RE: JCO: The Gravediggers Daughter - SPOILERS INCLUDED

Eric,

I would have to say that the resolution of the characters is what was most perplexing to me. I am very used to JCO "leaving" her characters to go on with their lives when the story ends, but leaving the characters off and then picking up with the cousins seemed strange to me. It did not seem as if The Grave Digger's Daughter was a story about the cousins, although I can understand the need for Rebecca/Hazel to want to make that connection. It is very ironic that the cousin desires this same connection only when it is to late.

I agree with you completely about this novel being one of her finest. It seemed that several of the themes she deals with in other works have a more finished feeling. The girl who survives when she is not meant to (her father, Tignor, the man on the path - there were several for Rebecca) seems to take on a particularly American quality here (as she is often reminded by her father and brothers "you were born here") - however, the chronology of the story was such that these attempts were not the most important thing - but rather the dealing with the events that made Rebecca who she was (or was not) - a truly American idea of reinventing the self. Was she denying this in contacting her cousin? Or was it simply ok once she raised her son and felt detached from who she was? I found this question arising again and again as I neared the end of the book.

Your observations about family and drawing strength from family seem to answer this question in part - that she was returning to family. But I wonder if any of it was real for her? She invented the cousin for herself in childhood games as she reinvented herself several times over throughout the novel - I wonder if there was a common heritage? Is family in genetics or what is invented? She had genetic and familiar (as with Chez) connections - but none of them seemed real?

I did enjoy the novel - I found myself reading and rereading passages that were particularly striking. I would love to hear what you and others think - and questions the novel might have raised ...

- Nicole (Texas)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-jco@usfca.edu on behalf of Eric Anderson
Sent: Tue 8/14/2007 5:44 AM
To: jco@usfca.edu
Subject: 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

Subject: JCO: The Gravediggers DaughterDate: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:18:50 -0500From: ndprovencher@lake.ollusa.eduTo: 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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