Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Oates, Joyce Carol (Vol. 11) - Sue Simpson Park

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page
4. Tweet This

SUE SIMPSON PARK

The title [of "How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life over Again"], with its seventeen words, suggests a departure from the conventional practice of relatively short titles. The headnote for the story provides a further hint as to the experimental quality of what is to follow: "Notes for an essay for an English class at Baldwin Country Day School; poking around in debris; disgust and curiosity; a revelation of the meaning of life; a happy ending…." A prefiguration of the contrapuntal nature of the story is evident in these preliminaries: on the one hand, the abstractions of contemplation, revelation, the meaning of life, beginning life over again; on the other, the tangibility of the Detroit House of Correction and an English class at Baldwin Country Day School. (pp. 213-14)

The "notes for an essay" are presented in twelve divisions marked with Roman numerals. At first glance, one surmises from...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

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