and profound in portraying the characters' inner worlds, laying out the background story, and building that gradually accumulating sense of psychological oppression, offering richer textual detail and room for imagination.

Is it a 'ghost story'?

It has the elements of a traditional ghost story (a haunted house, paranormal phenomena), but its core lies more in exploring the psychological reality of the characters. The 'haunting' may stem from supernatural forces, or it may arise entirely from the characters' own psychological projections and collective unconscious; this openness of interpretation is precisely the book's charm.

Why is "The Haunting of Hill House" important in literary history?

It is regarded as one of the founding works of modern psychological horror fiction and has profoundly influenced countless later writers. With her superb literary skill, Shirley Jackson elevated the horror genre to the level of serious literature, exploring profound themes such as social repression and individual alienation, and giving horror literature new depth and dimension.

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About the author

杰克逊 Author

Jackson is an author currently identified in Chinese bibliographic sources only by this name, and available public information is limited: nationality, dates of birth and death, and full English name are not clearly recorded. One work is held in the collection, The Haunting of Hill House (Xiewu), commonly classified as foreign literature. Based on the confirmable information, Jackson's creative profile is mainly presented through this work; its title carries evident suspense and horror connotations, and it is usually associated with the Gothic or psychological horror tradition, so readers of foreign literature often connect it with enclosed spaces, supernatural hints, and psychological tension. Owing to the lack of biographical and chronological materials, it is difficult to determine the formation and evolution of Jackson's overall writing style, or the place of this work within the author's personal output. For readers, Jackson currently appears mainly as the author of The Haunting of Hill House; a fuller understanding awaits further public information and organization.