“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson Can Still Unsettle Readers. We Need More Fiction Like That. “The Lottery” is a classic short story because of its power to unsettle us. Too bad readers today are losing their appetite for discomfort.
Writers Recall the First Time They Read ‘The Lottery’ Stephen King, David Sedaris, Carmen Maria Machado and others on how Shirley Jackson’s eerie classic first got under their skin.