The Poisoned Kiss and Other Stories from the Portuguese

by Joyce Carol Oates

A clean, unclipped copy in a Mylar jacket cover.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

220 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1975

About the author

Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.

Reviews

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite possibly the best collection of short stories by JCO that I have read. She has at least a million to compare with but here she reins in her usual wordy self and these "Portugese" fictions are pithy and to the point. Dreamy, gothic at times, her protagonists exist and co-exist in our world and a world that parallels our own, floating between the two, they never quite seem to make sense of either. I have to add that the cover of this edition has to win some award for worst cover ever. 6 typefaces/fonts could not have helped to promote this one on the shelves of your local bookstore in the 70's.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyce Carol Oates seems to be the master of short stories and this collection does not disapoint on any level. Instead these short stories inspire, intrigue and allow the reader an insight that only Oates seems to be able to deliver. Based on Oates ideas of Portugal most of the short stories take place in Lisbon. Most of the stories the main character seems to have to question themselves to their core and makes the reader question themselves as well.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting existential thought experiment.

[Kylin Larsson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this early collection of Oates' short stories right after I read her amazing novel The Falls. I find it inspiring to look at the early works of amazing writers. I wasn't impressed by the writing in the stories, didn't finish the collection, and can't remember a single plot line or character. I guess it shows we all improve with time!

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

22 stories:

Our Lady of the Easy Death of Alferce
The Brain of Dr. Vicente
Loss
Parricide
The Enchanted Piano
Distance
In a Public Place
The Seduction
Maimed
Two Young Men
The Secret Mirror
The Cruel Master
Sunlight/Twilight
Husband and Wife
The Poisoned Kiss
The Son of God and His Sorrow
The Murderer
Impotence
Letters to Fernandes from a Young American
The Letter
Plagiarized Material
Journey