Showing results by author "Joyce Carol Oates" in All Categories

Gulf War: An affluent young couple entertains an older couple for an evening of cocktails and politics during the Gulf War. But as the evening continues, the conversation take a bizarre and absurd tone. Black: In this evening of cocktails and dinner, a couple anxiously awaits the arrival of an ex-husband. As the wine glasses are drained, the evening becomes dark and intense, revealing the true colors of the characters in this eerie love triangle.

Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date.

Perturbadora novela, ganadora del Premio Bram Stoker a mejor novela de terror en 1995, en la que nos adentramos en la psique de un asesino en serie obsesionado con crear su propio zombi. Un viaje tan lisérgico como aterrador al corazón de alguien capaz de matar para satisfacer sus fantasías.

Ein historischer Roman über eine schwierige Liebesgeschichte aus den amerikanischen Südstaaten: Die in ihrem Dorf als exzentrisch abgestempelte Edith Margaret Freilicht, die 1890 geboren wurde, bleibt selbst ihrem eigenen Mann und ihren Kindern ein Rätsel. Erst als der Wassersucher Tyrell Thompson ins Dorf kommt, öffnet sich die schöne Rothaarige ihm gegenüber, und entgegen allen Konventionen der damaligen Zeit beginnt eine leidenschaftliche Beziehung zwischen dem auf den ersten Blick so ungleichen Paar.

Violet Rue Kerrigan ha 12 anni ed è la più giovane di una numerosa famiglia proletaria di origini irlandesi che vive a South Niagara, una piccola e tranquilla cittadina nello stato di New York. È la preferita del padre, Jerome, un uomo duro che governa la famiglia con pugno di ferro. Una sera i due fratelli maggiori, Jerome Jr. e Lionel, investono ubriachi un diciassettenne afroamericano, lo colpiscono con una mazza da baseball e lo lasciano agonizzante sul ciglio della strada. Violet sa quello che hanno fatto, ma tutti, persino il prete, le intimano di tacere.

Unter dem Pseudonym "Pik-Bube" verfasst der renommierte Schriftsteller Andrew Rush düster-verstörende Thriller. So leicht ihm das Schreiben dieser rauschhaften Gewaltfantasien weit nach Mitternacht von der Hand geht, so verschwommen ist später seine Erinnerung an den Inhalt. Als ein Plagiatsvorwurf Rushs guten Ruf - und damit seine Existenz und seine Familie - bedroht, ist plötzlich "Pik-Bube" mit hinterhältigen Ratschlägen zur Stelle. Und fast gegen seinen Willen beginnt Rush ihnen zu folgen.

"Sort vand" er den dramatiske historie om Kelly Kehler og hendes liv, der passerer revy, imens hun venter på den stille druknedød fastklemt i en bil, der er kørt i vandet. Romanen kredser om, hvordan Kelly Kehler er havnet i den frygtelige situation, om hendes noget naive forhold til mænd, der ikke vil hende det godt, og om hendes fortid som en selvmordstruet ung kvinde, som ironisk nok valgte livet. Erindringerne blandes med stadig flere hallucinationer, efterhånden som det sorte vand stiger i bilen, og ilten forsvinder.

"Firefox" er de fiktive erindringer fortalt af Madeleine, eller Maddy, som hun kaldes, der i sine unge dage var med i pigebanden Firefox. Gruppens leder er den karismatiske og idealistiske Margaret, der er god til at sætte gang i gaden. Nogle gange lidt for god. Pigerne bor sammen i et hus, men har svært ved at skaffe penge til dagen og vejen. Margaret kommer imidlertid på en lusket plan, hvor de skal bortføre en lokal rigmand. Men bortførelsen går ikke som planlagt, og pludselig står gruppen uden en leder.

"Why do we write?" With this question Joyce Carol Oates, in this new collection of seminal essays and criticism, begins an imaginative exploration of the writing life and all its attendant anxieties, joys, and futilities. Leading her quest is a desire to understand the source of the writer's inspiration - do subjects haunt those who might bring them back to life until the writer submits? Or does something "happen" to us, a sudden ignition of a burning flame? Can the appearance of a muse-like Other bring about a writer's best work?

After more than a decade, the handsome amateur detective Xavier Kilgarvan has returned to Winterthurn just in time to see the fifth young woman’s body carried from Devil’s Half Acre. A brutal fiend has left her mutilated body in this desolate plot of land filled with hulking boulders, quicksand, and twisted trees. Can detective Kilgarvan discover the forces motivating the mysterious “Gentleman Suitor” who has lured five innocent women to their deaths?

Established early in the last century as a memorial to O. Henry, this annual collection has consistently offered a remarkable sampling of contemporary short stories. Each year stories are chosen from large and small literary magazines and a panel of distinguished writers is enlisted to award the top prizes. The result is a superb collection of inventive, full-bodied stories representing the very best in American and Canadian fiction.

Qualcosa di oscuro si agita dietro gli abbaini della villa di Labyrinth Drive, e nessuno steccato bianco, nessun filo di perle, nessun cocktail party può nasconderlo: è il cuore nero e pulsante dell'America più irreprensibilmente wasp, l'America democratica e progressista, l'America di Kennedy e di Carter, l'America delle magnifiche sorti e progressive, l'America che cela, dietro le sue medaglie al valore, un volto sinistro.

Campi di segale sotto il sole abbacinante dell'Arkansas. Le mani strappano i frutti dalla terra, la terra prude e si mangia le mani. I braccianti arrancano nel meriggio insieme ai cavalli e il sogno americano è un abbaglio nell'afa, una zacchera di fango sulla schiena, un canto di nostalgia e speranza spezzato dalle spighe del grano. Clara è la figlia di due contadini e trascorre l'adolescenza a correre tra gli odori aspri ed erbosi delle piantagioni, e a rubacchiare oggetti insignificanti nei negozi per divertimento e noia.

Nell Ryder is a sardonic and urbane school teacher transplanted to small-town Michigan in Joyce Carol Oates’ play. But when she gets into a dispute with an aggrieved parent, Nell finds herself accused of impropriety with one of her adolescent charges.

Joyce Carol Oates is one of our most insightful observers of the human heart and mind, and, with her acute social consciousness, one of the most insistent and inspired witnesses of a shared American history. Oates is perhaps best known for her prodigious output of novels and short stories, many of which have become contemporary classics. However, Oates has also always been a faithful writer of poetry. American Melancholy showcases some of her finest work of the last few decades.

Détroit, fin des années 1970. Hannah et Wes Jarrett forment l'une des familles les plus en vue de l'élite blanche et bourgeoise. Mais entre les galas caritatifs et les déplacements d'affaires, ils se croisent à peine et n'ont plus en commun que leurs deux enfants, choyés par la gouvernante. Par ailleurs, des gros titres abominables font la une des journaux : des cadavres de garçons sont retrouvés nus, sans vie, comme exposés au public. Par un meurtrier dont on ne sait rien, et que les médias s'empressent de nommer Babysitter.

In the heart of a languid July, eleven-year-old John Reddy Heart drives a traffic-stopping, salmon-colored Cadillac into the quiet upstate town of Willowsville, New York. His mother, Dahlia Heart, a blackjack dealer, has brought her family east from Las Vegas to claim the rambling mansion left to her by a wealthy suitor. But it is John Reddy—already growing into a heartbreaking hybrid of James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley—who will claim the town itself.

When Rachel Murdock and her sister Jennifer receive a call for help from their favorite niece, Lilly, in Breakers Beach, California, they quickly hop a train from Los Angeles to see her-but not before collecting their prized cat Samantha in a picnic basket and bringing her along for the ride.