Where Is Here

by Joyce Carol Oates

Book Overview

In dramatic, tightly focused narratives charges with tension, menace, and the shock of the unexpected, Where Is Here? examines a world in which ordinary life is electrified by the potential for sudden change. Domestic violence, fear and abandonment and betrayal, and the obsession with loss shadow the characters that inhabit these startling, intriguing stories. With the precision and intensity that are the hallmarks of her remarkable talent, Joyce Carol Oates explores the unexpected turns of events that leave people vulnerable and struggling to puzzle out the consequences of their abrupt reversals of fortune.

As in the title story, in which a married couple find their controlled life irrevocably altered by a stranger's visit, the fiction in this new collection is punctuated again and again by mysterious, perhaps unanswerable, questions: "Out of what does our life arise? Out of what does our consciousness arise? Why are we here? Where is here?" Like the questions they pose, these tales -- at once elusive and direct -- unfold with the enigmatic twists of riddles and, often, the blunt shock of tragedy. Where is Here? is the work of a master practitioner of the short story.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880012838
• ISBN13: 9780880012836
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 193 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Area Man Found Crucified

One of the nation's most talented writers is without a doubt, Joyce Carol Oates. This particular collection of short stories is a true pleasure to read. I have read "Area Man Found Crucified" and "Lethal" aloud to several of my friends. Her prose reads much like poetry to me. I find Joyce's ability to find her way into the dark underbelly of the human psyche astounding. Reading Joyce's work is not much unlike having the opportunity to talk with those people you normally only see in passing on the subway or driving through downtown. The best part is that this approach is much safer, and plausibly more enjoyable.Even if one is unable to purchase this book due to lack of availability, he or she should seek it out in libraries. Her writings have changed the way I think about short story forever.