Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance

Martin Kich (Wright State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2001

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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As several reviewers have noted,

Middle Age

seems to be a reworking of the basic subject matter of

American Appetites

(1989). Both novels are set in affluent communities in the lower Hudson River valley, and both focus on social circles that are convulsed by an unexpected death. In

American Appetites

, a woman dies when her husband accidently shoves her through a window and she falls to her death on a patio below it. The impact of this tragedy is extended and compounded by the decision to charge the husband with murder, a decision that is at least in part politically motivated. In

Middle Age

, the death is more clearly accidental. When a boat capsizes, Adam Berendt attempts to save a girl from drowning but, in the process, suffers a fatal heart attack and, as if for extra measure, a…

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6788 words

Citation: Kich, Martin. "Middle Age: A Romance". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 September 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14014, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance

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