“A sound and engaging book that creates a balanced
overview of Oates’s career while tackling the question
of her role in the wider community.”—Modern
Fiction Studies
Joyce Carol Oates is America’s most extraordinary and
prolific woman of letters. In Dark Eyes on America,
Gavin Cologne-Brookes illuminates the vision of this remarkable
master of her craft, finding evidence in her novels of an
evolving consciousness that ultimately forgoes abstract introspection
in favor of a more practical approach to art as a tool for
understanding both personal and social challenges. With her
clear-eyed perception of human behavior, Oates has for decades
offered unhesitating explorations of genre, topic, and style—making
her an inevitable if somewhat elusive subject for critical
assessment. Cologne-Brookes’s conversations and correspondence
with Oates, his close textual study of her novels, and abundant
references to her essays, stories, poetry, and plays result
in a work that critically synthesizes the layers of her writing.
This comprehensive yet accessible study offers an essential
analysis of one of the twentieth century’s most significant
writers.
“A thoughtful, thorough study which . . . encourages
readers to re-examine Oates’s novels within a philosophical
context”—Journal of the American Studies
Association of Texas.
Gavin Cologne-Brookes is the author of The Novels
of William Styron: From Harmony to History and coeditor
of Writing and America. Educated in his native Britain
and in the United States, he is an associate professor of
English and creative studies at Bath Spa University in England.
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