An Intelligent Fireside Ghost Story
Jackson's a smart person. You don't write some of the most beloved and critically respected literature of the 20th century if you're a dunce. But she's not one of those annoyingly intelligent writers, showing off her knowhow every time she puts word to page. Instead, her writing style shows off her intelligence naturally and treats the reader like a friend sitting with her 'round the campfire, listening intently as she spins one excellently crafted ghost story.
Don't believe us? Think all great literature has to be stuffy and boring and weighted down with multisyllabic words only an English professor can appreciate? Fair enough, but give us a chance to plead our case:
"Bang" is the best word for it; it sounds like something children do, not mothers knocking against the wall for help, and anyway Luke and the doctor are there; is this what they mean by cold chills going up and down your back? Because it is not pleasant; it starts in your stomach and goes in waves around and up and down again like something alive. Like something alive. Yes. Like something alive. (4.255)
That first sentence sure runs long—forty-three words to be precise—and it takes one smart writer to construct such a long sentence that doesn't lose the audience's attention. Yet Jackson writes even larger sentences time and time again. As a reader, you really have to sit and look for them if you want to catch her in the act. They flow so naturally.
But Jackson's writing style is also conversational. She uses everyday words to get across her point, so the reader doesn't become intimidated by her diction. She uses fragments—like those at the end of the example—to give the novel a more realistic vibe (we don't always think or speak in full sentences, do we?). She also draws from common experience. For instance, when she says that the banging in the house "sound like something children do," any reader can appreciate what she means. The sound of children banging things is more or less universal.
And that's why we compare Jackson's writing style to the style of an intelligent fireside story. It's intelligently crafted, but it feels completely natural, almost off the cuff, like she's spinning this yarn right before our eyes.