Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is one of America's most prolific and decorated literary writers, who has written extensively in the crime and Gothic horror tradition. Blonde, her fictionalized account of Marilyn Monroe's life, and Zombie, her interior portrait of a serial killer, demonstrate her willingness to engage with darkness and violence. She writes Gothic and crime novels under the pen name Rosamond Smith.
Works
- ThemNovel following three generations of a family through violence and social upheaval
- WonderlandNovel depicting a violent chase through America exploring obsession and madness
- BellefleurGothic family saga spanning generations with murder, incest, and buried secrets
- You Must Remember ThisNovel exploring two lovers' relationship against the backdrop of urban violence
- Because It Is Bitter and Because It Is My HeartNovel examining mother-son bonds and violence in a working-class African American family
- BlondeNovel reimagining Marilyn Monroe's life, struggles, and tragic fame and death
- We Were the MulvaneysFamily saga depicting an American family's wealth, power, and spectacular downfall
- Black WaterA modern woman drowns in a scandal-plagued accident mirroring a famous political tragedy
- ZombiePsychological novel of a manipulative man's disturbing obsession and control over a vulnerable victim
- FoxfireNovella of young women bonding through gang violence and passion in upstate New York
- The Gravedigger's DaughterWorking-class woman's struggle for survival and redemption during the Depression era