RE: JCO: The Gravediggers Daughter - SPOILERS INCLUDED

Hi Nicole

 

Thanks for your message. I was hoping we could discuss this novel here. I think it's one of my new favorite novels by Oates, one of her absolute best. As Michael Silverblatt commented in his interview with her, Gravediggers Daughter seems to bring together a lot of the themes and subjects which are closest to Oates as a writer. One of the things I think he was referring to was the way in which Oates often writes of the survival of an individual girl who perhaps feels she wasn't meant to survive (either in the personal sense or within her own species)… The man Rebecca meets on the path home who might have killed her or her own father's decision to execute his family.

 

I found the book very moving as well. It's compelling how Rebecca feels throughout her life that she both belongs to America, yet doesn't belong. She's accepted as a bright pretty American girl, but only if she disguises her Jewish heritage. She (finally) finds herself in a successful marriage to a good man, but feels she can't continue her ties with her surviving family in order to maintain her new position. This distortion of the self raises obvious questions about to what degree the individual is really surviving if her identity is so thoroughly transformed and denied. Perhaps because America is such a great melting pot this is why Oates is particularly concerned with this theme in Gravediggers Daughter and so much of her other work.

 

Which parts perplexed you? The ending was quite a surprise – though in a way it felt right as well. Rebecca's long lost cousin is someone who took the complete opposite approach to Rebecca, did not distort her identity and feels absolutely no need to either apologize for who she is or expect different treatment because of her family's struggles. This has, of course, created an entirely different set of problems for her. What we seem to glimpse at the end is a possibility that these two diametric personalities might come together (though for Rebecca it may be too late). They may be able to set aside their strategies for dealing with life within a larger society and come together as a family. If it doesn't sound to achingly sentimental, I think Oates is saying by this ending that family is where many people draw their strength to really survive - from both the supporting influence of their love and the ability to be with those who share a common heritage.

 

I'd love to hear what other people think as well. I'm seeing Oates read from the book tonight in London and will relate anything back to the group which is of particular interest.

 

eric

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Subject: JCO: The Gravediggers Daughter
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:18:50 -0500
From: ndprovencher@lake.ollusa.edu
To: jco@usfca.edu


I have just finished The Gravediggers Daughter.  I am both deeply moved and perplexed by the work - especially the ending.  Has anyone else read this work?  Any thoughts? 

- Nicole

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