If Henry James is the master of psychological realism, Joyce Carol Oates is its mistress. And I, for one, find Professor Oates’s prose far less tedious and eminently more readable.

In metaphysics, there’s an age-old rhetorical question: “How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?” I’ve frankly never cared for any discussion of the question — hence, to my mind at least, it remains rhetorical. A possible corollary where Ms. Oates’s stories are concerned, however, might well be “In how many ways can a character court disaster while sparring with life?” In these stories, the events — leading as often as not to near-disaster — are as chaotic as they are (co)incidental.

With the exception of a few pieces in this selection of Ms. Oates’s early stories (“Upon the Sweeping Flood” and “At the Seminary” come immediately to mind), the plot is a mere side show. Instead, Ms. Oates weaves the fabric of her stories through dialogue and gesture — the best windows, it seems to me, into a given character’s truer motivations. This is not to say that her characters always speak the truth. Quite to the contrary. And so, the real truth occurs—and is given illustration — by the conflict between a given character’s verbal and non-verbal expression. At which point, it becomes our happy task to decipher and supply the logic to her conclusions. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always get that logic, and the two examples I cite immediately above still remain a mystery to me.

It is, in any case, refreshing to read a contemporary writer who chooses small plot-lines and big, internal turmoil. I’ve often wondered — given the current direction of most blockbuster films — whether this wasn’t already a lost art. It is (perhaps perversely) equally refreshing, by the way, to see that a great writer — not to mention any number of copy editors — could’ve missed this little typographical homonym on p. 384: “My uncle didn’t here me (emphasis mine).”

If you don’t get a chance to read the entire collection, do yourself the favor of at least reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have you Been?” It’s easy to see why this story was turned into the film “Smooth Talk” (with Laura Dern and Treat Williams). It’s an unforgettable story — and an unforgettable film. The plot is minimal; the characterization, immense; the psychological realism, devastating.

RRB
08/06/13
Brooklyn, NY

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