Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Oates, Joyce Carol (Vol. 11) - Jeremy Treglown

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JEREMY TREGLOWN

The solemn domestic absorption of many of Joyce Carol Oates's stories seems narcissistic,… though this prolific and highly acclaimed author often writes well and, of course, her concerns are … obviously up-to-date: the imposition and effects of sex-roles, especially in marriage; the plight of the educated, jobless wife; adultry-drift; and so on. Half of the 15 stories in [Crossing the Border] form a fragmented novel about a couple who have left the States for Canada, so that Evan, a research scientist, can escape doing morally repugnant work in 'defence biology'. His wife Renée is increasingly restless, and her characteristically frantic moves towards and away from an affair with a horrifically self-satisfied married poet are closely described.

Several of the stories are effectively bizarre—one about a mental defective who haunts Renée, for example (though I couldn't help thinking how much more Ian McEwan, say, would have made...

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1. Introduction
2. John Simon
3. Sue Simpson Park
4. Sanford Pinsker
5. Marie Mitchell Olesen Urbanski
6. Jeremy Treglown
7. Harold Beaver
8. Victoria Glendinning
9. Robert Phillips
10. Copyright

1. Joyce Carol Oates