Dark Eyes On America: The Novels Of Joyce Carol Oates

297 Pages·2005·2.23 MB·English

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“A sound and engaging book that creates a balanced overview of
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Oates’s career while tackling the question of her role in the wider g
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Joyce Carol Oates is America’s most extraordinary and prolific o
woman of letters. In Dark Eyes on America, Gavin Cologne-Brookes o dark eyes on america
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illuminates the vision of this remarkable master of her craft, finding
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evidence in her novels of an evolving consciousness that ultimately s The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates
forgoes abstract introspection in favor of a more practical approach
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With her clear-eyed perception of human behavior, Oates has for
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assessment. Cologne-Brookes’s conversations and correspondence s ok gavin cologne-brookes
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with Oates, his close textual study of her novels, and abundant ref- Joe
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erences to her essays, stories, poetry, and plays result in a work that cy
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critically synthesizes the layers of her writing. This comprehensive e
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yet accessible study offers an essential analysis of one of the twenti- as
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“A thoughtful, thorough study which . . . encourages readers to re- e
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examine Oates’s novels within a philosophical context.” a
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—Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas
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Gavin Cologne-Brookes is the author of The Novels of William r
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Styron: From Harmony to History and coeditor of Writing and America.
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Educated in his native Britain and in the United States, he is an asso- Press a
cinia Eten pgrlaonfeds.sor of English and creative studies at Bath Spa University University
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Cover design by Amanda McDonald Scallan uisia
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dark eyes on america
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dark eyes on america
The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates
gavin cologne-brookes
Louisiana State University Press baton rouge
Published by Louisiana State Univeristy Press
Copyright © 2005 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Louisiana Paperback Edition, 2009
designer: amanda mcdonald scallan
typeface: whitman
typesetter: g&s typesetters, inc.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Joyce Carol Oates for permission to print brief excerpts
from her correspondence, published works, and unpublished materials.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cologne-Brookes, Gavin, 1961–
Dark eyes on America : the novels of Joyce Carol Oates / Gavin Cologne-Brookes.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8071-2985-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938—Criticism and interpretation. 2. National characteristics, American, in litera-
ture. I. Title.
ps3565.a8z585 2004
8139.54—dc22
2004011736
isbn-13: 978-0-0871-3530-3 (paper : alk. paper)
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. ∞
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For Xenatasha and Anastasia
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I make my way up through marrow
through my own heavy blood
my eyes eager as thumbs
entering my own history like a tear
balanced sacred on the outermost edge
of the eyelid
—“Iris into Eye,”1970
By degrees, days
and years,
another voice
intrudes.
Another presence.
—“The Time Traveler,”1989
America is my home; the place of my soul.
—Correspondence, 16January 1998
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contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. mirrors and windows 19
2. abstraction into action 55
3. rewriting the novel 90
4. look back time 133
5. dark eyes on america 175
Afterword 229
Notes 241
Selected Bibliography 261
Index 273