292 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
tors, of uncomprehending children, of the unbalanced and the insane.” Using
two or three of the collection’s stories described in the review, students might
wish to consider Schine’s assessment. In what ways is Oates a “fantasist,” a
writer of fantasy rather than social realism? Alternatively, students may wish
to challenge Schine by showing how Oates’s use of “fantasy” elements does not
detract from the social realism of her stories.- Not all of the stories in High Lonesome were written for an adult audience. “Small
Avalanches,” for example, is the title story of a collection Oates wrote for young
adults in 2002. Students might compare the depiction of adolescence in “Small
Avalanches” to the depictions of adolescence elsewhere in the book. It may also
be interesting to explore how the themes and content vary. Students may wish to
read other books Oates has written for young-adult audiences, such as Big Mouth
and Ugly Girl (2002) or Freaky Green Eyes (2005), for comparison. - Popular culture is a strong influence on Oates’s work; students might find it
interesting to explore to what effect it is being used. Students interested in
this topic would want to read “Fat Man My Love,” which Oates describes in a
footnote as “purely fiction containing, in a transmogrified form, factual material
from The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto and
The Encyclopedia of Alfred Hitchcock by Gene D. Phillips and Thomas M. Leitch.”
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” takes inspiration from Don
Moser’s feature article “The Pied Piper of Tucson” in Life magazine (4 March
1966; reprinted in Showalter). Students could explore the original sources for the
stories, paying particular attention to ways Oates departs from them. Students
interested in additional reading may also consider Blonde, Oates’s fictional retell-
ing of Marilyn Monroe’s life story, voiced posthumously by Monroe.
RESOURCES
Primary Works
Sarah Crown, “The Grandmother of Invention,” Guardian (London), 10 Sep-
tember 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/sep/10/fiction.sar-
ahcrown [accessed 19 February 2010].
Oates on writing from personal experience in the novel The Gravedigger’s
Daughter.
The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art (New York: Ecco, 2003).
Includes twelve previously published essays and an interview, discussing “the pro-
cess of writing more than the uneasy, uncertain position of being a writer.”
The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973–1982, edited by Greg Johnson (New York:
Ecco, 2007).
Sheds light on Oates’s style and writing process.
Jessica McCort, “Interview with Joyce Carol Oates,” Arch Literary Journal (2007)
http://archjournal.wustl.edu/node/32 [accessed 19 February 2010].
A good discussion of Oates’s female adolescent narrators, feminism, and Sylvia
Plath.