Joyce Carol Oates Knihy

V románu Oni sleduje autorka na podkladě osudů trojice hrdinů Loretty Wendallové, její dcery Maureen a syna Julese, život nejnižších vrstev (a americké společnosti vůbec) od krizových let třicátých až po výbuchy nespokojenosti a násilí v druhé polovině šedesátých let.

Společensko-kritický román renomované americké autorky se odehrává v USA v druhé polovině dvacátého století. Vypravěčem románu je nejmladší člen šestičlenné farmářské rodiny Judd. Líčí své krásné dětství na farmě uprostřed nádherné přírody, milující rodiny a spousty domácích zvířat. Pak se ovšem něco stane. K jeho rodičům i sourozencům se ostatní lidé začnou chovat divně. To má za následek, že se začnou chovat divně i chlapcovi rodiče a sourozenci. Judd ve svém věku není s to pochopit, co se vlastně děje. Ví jen to, že všechno souvisí s jeho sestrou Mariannou. Vše pochopí teprve mnohem později v dospělosti. Autorka prostřednictvím chlapce nechává čtenáře nahlédnout do provinční a silně patriarchální společnosti amerického venkova 70. let dvacátého století.

Psychologická novela popisující osudovou událost v životě svobodomyslné, živé a energické mladé ženy a její dospívající dcerky. Touto událostí se stalo hromadné znásilnění mladé ženy, jejíž život už nikdy nebyl jako předtím. Celou událostí trpí nejen matka, ale i její dcerka, jež sice unikla aktu znásilnění, přesto byla útočníky zbita. Autorka se věnuje nejen postiženým ženám, ale soustředí svou pozornost na společnost, která ženy v rozhodujícím okamžiku nepodpoří, spíše je odsoudí. Celá rodina neunikne pomluvám, které se na malém městě tak rychle šíří. Jediný, u koho ženy naleznou pochopení a nakonec i zastání, je mlčenlivý policista John Dromoor, jenž velmi nenápadně, o to důrazněji a účinněji bere spravedlnost do vlastních rukou.

Mezi romány z univerzitního prostředí má kniha Joyce Carol Oatesové Nesvaté lásky výjimečné místo. Spisovatelka zřejmě bohatě čerpala z vlastních zkušeností vysokoškolské profesorky a vytvořila svým románem novodobou tragikomedii mravů – barvitou fresku jednoho akademického roku. Na univerzitu Woodslee ve státe New York přilétá z Anglie na místo čestného profesora poezie slavný básník Albert St. Dennis. Je očekáván s velkými nadějemi, ale starý pán, věčně podroušený a žijící už kdesi na pomezí mezi světem živých a zemřelých, je pro v své hostitele zklamáním. Přesto zasáhne do osudů mnoha jednajících postav doslova jako deus ex machina. Především pro dva členy sboru, Brigit Stottovou a Alexise Kesslera, má básníkova návštěva osudový a zároveň obohacující význam. Školní rok se odvíjí jako série večírků, konaných u jednotlivých členů univerzitního sboru. Oatesová tak s notnou dávkou ironie zdůrazňuje, že américká party je vlastně svébytnou institucí, která utváří osobní, pracovní a společenský život Američanů. Pod maskou příjemně trávených večerů se skrývají zloby, závisti, spory a drobné tragédie, které rozhodují o příštím osudu. Večírky na Woodslee neskončí, jen se v další sezóně pozmění hostitelé a seznamy zvaných hostů.

Smrt mladého muže, jehož vrah nebyl nikdy vypátrán, navždy poznamená život krásné a ctižádostivé Iris Courtnyové. Léta jejího dospívání ovlivní odchod lehkomyslného otce a pozvolné chátrání kdysi krásné matky. O to víc usiluje dostat se do bohaté a vážené starousedlické rodiny univerzitního profesora. Ani její konečný úspěch však nikdy nezvítězí nad citem nenaplněné lásky k příteli z dětství. Příběh se odehrává v šedesátých letech v malém městě ve státě New York.

Psychologický román s výraznými sociologickými prvky se odehrává na americkém venkově ve 30.–60. letech 20. století. Hrdinkou je žena z rodiny chudých kočujících zemědělských dělníků, vyrostlá v bídě a primitivním, surovém prostředí. Po útěku od rodiny prožije jako mladičké děvče svou životní lásku, která však skončí, když její partner musí utéci před zákonem do Mexika. Po odchodu milence se hrdinka cílevědomě provdá za nejbohatšího farmáře v kraji, aby sobě a nemanželskému synovi zajistila společenské postavení a majetek.

Velký román, který na dramatickém životním příběhu lékaře ukazuje vývoj USA od čtyřicátých let po vypjatá léta šedesátá. V typickém autorčině stylu se mísí realismus vycházející z amerických tradic s naturalistickými, někdy až morbidně působícími prvky.

Kniha představuje dvojici manželů pozdních středních let, do jejichž spokojeného a bohatého života tragicky zasáhne nedorozumění a žárlivost. Děj se odehrává v 80. letech v malém městě, v intelektuální společnosti přátel a sousedů, kteří se navzájem povrchně dobře znají, ale o skutečných problémech hlavních hrdinů nic netuší. Těžiště díla je v brilantním vykreslení psychologie postav a ve skvělých dialozích.

Stylizovaný fiktivní životopis americké filmové hvězdy Marilyn Monroe. Na 700 stranách rozsáhlého románu postupně poznáváme proslulou hollywoodskou star: její smutné dětství a dospívání, budování kariéry i pobyt na vrcholu slávy, nejednoznačné vztahy k vlivným mužům. Kniha v žádném případě není klasickým životopisem, biografická fakta jsou upravena nebo jen naznačena, některé význačné osobnosti nejsou uvedeny plným jménem. Pozornost je soustředěna především na psychologii nevyrovnané a přecitlivělé Normy Jeane, pozdější Marilyn, na její osobní pocity a pohnutý osud. Autorka vytvořila osobitý psychologicko-poetický portrét vnitřního světa oslnivé blondýnky, klesající pod tíhou vlastního mýtu a nemilosrdně zraňované svou psychickou labilitou i nepochopením okolí.

Stárnoucí spisovatel a překladatel Joshua Seigl si nadevše cení svého soukromí a staromládenecké nezávislosti, nečekaná těžká choroba ho však donutí hledat si asistenta. Nakonec odmítne všechny kvalifikované uchazeče – zato v náhlém popudu zaměstná neznámou dívku s podivným tetováním, která neobratně vypomáhá v místním knihkupectví... Alma Buschová – tetované děvče – se až dosud protloukala životem všelijak; má milence (a pasáka), kterého se zoufale snaží zbavit, a zároveň zoufale touží, aby ji miloval. K novému zaměstnavateli zpočátku cítí slepou nenávist – zámožný intelektuál s židovským jménem představuje všechno, co ona v životě postrádá nebo čemu nerozumí - a tak se mu mstí: okrádá ho, pokusí se ho zabít... Během několika měsíců, v době, kdy Joshua Seigl své nemoci pomalu podléhá, se však její nenávist promění ve slepou lásku. A jeho smrtí se má dovršit i osud Almy Buschové... V temném i něžném příběhu vyprávěném z pohledu protagonistů autorka osobitým stylem zkoumá strukturu lidských vášní, mistrně konfrontuje různé citové světy a rozkrývá nejhlubší stránky lidské povahy, kořeny lásky, nenávisti a touhy.

Strhující příběh sebedestrukce a neúprosné kritiky vlastních rodičů z úst dětského vraha Richarda. Kniha Lidé na úrovni je ohromující kombinace sociální satiry a gotického hororu a byla roku 1968 nominována na National Book Award.

Děj knihy se odehrává v padesátých letech dvacátého století v Niagara Falls a slavné vodopády hrají v románu hlavní úlohu. Podle autorky, jež přebírá sto let starou teorii doktora Mosese Blainea, může totiž pobyt poblíž vodopádů způsobit šílenství, což by mohlo vysvětlit záhadnou sebevraždu jistého Gilberta Erskina, který se ráno po svatební noci vrhne do vodního víru. Záhy se zjistí, že Erskinova novomanželka Ariah měla sexuální apetit poněkud silnější než Gilbert očekával. Po nějaké době se Ariah vrací na místo činu s novým manželem a čtenáře okamžitě napadne: kdopak se půjde podívat k vodopádům teď?

Francesca s mladší sestrou Samantou žijí s otcem, slavným televizním komentátorem. Jejich matka, která celý svůj život podřizovala kariéře manžela, od nich na čas odešla, aby „našla sama sebe“ a rozvíjela výtvarné nadání, které dosud zanedbávala. Frankie se zpočátku na matku zlobí, nedokáže jí odpustit, že šla vlastní cestou. Postupně však poznává, že soužití s náladovým, panovačným otcem není zrovna jednoduché. Po nějakém čase jede matku navštívit a s překvapením zjišťuje, že její nenápadná máma rozkvetla v talentovanou umělkyni. Krásné letní dny, ve kterých se Francesca s maminkou konečně sblíží, jsou však pokaženy vpádem zuřivého otce...

Psychologický román americké autorky je intimním příběhem jedenatřicetileté ženy, která po matčině smrti vzpomíná na svůj minulý život a v paměti si znovu s láskou skládá matčinu podobu a její jen zdánlivě všední osud. Nečekaná násilná smrt matky je pro jednatřicetiletou, svobodomyslnou a úspěšnou hrdinku zpočátku jen velkou osudovou ranou, jejíž dosah si v prvním ochromení ani plně neuvědomuje. Čím delší doba však uběhne od matčiny smrti, tím víc na ni doléhá definitivnost ztráty. Vědomí, že nedala včas a dostatečně matce najevo svou lásku a obdiv ji trápí, nutí ji vzpomínat a skládat kousek po kousku nejen matčin, ale i svůj vlastní život, přicházet na klíčová či krizová místa jejich vztahu, a to všechno s mučivou lítostí a pocitem dlužníka. Intenzitu jejího smutku umocňuje i potřeba dosáhnout potrestání matčina vraha, která zatím není naplněna. Celý rok hrdince trvá, než se vyrovná se svou bolestí a dokáže díky ztrátě nejbližšího člověka přijmout vlastní dospělost se všemi riziky a smířit se i sama se sebou.

Společnost amerického maloměsta druhé poloviny a sklonku 20. stol. nahlížená přes drama vraždy v rodině, která do maloměstské společnosti nezapadá. Šestnáctiletý John Reddy se po násilné smrti matčina milence dává na útěk, takže vše vypadá zdánlivě jednoznačně – vraždil on. Honička s policií, dopadení a soud z něj udělají mýtického hrdinu celého města, přes jehož osud jsou líčeny a hodnoceny osudy ostatních. Mnohavrstevný text líčí v jedné rovině chápání celého dramatu Johnovými tehdejšími spolužáky, kteří je prožívali jako svoje vlastní, rozebírá celou tehdejší společnost, sugestivně podává vznik Johnova hlubokého vztahu k matce a celé rodině, a líčí jeho další (odsouzením poznamenaný) život. Ještě po třiceti letech, kdy se Johnyho spolužáci setkávají na abiturientském srazu, zjišťují, že jeho příběh ovlivnil jejich životy od střední školy až dosud.

Joyce Carol Oatesová, velmi oblíbená a úspěšná americká prozaička, ztvárnila v erotické romanci zároveň napínavý kriminální příběh. Mladá manželka a matka je brutálně zavražděna, a policie začne podezírat jak jejího manžela, tak dlouholetého milence. Na tomto pozadí se rozvíjí osudová láska jejich potomků, dcery zavražděné a syna milence, kteří jsou ale přesvědčeni o tom, že vinen je otec toho druhého. Příběh je vyprávěn paralelně hlasy obou, ve vyprávění se mísí mistrný popis milostného vztahu s pasážemi, líčícími jejich vnitřní pochybnosti a muka.

Psychologický román o dívce, kterou dospívání a hledání místa v životě zavedlo až k satanistické sektě. Hlavní hrdinka Ingrid neměla zrovna jednoduché a bezstarostné dětství. Její otec, na něhož byla citově vázaná, se dopustí zločinu a tak Ingrid vyrůstá s matkou. Ta, aby jim zajistila slušný život, střídá partnery a později začne i pít. Ingrid nové citové vazby hledá v partě, s níž holduje alkoholu, drogám, násilí a nevázanému sexu. Pak se ale zamiluje do vůdce sekty Satanovy děti, odejde s ním, a je ochotná pro něho udělat všechno na světě. Tato pasáž knihy, v níž autorka drsně popisuje vražedné obřady satanistů, jichž se účastní i Ingrid, je sice otřesným, ale také varujícím čtením. Zběsilost je sugestivně napsaným příběhem o tom, kam až život může zavést citlivé a nevyzrálé dívky, než najdou jeho skutečný smysl.

Rebecca Schwartová je dcera židovských uprchlíků z nacistického Německa, jejíž otec, učitel matematiky, nenašel v Novém světě práci jinde než na hřbitově. Léta chudoby a ústrků vyvrcholí tragédií, která uspíší Rebečin odchod z domova. Nový život ji ovšem neušetří zkoušek ve vztazích s muži – s tyranským manželem, tajemným ctitelem, nadaným synem – a přinutí ji ještě několikrát změnit identitu, než se symbolicky završí.

Román je šokující zpovědí deviantního vraha, který touží stvořit oddanou živoucí mrtvolu – zombieho. Zrůdným hrdinou je třicetiletý muž z dobré americké rodiny, od mládí deviantní homosexuál, který je sice po svém prvním deliktu pod lékařským dohledem, ale podaří se mu lékaře oklamat a vraždit dál, aniž by upadl do podezření.

Vynikající výbor povídek o ženských osudech, o dívčích zmatcích a o lásce. Oatesová je spolehlivou kronikářkou a bystrou pozorovatelkou amerického způsobu života, proto její knihy jsou nejen estetickým počinem, ale i dokumentem doby.

Brimming over with the inspirational words and thoughts of some of our finest writers, Cries of the Spirit is a beautiful sourcebook of poetry and prose in praise of life and all that it entails. Here women's voices fill the age-old silence about matters central to their experience-from menstruation, sexual intimacy, and childbirth to caretaking, household rituals, and death. These writings represent a healing vision of the sacred that emerges from the particular consciousness of women-a vision that partakes of the world of earth and flesh.

These 16 stories explore the nightmarish point where sensuality and horror meet. Displaying their unique talents with a focus on dark fantasy, each writer offers a sophisticated tale that will delight fans of horror, erotica, and quality short fiction alike. Authors include Clive Barker, Joyce Carol Oates, Dan Simmons and Doug Clegg.

Set in 1965, the narrative follows neuroscientist Margot Sharpe as she encounters Elihu Hoopes, an amnesiac known as the "man without a shadow." Struggling with a severe infection, Elihu's memory is limited to just the last seventy seconds, making him a unique subject for study. Their interactions delve into the complexities of memory and identity, exploring the profound impact of amnesia on both Elihu's life and Margot's research.

This collection features a selection of Joyce Carol Oates' finest short stories, showcasing her signature style and thematic depth. Alongside the established favorites, it introduces nine new stories that further explore her exploration of the human experience. Readers can expect a rich tapestry of narratives that delve into complex characters and poignant themes, making it a must-read for fans and newcomers alike.

Prepare to meet the most seductively female and shockingly fatal femme fatales, brought to you by seventeen of today’s finest authors of mystery and suspense fiction. Award-winning editor Otto Penzler presents a collection of short, sizzling masterpieces filled with thrilling tales that showcase how sexy and fierce the 'gentler sex' can be. In 'Third Party', a party girl takes you on a wild ride through the Paris night, while Nelson DeMille's 'Rendezvous' plunges you into a Vietnam jungle where the deadliest scourge is a woman. Elmore Leonard introduces a Depression-era teenage gun moll in 'Louly and Pretty Boy', who loves Pretty Boy Floyd more than robbing filling stations. Lorenzo Carcaterra's 'A Thousand Miles from Nowhere' features a smart blonde seeking slow-simmered vengeance, and Michael Connelly's 'Cielo Azul' reveals how a nameless woman found dead in Los Angeles can be the most lethal prey. Other riveting tales include a scorned lover claiming an old fling's heart, a mysterious woman offering a tempting suicide pact, and a she-demon rising from the grave. These and many other bad girls cast their criminal spells through the powerful voices of Joyce Carol Oates, John Connolly, Thomas H. Cook, Jeffrey Deaver, and more, in stories as irresistible as the anti-heroines that blaze through their pages.

For this singular collection, Joyce Carol Oates selected fifty-five unforgettable essays by the finest American writers of the twentieth century. Here is a sampling -- twelve unabridged essays -- featuring a wide variety of contemporary writers reading classics of the genre, along with authors reading their own work. Nothing less than a political, spiritual, and intensely personal record of America's tumultuous modern age, THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS OF THE CENTURY is "an outstanding, galvanic collection" (Entertainment Weekly).

Set in the 1950s in a blue-collar town in upstate New York, five high school girls form a gang fueled by pride, power, and a desire for vengeance against a world that seeks to belittle them. This powerful narrative explores female rage, courage, and resilience through the Foxfire chronicles—a secret sisterhood that offers refuge from a landscape of lechers and oppression, marked by a fiery spirit that ultimately proves unsustainable. Maddy Monkey narrates their story, alongside Goldie, whose fierce temper contrasts with her womanly appearance, Lana, who embodies glamor with a rebellious edge, and timid Rita, whose humiliation sparks the gang's first act of revenge. Central to the tale is Legs Sadovsky, whose icy beauty and intense emotions ignite the gang's spirit. The novel captures the evolution of adolescent anger into a shared life of luring predatory men into traps, but their success leads to unforeseen tragedy as Foxfire confronts a society determined to consume it. Amidst themes of violence and exploitation, the narrative's strength lies in its portrayal of the deep bonds among the girls, particularly the connection between Maddy and Legs, whose bravery and strength make her a compelling heroine in contemporary fiction.

A wealthy and notorious clan, the Bellefleurs live in a region not unlike the Adirondacks, in an enormous mansion on the shores of mythic Lake Noir. They own vast lands and profitable businesses, they employ their neighbors, and they influence the government. A prolific and eccentric group, they include several millionaires, a mass murderer, a spiritual seeker who climbs into the mountains looking for God, a wealthy noctambulist who dies of a chicken scratch. Bellefleur traces the lives of several generations of this unusual family. At its center is Gideon Bellefleur and his imperious, somewhat psychic, very beautiful wife, Leah, their three children (one with frightening psychic abilities), and the servants and relatives, living and dead, who inhabit the mansion and its environs. Their story offers a profound look at the world's changeableness, time and eternity, space and soul, pride and physicality versus love. Bellefleur is an allegory of caritas versus cupiditas, love and selflessness versus pride and selfishness. It is a novel of change, baffling complexity, mystery. Written with a voluptuousness and startling immediacy that transcends Joyce Carol Oates's early works, Bellefleur is widely regarded as a masterwork—a feat of literary genius.

This volume offers a survey of American short fiction in 59 tales that combine classic works with 'different, unexpected gems', which invite readers to explore a wealth of important pieces by women and minority writers. Authors include: Amy Tan, Alice Adams, David Leavitt and Tim O'Brien.

This collection, edited by Joyce Carol Oates and Christopher R. Beha, showcases the finest short stories by contemporary American writers. It serves as an essential overview of modern short fiction, highlighting the talents of today's literary masters.

`The story of Trump's America' Daily Mail Two families. Two faces of America. One violent crime that will bitterly divide them - and yet bind them together forever. A magnificent story of two broken families' Independent Page-turning, gripping, full of unexpected twists' Observer From its dramatic opening, with the killing of an abortionist, the book rockets forwards ... Ingenious, agile, dazzling' Literary Review Morally meaty and always readable' Sunday Times *A masterpiece' Washington Post

The brilliant young detective-hero Xavier Kilgarven is confronted with three baffling cases that tax his genius for detection to the utmost, just as his forbidden passion for his cousin Perdita becomes an obsession that shapes his life

The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates, edited by Greg Johnson, offers a rare glimpse into the private thoughts of this extraordinary writer, focusing on excerpts written during one of the most productive decades of Oates's long career. Far more than just a daily account of a writer's writing life, these intimate, unrevised pages candidly explore her friendship with other writers, including John Updike, Donald Barthelme, Susan Sontag, Gail Godwin, and Philip Roth. It presents a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young woman, fully engaged with her world and her culture, on her way to becoming one of the most respected, honored, discussed, and controversial figures in American letters.

This rich compilation of Joyce Carol Oates's letters across four decades displays her warmth and generosity, her droll and sometimes wicked sense of humor, her phenomenal energy, and most of all, her mastery of the lost art of letter writing.

The story centers on a teenage girl who becomes the alleged victim of racial violence, igniting shock and unrest in her New Jersey community. Joyce Carol Oates delves into the deep-seated racial tensions that have long plagued the town, examining the complex dynamics of innocence, truth, and trust. Through this narrative, the author highlights the sacrifices that come with confronting societal issues, ultimately reflecting on the impact of these conflicts on lives and community cohesion.

Looks at the lives of the men and women of a prestigious upstate college, including Albert St. Dennis, Professor of Poetry, and the people he meets-Brigit, a divorcee, and Alexis, a pianist and composer

"When their sister is plucked from the shores of the Bloodsmoor River by an eerie black-silk hot air balloon that sails in through a clear blue sky, the lives of the already extraordinary Zinn sisters are radically altered. The monstrous tragedy splinters the family, who must not only grapple with the mysterious and shameful loss of their sister and daughter but also seek their way forward in the dawn of a new era -- one that includes time machines, the spirit world, and quest for women's independence"--P. [4] of cover.

The collection features nineteen compelling stories that explore the diverse experiences of contemporary Americans. Themes of love, courage, and personal transformation are prevalent, as seen in a young wife's unexpected joy in an affair, a girl's life-altering decision to unveil a family secret, and a harrowing tale of survival against a serial killer. Additionally, a nostalgic adventure unfolds with two NYU students who protect a disguised Marilyn Monroe, capturing the essence of youthful exploration and secret identities.

Finally returned to print in a beautiful paperback edition, a haunting gothic tale of a nineteenth-century immigrant family of confidence artists—a story of morality, duplicity, and retribution that explores the depths of human manipulation and vulnerability The patriarch of the Licht family, Abraham has raised a brood of talented con artists, children molded in his image, and experts in The Game, his calling and philosophy of life. Traveling from one small town to the next across the continent, from the Northeast to the frontier West, they skillfully swindle unsuspecting victims, playing on their greed, lust, pride, and small-mindedness. Despite their success, Abraham cannot banish a past that haunts him: the ghost of his ancestor Sarah Licht, a former con woman who met with a gruesome fate. As Abraham involves his family in more and more complex and impressive schemes, he finds himself caught between the specter of Sarah and the growing terrors of his present. While his carefully crafted lies and schemes begin to fracture and disintegrate before his eyes, Abraham discovers that the bond of family is as tenuous and treacherous as the tricks he perpetrates upon unsuspecting strangers.

From the legendary literary master, winner of the National Book Award and New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates, a collection of thirteen mesmerizing stories that maps the eerie darkness within us all. Insightful, disturbing, imaginative, and breathtaking in their lyrical precision, the stories in Lovely, Dark, Deep display Joyce Carol Oates’s magnificent ability to make visceral the terror, hurt, and uncertainty that lurks at the edges of ordinary lives. In “Mastiff,” a woman and a man are joined in an erotic bond forged out of terror and gratitude. “Sex with Camel” explores how a sixteen-year-old boy realizes the depth of his love for his grandmother—and how vulnerable those feelings make him. Fearful that that her husband is “disappearing” from their life, a woman becomes obsessed with keeping him in her sight in “The Disappearing.” “A Book of Martyrs” reveals how the end of a pregnancy brings with it the end of a relationship. And in the title story, the elderly Robert Frost is visited by an interviewer, an unsettling young woman, who seems to know a good deal more about his life than she should. A piercing and evocative collection, Lovely, Dark, Deep reveals an artist at the height of her creative power.

The Stoker Award-winning chilling anthology of 18 short stories in tribute to the genius of Shirley Jackson, collecting today's best horror writers. Featuring Joyce Carol Oates, Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, Richard Kadrey, Stephen Graham Jones, Elizabeth Hand and more.

From Joyce Carol Oates comes a collection of four dark and compelling novellas about love gone wrong.

The narrative explores the profound psychological impact of a young woman's tragic childhood, detailing her journey of reinvention as a successful artist in 1950s New York City. As she navigates the vibrant literary scene, she grapples with the haunting trauma of her past, striving to comprehend and overcome the emotional scars that shape her identity and creativity.

Originally published in 1990, I Lock My Door Upon Myself is the story of Calla, a beautiful, flame-haired, willful girl living in rural upstate New York in the early years of the 20th century. At 17, Calla is married off to a coarse local farmer. Her chance encounter with an itinerant black water-dowser leads to a passionate, obsessive, and doomed love affair, from which she emerges a celibate recluse.

From Joyce Carol Oates comes a collection of darkly compelling tales that force us to confront, one by one, the demons within.

A masterly work from a writer with “the uncanny ability to give us a cinemascopic vision of her America” ( National Review ),  A Garden of Earthly Delights  is the opening stanza in what would become one of the most powerful and engrossing story arcs in literature.Joyce Carol Oates’s Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. In A Garden of Earthly Delights , Oates presents one of her most memorable heroines, Clara Walpole, the beautiful daughter of Kentucky-born migrant farmworkers. Desperate to rise above her haphazard existence of violence and poverty, determined not to repeat her mother’s life, Clara struggles for independence by way of her relationships with four very different men: her father, a family man turned itinerant laborer, smoldering with resentment; the mysterious Lowry, who rescues Clara as a teenager and offers her the possibility of love; Revere, a wealthy landowner who provides Clara with stability; and Swan, Clara’s son, who bears the psychological and spiritual burden of his mother’s ambition.A Garden of Earthly Delights is the first novel in the Wonderland Quartet. The books that complete this acclaimed series, Expensive People , them, and Wonderland , are also available from the Modern Library.

A woman's lover seems not to recognize her on the street. A teenage girl accepts a ride from a stranger in a rust-speckled Cadillac. An old man is obsessed by the memory of his innocent childhood intrusion on a half-dressed aunt. In forty-four very short, very powerful stories, Joyce Carol Oates fashions brief, intensely compact dramas out of the unwieldy material of human experience. The stories in The Assignation are infused with a "radiant intensity," wrote James Atlas in the New York Times Book Review, and they convey the depth and scope of a novel in a few charged pages. The Assignation is an electric display of the talents that make Joyce Carol Oates one of our finest short story writers.

Joyce Carol Oates is not only one of our most important novelists and literary critics, she is also an unparalleled master of the short story. Sourland—sixteen previously uncollected stories that explore the power of violence, loss, and grief to shape the psyche as well as the soul—shows us an author working at the height of her powers. With lapidary precision and an unflinching eye, Oates maps the surprising contours of “ordinary” life, from a desperate man who dons a jack-o'-lantern head as a prelude to a most curious sort of courtship to a beguiling young woman librarian whose amputee state attracts a married man and father; from a girl hopelessly in love with her renegade, incarcerated cousin to the concluding title story of an unexpectedly redemptive love rooted in radical aloneness and isolation. Each story in Sourland resonates beautifully with Oates's trademark fascination for the unpredictable amid the prosaic—the commingling of sexual love and violence, the tumult of family life—and shines with her predilection for dark humor and her gift for voice.

The bonds of family are tested in the wake of a profound tragedy, providing a look at the darker side of our society

The 1991 volume of The Best American Essays marks the sixth year in this flourishing series. Consistently singled out as presenting the year's best short nonfiction, it has reawakened excitement for this remarkably versatile, often overlooked and occasionally maligned form. Includes works from Woody Allen, Stephen Jay Gould, Margaret Atwood and others.

In this collection of twenty-one unforgettable stories, Joyce Carol Oates explores the mysterious private lives of men and women with vivid, unsparing precision and sympathy. By turns interlocutor and interpreter, magician and realist, she dissects the psyches of ordinary people and their potential for good and evil with chilling understatement and lasting power. In "Faithless," two adult sisters recall their mother's disappearance when they were children. In "Ugly," a bitterly angry young woman defines herself as ugly as a way of making herself invulnerable to hurt and in so doing hurts others. In "Lover," a beautiful young woman locked into an obsessive love affair seeks her revenge in a bizarre, violent manner. In "Gunlove," a woman in thrall to a powerful erotic fetishism recounts in brief, deadpan vignettes a history of her relations with firearms. Intense and provocative, Faithless is a startling look into the heart of contemporary America from the modern master of the short story.

An epic novel of an American family in the 1950s proves the tender division between what is permissible and what is taboo, between ordinary life and the secret places of the heart.

'Stories' is a groundbreaking anthology that reinvigorates, expands, and redefines the limits of imaginative fiction and affords some writers in the world - from Peter Straub and Chuck Palahniuk to Roddy Doyle and Diana Wynne Jones, Stewart O'Nan and Joyce Carol Oates to Walter Mosley and Jodi Picoult - the opportunity to work together, defend their craft, and realign misconceptions. Gaiman, a literary magician whose acclaimed work defies easy categorization and transcends all boundaries, and 'master anthologist' ('Booklist') Sarrantonio personally invited, read, and selected all the stories in this collection, and their standard for this 'new literature of the imagination' is high. Joe Hill boldly aligns theme and form in his disturbing tale of a man's descent into evil in 'Devil on the Staircase'. In 'Catch and Release', Lawrence Block tells of a seasoned fisherman with a talent for catching a bite of another sort. Carolyn Parkhurst adds a dark twist to sibling rivalry in 'Unwell'. Joanne Harris weaves a tale of ancient gods in modern New York in 'Wildfire in Manhattan'. Vengeance is the heart of Richard Adams's 'The Knife'. Jeffery Deaver introduces a dedicated psychologist whose mission in life is to save people in 'The Therapist'. A chilling punishment befitting an unspeakable crime is at the dark heart of Neil Gaiman's novelette 'The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains'.

A collection of four never-before-seen novellas. In these psychologically daring, chillingly suspenseful pieces, Joyce Carol Oates writes about women facing threats past and present.

From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women’s asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world.

The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm in Mt. Ephraim, New York, are a large and fortunate clan, blessed with good looks, abundant charisma, and boundless promise. But over the twenty-five year span of this ambitious novel, the Mulvaneys will slide, almost imperceptibly at first, from the pinnacle of happiness, transformed by the vagaries of fate into a scattered collection of lost and lonely souls. It is the youngest son, Judd, now an adult, who attempts to piece together the fragments of the Mulvaneys' former glory, seeking to uncover and understand the secret violation that occasioned the family's tragic downfall. Each of the Mulvaneys endures some form of exile-physical or spiritual-but in the end they find a way to bridge the chasms that have opened up among them, reuniting in the spirit of love and healing. Profoundly cathartic, Oates' acclaimed novel unfolds as if, in the darkness of the human spirit, she has come upon a source of light at its core. Rarely has a writer made such a startling and inspiring statement about the value of hope and compassion. Moving away from the sometimes dark and harrowing tone of her more recent novels, including Zombie and What I Lived For, Oates's storytelling takes a profound and luminous turn in a tale that spans 25 years in the life of one American family--its rise, fall, and ultimate redemption.

In this new collection of stories Joyce Carol Oates explores the night-side of the human soul. In relating those psychological experiences in the borderland between reality and surreality, Miss Oates enters the mysterious realm of the paranormal, the world of extrasensory perception, "the other worlds of dreams and nightmares, mediums and odd happenings...."Each of us has, to a degree, a private night-side of his own, but in this collection the author, with her uniquely penetrating sense of "the other," brings the reader "through darkened landscapes on untraveled roads to solitary and unfamiliar borders" he has not journeyed before.(from inside jacket)

Chronicles the lives of the Wendalls, a family on the steep edge of poverty in the windy, riotous Detroit slums

Once I'd been Daddy's favourite. Before something terrible happened. Violet Rue is the baby of the seven Kerrigan children and adores her big brothers. What's more, she knows that a family protects its own. To go outside the family - to betray the family - is unforgiveable. So when she overhears a conversation not meant for her ears and discovers that her brothers have committed a heinous crime, she is torn between her loyalty to her family and her sense of justice. The decision she takes will change her life for ever.

Slavný román klasika moderní anglické literatury zachycuje na dramatickém příběhu dvou mileneckých dvojic myšlenkové proudy a životní pocity lidí v letech bezprostředně předcházejících první světové válce. Obě hlavní mužské postavy románu, energický mladý uhlobaron Gerald a intelektuální učitel Rupert, zastupují protipóly lidských typů a s tím související zásadně odlišné přístupy k životu, zatímco v jejich partnerkách, sestrách Gudrun a Ursule, ožívá atmosféra doby, kdy si ženy začínaly osobovat práva moderních, emancipovaných, rovnoprávných bytostí. V dynamických dialozích, založených na principu konfrontace protichůdných stanovisek, podbarvených složitou spletí emocionálních vztahů, se autorovi podařilo strhujícím způsobem zobrazit problémy doby, které vyvolával dosud nevídaný technický rozvoj na jedné straně a ztráta víry v životaschopnost západní civilizace na straně druhé. Ženám milujícím věnoval Lawrence sedm let usilovné tvůrčí práce a ze všech svých děl si tohoto románu cenil nejvýše. Novým českým vydáním si připomínáme padesáté výročí autorova úmrtí.

These Pulitzer Prize-winning stories represent the major short works of fiction by one of the most distinctively American stylists of her day. Jean Stafford communicates the small details of loneliness and connection, the search for freedom and the desire to belong, that not only illuminate whole lives but also convey with an elegant economy of words the sense of the place and time in which her protagonists find themselves. This volume also includes the acclaimed story "An Influx of Poets," which has never before appeared in book form.

17 stories : An American Adventure, Gifts,Getting and Spending, Splendid Architecture, On the Gulf, The Seduction, Passions and Meditations, 6.27pm, Out of Place, Notes on Contributors, The Imposters, Years of Wonders, The Madwoman, Double Tragedy strikes Tennessee Hill family, The Sone House, Hell & The Dreaming Woman

Replete with the emotional intensity and pathos for which Joyce Carol Oates is lauded, these fourteen stories explore the intimate lives of contemporary American families: the tangled relationship between generations, the desperation of loving more than one is loved in return. In "Cutty Sark" and "Landfill," the bond between adolescent son and mother reverberates with the force of an unspoken passion. The gripping title story finds Oates boldly reimagining the true-crime story of Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her children in 2001. Several stories offer a more lighthearted reprieve, examining with dark humor the shadowy intersection between self-awareness and delusion.

The book presents a collection of gripping tales where women confront external and internal evils. In "So Help Me God," a young wife receives a mysterious phone call that blurs the lines between safety and danger, raising questions about trust and jealousy. Meanwhile, "Madison at Guignol" follows a discontented fashionista who uncovers a hidden horror in her beloved clothing store, challenging her perceptions of reality. Each story delves into the complexities of female experience, revealing the darkness that lurks both in the world and within themselves.

Imagine what a dictionary might look like about thirty years hence, when all of the world's problems are solved and our current dictionaries are a distant memory. Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss have lined up an incredible array of writers to bring you that futuristic dictionary and a vision of the world as it might be. Think of it as a dictionary of language for describing what the future could look like a dictionary that is both useful and romantic, hopeful and necessary, pragmatic and idealistic, and frequently funny. This is science fiction but with a difference.

Violet Rue Kerrigan reflects on her tumultuous past after testifying against her brothers for the racist murder of an African American boy, a decision that leads to her exile from her family. As the youngest of seven, she navigates the complexities of her childhood, grappling with the love she once received and the guilt of her actions. Through a series of vivid memories, Violet explores themes of family loyalty, justice, and the consequences of speaking out, ultimately revealing the deep emotional scars left by her choices.

Oates presents four chilling novellas that delve into the unsettling aspects of human nature, expertly blending horror with psychological depth. Each story captivates with its haunting themes and complex characters, ensuring an immersive experience that evokes both fear and fascination. Readers can expect a gripping exploration of darkness and the macabre, solidifying Oates' reputation as a master of the genre.

Daddy Love's latest victim Robbie begins to realize that the longer he is locked in the shackles of this demon, the greater chance he'll end up like Daddy Love's other 'sons' who were never heard from again . . . and soon he will see just what lengths he must go to in order to have any chance at survival.

Six tales to chill the blood from the unique imagination of Joyce Carol Oates.

In her new novella, the prolific Oates paints a riveting picture of a time when drugs were viewed with a more tolerant eye and sexual promiscuity was the order of the day. The story revolves around a group of college girls in the 1970s and their obsessive preoccupation with charismatic anti-establishment English professor Andre Harrow and his artist wife, Dorcas. The two stand out in their small New England college town, and they revel in their difference, which draws Andre's female students to him like bees to honey. A talented and infatuated junior, Gillian is relegated to the shadows until Andre picks her out as one of his "special" girls. What follows is a disturbing look at the power of obsession and the abuse of trust. The story, though implausible in today's world, is quite believable in its 1970s setting. It's a quick read at 128 pages but suspenseful and satisfying to the end, with Oates once again displaying her amazing flair for complex and slightly bizarre characters.

A series of unexplained deaths in an academic community could be the work of a killer looking for revenge when an eminent professor, accused of raping a male graduate student, escapes unpunished for his crime

Jenna Abbott separates her life into two categories: before the wreck and after the wreck . Before the wreck, she was leading a normal life with her mom in suburban New York. After the wreck, she is alone, desperate to forget what happened that day on the bridge. Then Jenna meets Crow, and her life is once again turned upside down. He begins to break down the wall that Jenna has built around her emotions. But can she bring herself to face the memories she's tried so hard to erase?

Zeno Mayfield's daughter has disappeared into the night, gone missing in the wilds of the Adirondacks. But when the community of Carthage joins a father's frantic search for the girl, they discover instead the unlikeliest of suspects - a decorated Iraq War veteran with close ties to the Mayfield family. As grisly evidence mounts against the troubled war hero, the family must wrestle with the possibility of having lost a daughter forever.

It is 1950 and, after a disastrous honeymoon night, Ariah Erskine's young husband throws himself into the roaring waters of Niagara Falls. Ariah, "the Widow Bride of the Falls," begins a relentless seven-day vigil in the mist, waiting for his body to be found. At her side is confirmed bachelor and pillar of the community Dirk Burnaby, who is unexpectedly drawn to this plain, strange woman. What follows is a passionate love affair, marriage, and family--a seemingly perfect existence. But the tragedy by which they were thrown together begins to shadow them, damaging their idyll with distrust, greed, and even murder. Set against the mythic-historic backdrop of Niagara Falls in the mid-twentieth century, this haunting exploration of the American family in crisis is a stunning achievement from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation).

An eerie, psychological thriller about a newlywed wife haunted by her secret, traumatic past.

A haunting new novel from Joyce Carol Oates. Mudgirl is a child abandoned by her mother in the silty flats of the Black Snake River. Cast aside, Mudgirl survives by an accident of fate - or destiny. Only when she is adopted by a Quaker family does she begin to suppress those painful memories. Meredith 'M. R.' Neukirchen is the first woman president of a prestigious Ivy League university whose commitment to her career and moral fervor are all-consuming. But with an emergent political crisis and a prolonged secret love affair, M. R. has to confront challenges to her professional leadership which test her in ways she could not have expected. The fierce idealism and intelligence that delivered her from a more conventional life in her hometown now threaten to undo her. When she makes a trip upstate, M. R. Neukirchen is thrust into an unexpected psychic collision with Mudgirl and the life M. R. believes she has left behind. A powerful exploration of the enduring claims of the past, 'Mudwoman' is at once a psychic ghost story and the heartbreaking portrait of an individual who breaks - but finds a way to heal herself.

A new collection of thirteen mesmerizing stories by American master Joyce Carol Oates, including the 2017 Pushcart Prize–winning “Undocumented Alien” The diverse stories of Beautiful Days, Joyce Carol Oates explore the most secret, intimate, and unacknowledged interior lives of characters not unlike ourselves, who assert their independence in acts of bold and often irrevocable defiance. “Fleuve Bleu” exemplifies the rich sensuousness of Oates’s prose as lovers married to other persons vow to establish, in their intimacy, a ruthlessly honest, truth-telling authenticity missing elsewhere in their complicated lives, with unexpected results. In “Big Burnt,” set on lushly rendered Lake George, in the Adirondacks, a cunningly manipulative university professor exploits a too-trusting woman in a way she could never have anticipated. In a more experimental but no less intimate mode, “Les beaux jours” examines the ambiguities of an intensely erotic, exploitative relationship between a “master” artist and his adoring young female model. And the tragic “Undocumented Alien” depicts a young African student enrolled in an American university who is suddenly stripped of his student visa and forced to undergo a terrifying test of courage. In these stories, as elsewhere in her fiction, Joyce Carol Oates exhibits her fascination with the social, psychological, and moral boundaries that govern our behavior—until the hour when they do not.

A superb collection of taut and unsettling stories from one of America's literary giants.

Set in the affluent community of Salthill-on-Hudson, the story explores the aftermath of sculptor Adam Berendt's unexpected death during a heroic act. As the townspeople grapple with their perceptions of him, questions arise about his true nature—was he a genuine hero or a deeply flawed individual? The narrative delves into themes of identity, heroism, and the complexities of human character against the backdrop of a seemingly perfect town.