Contraries: Essays

by Joyce Carol Oates

In seven provocative essays, the author confronts the contradictions to which readers respond emotionally in great works of literature.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

187 pages, Hardcover

First published April 23, 1981

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

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, in-depth analysis of some of my favorite authors—specifically, Dostoevsky’s Demons; Shakespeare’s Lear and others.

[Charles Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Preparing for a report on Oscar Wilde's "Dorian Gray" I located this in my public library. That chapter was such a treat I quickly found a cheap, used version of this old book and made it mine. The rest of the book is also equally enjoyable.