Author's style-J. C. Oates
- 1. J. C. Oates
- 2. • Born on June 16, 1938, in Lockport, New York, Joyce Carol Oates developed a love for writing as a child and went on to become an acclaimed, bestselling scribe known for her novels, stories, poetry and essays, winning the National Book Award for 1969's them. Her other notable works include A Garden of Earthly Delights, We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, The Gravedigger's Daughter and The Accursed.
- 3. • The most common of J. C. Oates stylistic device is the use of numerous and sudden changes between several narrative levels. Sometimes devoting a full chapter or page on a single scene, then again, especially towards the end, quickly skipping from one subject to the other, sometimes in a single sentence, it seems that "time accelerates to the speed of light". The quick skips between all the different levels of time and place make the reader feel exactly what is going on in characters' mind during these "patches of amnesia" .Their thoughts are all mixed up by the accident, their perception is totally confused. The reader is forced to share her thoughts and feelings.
- 4. • Her novels usually are not written in the 1st, but mainly in the 3rd person, which usually conveys a certain distance between the literary character and the reader. There are, however, repeated "breaks" in this 3rd person narration ,which seem to be moments of awful consciousness between long seconds of flashback-memories and unconscious thoughts.
- 5. • Another stylistic element which helps creating the intense atmosphere are the long, unstructured sentences, which go on for nearly a whole page sometimes. They consist of numerous short sentences linked together, sometimes separated by commas, sometimes not . They show that the character ‘s mind is in such a confusion, that in one instant she/he is still fighting against “the rising water”.
- 6. • Also the common of J. C. Oates stylistic device is flashbacks: • "in her little white anklet socks", "Who′s this! Who′s this! Little angel-bee `Lizabeth“ • "That was so. (...) She saw that. There was no mistake. Yet at the same time she was explaining (...) he had not abandoned her to die in the black water."
- 7. • Her language is poetic and is full of similes and metaphors. • Also J. C. Oates employs foreshadowing : • "ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out."
- 8. Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory • "The music was always in the background," the narrator tells us, "like music in a church service, it was something to depend upon" . It's so omnipresent, in fact, that it seems to have worked its way into the very way characters think, act, and feel. • a "simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song" . Because it's everywhere, music can introduce a number of different themes, including the effects of popular culture, the nature of desire, and the dynamics of psychological manipulation.