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Joyce Carol Oates

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Joyce Carol Oates (1938- ) is a 20th century American novelist known for being nearly as prolific as contemporary novelist Stephen King.

She teaches in the English department at Princeton University, where she is said to have a long-standing rivalry with another Princeton professor, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison.

Oates has written several books under the pseudonym of Rosamond Smith.

Major Themes

The theme of Violation.

The theme of violence and tragedy corrupting humans, especially women

Works by Joyce Carol Oates

Novels

  • A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967)
  • Expensive People (1968)
  • them (1969)
  • With Shuddering Fall (1964)
  • Wonderland (1971)
  • Do with Me What You Will (1973)
  • Miracle Play (1974)
  • The Assassins: A Book of Hours (1975)
  • The Childwold (1976)
  • The Triumph of the Spider Monkey (1976)
  • Son of the Morning (1978)
  • Cybele (1979)
  • Unholy Loves (1979)
  • Bellefleur (1980)
  • Angel of Light (1981)
  • A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
  • Luxury of Sin (1983)
  • Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
  • Solstice (1984)
  • Marya: A Life (1986)
  • Raven's Wing (1986)
  • You Must Remember This (1987)
  • American Appetites (1989)
  • Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990)
  • I Lock My Door Upon Myself (1990)
  • Black Water (1992)
  • Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993)
  • What I Lived For (1994)
  • Zombie (1995)
  • First Love (1996)
  • We Were the Mulvaneys (1996)
  • Man Crazy (1997)
  • Come Meet Muffin! (1998)
  • My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
  • Broke Heart Blues (1999)
  • Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon (1999)
  • Blonde (2000)
  • The Barrens (2001)
  • Beasts (2001)
  • Middle-Age: A Romance (2001)
  • Big Mouth and Ugly Girl (2002)
  • I'll Take You There (2002)
  • Freaky Green Eyes (2003)
  • Rape: A Love Story (2003)
  • The Tattooed Girl (2003)
  • The Falls (2004)

Essays and Criticism

  • Contraries: Essays
  • The Edge of Impossibility
  • First Person Singular
  • New Heaven, New Earth
  • On Boxing
  • Woman Writer
  • Where I've Been and Where I'm Going
  • The Faith of a Writer


The publication Where I've Been... is a collection of much of her non-fiction essays and prose.

Short Stories (select)

  • The Secret Mirror (1975)
  • Fatal Woman (1977)
  • Further Confessions (1977)
  • The Murder (1977)
  • Night-Side (1977)
  • Bellefleur (excerpt) (1980)
  • The Bingo Master (1980)
  • The Doll (1980)
  • The Virgin in the Rose-Bower (1984)
  • Desire (1987)
  • Haunted (1987)
  • The Others (1987)
  • The White Cat (1987)
  • Blue-Bearded Lover (1988)
  • Secret Observations on the Goat Girl (1988)
  • White Trash (1988)
  • Did You Ever Slip on Red Blood? (1989)
  • Family (1989)
  • Pregnant (1989)
  • Ladies and Gentlemen (1990)
  • Why Don't You Come Live With Me It's Time [from Tikkun] (1990)
  • The Guilty Party (1991)
  • Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly (1992)
  • Don't You Trust Me? (1992)


The above-listed short stories are but some examples of the literal hundreds the author has written. Many of them are compiled into collections and published almost annually. Few authors have matched Mrs. Oates in the sheer number of works of diverse short fiction.


Short Story collections

2004 : I Am No One You Know: Stories
2001 : Faithless: Tales of Transgression
1998 : The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque
1996 : Will You Always Love Me? And Other Stories
1996 : Demon and other tales
1994 : Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque
1993 : Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories
1992 : Where Is Here?: Stories
1991 : Heat And Other Stories
1990 : Oates In Exile
1989 : The Assignation: Stories
1986 : Raven's Wing: Stories
1984 : Wild Saturday
1984 : Last Days: Stories
1980 : A Sentimental Education: Stories
1979 : All the Good People I've Left Behind
(limited edition Black Sparrow Press book)
1977 : Night-Side
1976 : Crossing the Border
1975 : The Poisoned Kiss And Other Stories from the Portuguese
1975 : The Seduction & Other Stories
1974 : Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? : Stories of Young America
1974 : The Goddess and Other Women
1974 : The Hungry Ghosts: Seven Allusive Comedies
1972 : Marriages and Infidelities
1970 : The Wheel of Love And Other Stories
1966 : Upon the Sweeping Flood And Other Stories
1963 : By the North Gate


Many feel Ms. Oates' most famous work is her short story, entitled Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been?, which was expanded into a movie starring a young Laura Dern and was subsequently renamed Smooth Talk. It tells the tale of a young woman whose desire to "grow up" has her falling under the spell of a man named Arnold Friend, whose intentions are decidedly unclear. It has been reprinted in numerous collections and is mysteriously dedicated to singer Bob Dylan.

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