A Garden of Earthly Delights (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joyce Carol Oates
- First Published: 1967
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, Power, personal or social, Class conflict, Twentieth century, Poverty or poor people, Migrant labor
A Garden of Earthly Delights is a novel that portrays the American economic system and the ills suffered both by those who fail and by those who succeed in it. Oates tells the story of Clara, from the day of her birth among migrant laborers to her waning years watching television in a nursing home, and the men—father, lovers, son—who define her life experience.
The title is taken from a dramatic triptych by the fifteenth century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. The three panels of the original Garden of Earthly Delights illustrate Eve's creation in paradise, the...
[The entire page is 890 words long]
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