The Lovely House
"The Lovely House" is a gothic short story and weird tale by American writer Shirley Jackson, first published in 1950. The story features several overtly gothic elements, including a possibly haunted house, doubling, and the blurring of real and imaginary. It appeared under the title "A Visit" in New World Writing, No. 2, 1952. The story was later reprinted in Jackson's posthumous collection Come Along With Me in 1968 (published by Viking Press and reprinted by Penguin Classics in 2013) under the title "A Visit." It was also reprinted in the anthology American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates, in 1996. American literary critic S.T. Joshi claims that "The Lovely House" exemplifies the "'quiet weird tale' at its pinnacle" in its embodiment of "the manner in which a house can subsume its occupants." Plot summary "The Lovely House" consists of three main parts. In part one, the main character Margaret starts her summer vacation with her friend Carla Montague. The Montagues' home is a huge and beautifully decorated house that is set among lavish grounds. The house has many themed rooms; for example, there is a fan room, a painted room, and a room with a tile mosaic on