American Appetites (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Joyce Carol Oates
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1980’s
- Setting: Upstate New York
- Principal Characters: Ian McCullough, Glynnis McCullough, Bianca McCullough, Roberta and Denis Grinnell, Sigrid Hunt
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Intellectuals, Murder or homicide, Marriage, Guilt, 1980’s, Domestic violence, Drinking or drunkenness
- Locales: New York
American Appetites, like many Oates novels, is about the way in which violence can suddenly erupt and destroy the fragile fabric of seemingly harmonious lives. Ian and Glynnis McCullough are successful professionals whose lives epitomize the ethics and values of Hazelton-on-Hudson, an upscale haven for liberal-thinking intellectuals. Most of the characters in the novel are card-carrying members of the American Civil Liberties Union, all dabble in the arts, all appreciate gourmet dinner parties where they drink expensive wines and become slightly inebriated, not drunk. They are...
[The entire page is 2170 words long]
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