In Rough Country
Essays and Reviews
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“A poignant, nostalgic collection of literary criticism by one of America’s premier authors.”
—Kirkus Reviews
In Rough Country is a sterling collection of literary essays, reviews, and criticism from Joyce Carol Oates that focuses on a wide array of books and writers—from Poe to Nabokov, from Flannery O’Connor to Phillip Roth. One of our foremost novelists, National Book Award and PEN/Malamud Award winner Oates demonstrates an unparalleled understanding and appreciation of great works of American literature with In Rough Country, and offers unique and breathtaking insights into the writer’s art.
In this landmark collection, Oates turns her own incomparable literary gaze upon the classic and contemporary writers who shaped a nation, exploring:
Classic Voices: Penetrating analysis of literary ancestors like Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, and Shirley Jackson, examining the treacherous terrains of their work.Contemporary Masters: Sharp and insightful reviews of modern titans including Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, Philip Roth, and Alice Munro.The Writer’s Craft: A deep dive into the art of storytelling, from the structure of a literary essay to the Gothic excess that mirrors a beleaguered personal life.A Personal Reckoning: A moving preface on how writing about literature became a solace and a lifeline in the wake of profound personal loss.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A bad joke says writing is easy if you don t know how to do it. This collection is a personal appreciation and piercing analysis of those who do it sublimely: Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Jean Stafford, Roald Dahl (considered in his adult work), Shirley Jackson, Flannery O Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Claire Messud, and others. Oates is drawn to writers and themes that inform her own work, such as the gothic, the satiric, feminist theory, and a humanist bent that seems to have gone out of fashion. Readers of the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, or TLS will be familiar with these essays (though sometimes in different form or with different titles), divided into three parts Classics, Contemporaries, and Nostalgias. Some essays on the smothered brothers, Homer and Langley Collyer; on boxing; on Annie Leibovitz are not strictly literary. In the Nostalgias section, Oates skewers American jingoism, notes the influence of Lewis Carroll on childhood, and returns to her source, Lockport, N.Y. Oates attributes the book s existence to the death of her husband of 48 years (reading gave shape to her uncharted life as a widow ), but it is inspired as much by the subjects Oates so astutely describes.
