Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Daemon Lover
So, I am discussing "The Daemon Lover" by Shirley Jackson. I did a little research on the author and found out that she put a character named James Harris in several of her stories. He appears in "Of Course," "Like Mother Used to Make" and "Elizabeth." However, I don't think these characters are the same character; they only share a name. Jackson also included the traditional British ballad called "The Daemon Lover" in her short story collection. The ballad is about a man named James Harris who persuades his old girlfriend to leaver her husband and children for him. Here's the link to the Wikipedia article on the ballad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daemon_Lover
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Here's the actual link.
ReplyDeletePaper Idea One: Listen to several of the recorded versions of the folk song (Bob Dylan's and Clarence Ashley's are among the best) and write about how Jackson's story draws upon the song.
Paper Idea Two: Read some of Jackson's other "James Harris" stories -- or some of the other stories included in her original collection The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris -- and write about how they relate to one another.