Understanding Joyce Carol Oates

by Greg Johnson

Understanding Contemporary American Literature was planned as a series of guides or companions for students as well as good nonacademic readers. The word understanding in the series titles was deliberately chosen. Many willing readers lack an adequate understanding of how contemporary literature that is, what the author is attempting to express and the means by which it is conveyed. These volumes provide instruction in how to read certain contemporary writers―identifying and explicating their material, themes, use of language, point of view, structures, symbolism, and responses to experience.

Genres: Criticism

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Greg Johnson is an American short-story writer, novelist, poet, and biographer who teaches creative writing at Kennesaw State University and lives in Atlanta.