First Love : A Gothic Tale by Joyce Carol Oates

Amazon.com
The darkness of the mind: as horror writer and critic Donald Burleson says, "With the possible exception of Shirley Jackson, no one since [Edgar Allan] Poe has examined it with such candor as Joyce Carol Oates." This novella-length book--a bibliophile's delight with its oneiric woodcut illustrations, elegant font, and undersized hardcover format--uses natural imagery of swampy water, snakes, hawks, gnats, and eerie vegetation to evoke the troubled moods of an 11-year-old girl. The Christian symbology is reminiscent of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The abuse the girl suffers--sexual and overt from her male cousin, subtly sadistic from her neglectful mother--is harrowing. And yet the horrors of the events are muted by the way in which the story comprises a single episode that comes to a close and leaves room for hope.

OxfordBooks.com / Oxford, MS

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