In Rough Country: Essays and Reviews - Paperback

by Joyce Carol Oates (Author)

"A poignant, nostalgic collection of literary criticism by one of America's premier authors."

In Rough Country is a sterling collection of 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 literature with In Rough Country, and offers unique and breathtaking insights into the writer's art.

But In Rough Country is also a startlingly personal work, born from a time of grief, where reading and writing became a lifeline.

• Classic American Authors: Explore the "treacherous terrains" of Edgar Allan Poe, the witchcraft of Shirley Jackson, and the startling figures of Flannery O'Connor.
• Contemporary Masters: Delve into the rough country of Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx, Philip Roth's tragic jokes, and the tales of Margaret Atwood.
• A Memoir of Reading and Grief: In a deeply moving preface, Oates reveals how literature became a "traditional solace to the bereft" after the death of her husband, Raymond Smith.
• On the Writer's Craft: A master novelist offers an unparalleled look into writerly influences, the structure of a literary essay, and the "lifeline" of the written word.

Front Jacket

In twenty-nine provocative essays, Joyce Carol Oates maps the rough country that is both the treacherous geographical and psychological terrain of the writers she so cogently analyzes--Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, E. L. Doctorow, and Margaret Atwood, among others--and the emotional terrain of Oates's own life following the unexpected death of her husband, Raymond Smith, after forty-eight years of marriage.

As literature is a traditional solace to the bereft, so writing about literature can be a solace, as it was to me when the effort of writing fiction seemed beyond me, as if belonging to another lifetime, Oates writes. Reading and taking notes, especially late at night when I can't sleep, has been the solace, for me, that saying the Rosary or reading The Book of Common Prayer might be for another. The results of those meditations are the essays of In Rough Country--balanced and illuminating investigations that demonstrate an artist working at the top of her form.

Back Jacket

In twenty-nine provocative essays, Joyce Carol Oates maps the "rough country" that is both the treacherous geographical and psychological terrain of the writers she so cogently analyzes--Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, E. L. Doctorow, and Margaret Atwood, among others--and the emotional terrain of Oates's own life following the unexpected death of her husband, Raymond Smith, after forty-eight years of marriage.

"As literature is a traditional solace to the bereft, so writing about literature can be a solace, as it was to me when the effort of writing fiction seemed beyond me, as if belonging to another lifetime," Oates writes. "Reading and taking notes, especially late at night when I can't sleep, has been the solace, for me, that saying the Rosary or reading The Book of Common Prayer might be for another." The results of those meditations are the essays of In Rough Country--balanced and illuminating investigations that demonstrate an artist working at the top of her form.