JCO: Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 17:04:55 -0800

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Re: JCO: writing about blacks & whites

Thanks for this interesting reference about the forthcoming DARK EYES ON
AMERICA. Here's another book Tone Cluster folks may want to check out the essay
"Segregated Fiction Blues" in THE ARTIFICIAL WHITE MAN by Stanley Crouch. In
it, essayist/novelist Crouch talks about the irrelevance of most "quality"
contemporary fiction to contemporary life. Mr. Crouch -- whom some of you may
recall severly criticized Toni Morrison's novel BELOVED when it first appeared
-- maintains that most American writers shun the topic of American race
relations because it's too hot for their limited imaginations and writerly skills.
(He wonders why white writers can't dream up credible black characters and visa
versa; he finds most American fiction writers too parochial and timid.) He
goes on to say that some made-for-TV movies handle race with a lot more depth,
originality and verve than just about any novel published in the past 25 years
or so. In fact, he disparages most US fiction writers for their failure to
grapple with our big social issues -- period.
Then he goes on to note the exceptions to this dilemma: Wm. Styron, Tom
Wolf, Susan Minot, JCO, Danzy Senna, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth -- not that
these writers have created "perfect" works in Mr. Crouch's estimate -- but
that they have made strong, sincere, noteworthy efforts to write about
black/white issues from both sides. He gives JCO's I'LL TAKE YOU THERE the highest
marks of all. He also admires Roth's AMERICAN PASTORAL but thinks it falls short
in a couple of instances. I think you will enjoy reading this very
interesting, opinioned writer's essay.
Cyrano


In a message dated 12/31/2004 2:06:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
CoonHollow@aol.com writes:

<< DARK EYES ON AMERICA: THE NOVELS OF JOYCE CAROL OATES is soon to be
released
(Louisiana State UP, 2005)?

Here is the editorial review from Amazon:


Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Gavin Cologne-Brookes is the author of The Novels of William Styron: From
Harmony to History and coeditor of Writing and America. Educated in his
native
Britain and in the United States, he is an associate professor of English
and
creative studies at Bath Spa University in England.

Product Description:
Joyce Carol Oates’s unhesitating and prodigious exploration of genre, topic,
and style has made her an inevitable but elusive subject for critics and
scholars. Though Oates’s national reputation has fluctuated since her first
work
appeared in the 1960s, one thing can be agreed: Oates is not just America’s
most
extraordinary woman of letters but as significant an American writer as any
of her contemporaries. In this comprehensive and accessible study, Gavin
Cologne-Brookes traces in Oates’s novels evidence of an evolving
consciousness that
ultimately forgoes abstract introspection and the philosophical pursuit of
certainty in favor of a more practical approach to art as a tool for
understanding personal and social problems and possibilities.
Drawing on the intellectual tradition of American Pragmatism,
Cologne-Brookes emphasizes the social value of Oates’s later work in
particular. He shows
how Oates’s willingness to enter the minds of a vast array of protagonists
points to her belief in the possibility of understanding diverse American
realities. At the same time, her work recognizes an often mutually
incomprehensible
diversity as the actual state of affairs in American society.
Cologne-Brookes undertook extensive research for his study, including
interviewing and corresponding with Oates. His close textual study of her
novels and
abundant references to her essays, stories, poetry, plays and letters result
in a book that emphasizes Oates’s clear-eyed analysis of human behavior,
underscores her remarkable mastery of her craft, and reveals her uniquely
dark
vision to be finally melioristic and affirmative. Dark Eyes on America will
be of
enormous value for understanding this protean author who cannot be reduced
to
a rigid thesis.



>>
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