Beasts (Otto Penzler Books) [Paperback]

Joyce Carol Oates (Author)

Book Description

Series: Otto Penzler Books | Publication Date: November 22, 2002

A young woman tumbles into a nightmare of decadent desire and corrupted innocence in a superb novella of suspense from National Book Award–winner Joyce Carol Oates. Art and arson, the poetry of D. H. Lawrence and pulp pornography, hero-worship and sexual debasement, totems and taboos mix and mutate into a startling, suspenseful tale of how a sunny New England college campus descends into a lurid nightmare. "A small gem.... Oates does not disappoint, nor does she waste a word."—The Washington Post Book World Oates often takes on sensational subject matter ... yet rarely has she done so with the churningly quiet understatement of ... Beasts."—Los Angeles Times "A cunning fusion of Gothic romance and psychological horror story, and one of her best recent books."—Kirkus Reviews "Oates's new novel is a slim one, but it packs a serious punch."—Associated Press "Delicious ... Beasts is something of a jeu d'esprit noir.... The novella length is exactly right for it."—The New York Review of Books

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, January 2002: OK, OK. I know it looks like a conflict of interest, or favoritism, or nepotism, or some -ism or another that appears to be unethical. But it's not. Honestly.

Since I've been creating "Penzler's Picks" for Amazon.com I've never reviewed any of the books I've published under my imprint at Carroll & Graf--until now. I've been tempted many times, for the obvious reason that, if I like a book enough to publish it, I'd like it well enough to recommend it. But I've resisted for the reason noted above.

My affection for and admiration of Beasts, however, is so enormous that I just can't help myself. I've been an admirer of Joyce Carol Oates for longer than I care to admit. Indeed, I raved about Blonde in these pages long before it was nominated for a National Book Award (and should have won, in my opinion).

Beasts is a little jewel of a book, only 138 pages. Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is a perfect gem, and so are Steinbeck's The Red Pony, and James Ellroy's Dick Contino's Blues, and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw; the short novel is capable of being one of an author's masterpieces. Short novels, or novellas, allow for the author to develop characters more fully than is possible in a short story, yet constrict them enough to maintain a single mood, or tone, throughout the entire book, which might easily become oppressive in a longer work.

Set in an apparently idyllic New England college town, Beasts is the story of Gillian Brauer, a student who falls in love with her professor, his Bohemian lifestyle, and anti-establishment attitudes, and what happens when she falls under his spell.

Knowing that other girls preceded her does not deter Gillian from becoming part of the household of Professor Harrow and his larger-than-life wife, Dorcas, the outrageous sculptress of shocking wooden totems. Drawn into their life, Gillian soon becomes a helpless pawn, a victim of her own passions and those of her mentors. Or does she? Sometimes even the most seemingly powerless prey can surprise a predator.

Savor every word of this little masterpiece, as it is unlikely that you will read anything to equal it for a long, long time. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In her new novella, the prolific Oates paints a riveting picture of a time when drugs were viewed with a more tolerant eye and sexual promiscuity was the order of the day. The story revolves around a group of college girls in the 1970s and their obsessive preoccupation with charismatic anti-establishment English professor Andre Harrow and his artist wife, Dorcas. The two stand out in their small New England college town, and they revel in their difference, which draws Andre's female students to him like bees to honey. A talented and infatuated junior, Gillian is relegated to the shadows until Andre picks her out as one of his "special" girls. What follows is a disturbing look at the power of obsession and the abuse of trust. The story, though implausible in today's world, is quite believable in its 1970s setting. It's a quick read at 128 pages but suspenseful and satisfying to the end, with Oates once again displaying her amazing flair for complex and slightly bizarre characters. Recommended for all fiction collections. Caroline Mann, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (November 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786711035
• ISBN-13: 978-0786711031
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. Among her many honors are the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the National Book Award. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carved Lives, December 12, 2001

By 

Eric Anderson (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beasts (Hardcover)

Beasts is a gothic novella set in a small New England woman's college in the 70s. It is told through the perspective of Gillian Brauer, a yearning student poet who is infatuated with her D. H. Lawrence loving professor Andre Harrow and his controversial and mysterious sculptress wife, Dorcas. Several mysteries including recurring acts of arson, a coveted but secret apprenticeship to the radical Dorcas and several students who are debilitated by mental illness are balanced through the book. The characters explore the moral boundary of the liberal time period through their sexual explorations, but this isn't a novella that seeks to exploit the titillating age of free love. Rather, it reinvents the tale of Bluebeard to create a contemporary fable of the grotesque.

This novella explores the deadly consequences of a train of thought taken too far, viciously seeking out the passionate ends of extended thoughts. Harrow and his wife take the liberal sexual attitude of DH Lawrence and act out the extreme barriers of it. Gillian enigmatically buries her responsibility in the events of her early life while simultaneously plotting the motives which form her guilt. Somehow she is left centrally pure, a passionate girl spoiled by ideas. Oates draws out the violent inner natures of her characters to show them in the light, exposing the consequences of their nature. This novella isn't subtle, Oates chooses instead to go for the extreme to show us our forgotten nightmares. It is a powerful and memorable read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Super-Proflic Oates churns out another Good Book, December 16, 2001

By 

James W. Tucker (Fishers, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beasts (Hardcover)

Joyce Carol Oates's newest book, "Beasts," offers the reader a suspenseful, flashback-type-of story, told from the main character, Gillian Brauer. The book is no more than 138 pages, a format where I believe Oates shines. With last year's massive novel, "Blonde" and her other latest, "Middle Age: a romance," the overly-detailed prose can make any good reader tired after a few chapters. Not to say those books are not good, because they are.

In "Beasts," Oates keeps you hooked, giving you a deep perspective on Gillian Brauer, a college student in the mid-70s, sexual attractive to her college professor, Andre Harrow. She is then drawn into Harrow and his wife's poetic, strange artistic world centered around wooden totems and a strange parrot named Xipe Totec. In the meantime, fires are being set by an arsonist around Catamount College.

After reading the book, I felt Oates could have established more of a relationship with Gillian's college friends, maybe have included a separate, brief chapter on them, but overall, the book reminded me of Philip Roth's book, "The Dying Animal."

I highly recommend "Beasts" because of Oates's unique and often horrifying look into her characters' lives. She doesn't disappoint the reader with "Beasts."

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brightened Only By Flame, March 5, 2002

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Beasts (Hardcover)

Eerie fiction, gloom and darkness, with a plot grotesque, unfolding in a lonely location, all describe this work entitled, "Beasts", and all qualify as characteristics of the Gothic novel. Joyce Carol Oates is a new author for me, but she is not one I will soon forget. This fairly brief work is unnerving at best with its characters that either are, or cross over to the depraved as either victims, or with a vague tacit admission of the willing participant.

An isolated college for women, a small group of selected students of poetry, or potential targets is drawn to a charismatic, latently evil instructor of the poetry of D. H. Lawrence. This professor/procurer uses the words of Lawrence to intrude on the privacy of his students and to intimidate them in to sharing their most intimate thoughts and experiences in writing, which then become public during class. If the story stopped here the theme of the young woman with a crush on a professor willing to exploit the same girl is hardly new literary territory. Ms. Oates takes the relationship out of the classroom and office, and transports it to a lonely isolated home. The home is of the professor and his wife, the latter who is a controversial sculptress whose work even even the most liberal viewers of the 1970's find profane, not a task easily accomplished.

Several students eventually find themselves at this residence, and despite their experiences and the permanent changes they are marked by, curiosity overcomes all fear and students continue to make the journey. What happens inside the home of the professor and his wife crosses over in to behavior and exploitation that is incredibly cruel. Gothic is almost too bland an adjective for what takes place, and certainly too mild for the permanent damage some victims suffer.

Fire plays a prominent role in this tale, whether as the topic of arson, or to sow distrust amongst friends. The ultimate conflagration the writer offers is satisfying and pyric. The book is a fascinating and disturbing read that is unquestionably excellent, if not for all readers.