'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?': Joyce Carol Oates (Women Writers) [Paperback]

Elaine Showalter (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Women Writers | Publication Date: November 1, 1994

Joyce Carol Oates's prize-winning story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" takes up troubling subjects that continue to occupy her in her fiction: the romantic longings and limited options of adolescent women; the tensions between mothers and daughters; the sexual victimization of women; and the American obsession with violence. Inspired by a magazine story about a serial killer, its remarkable portrait of the dreamy teenager Connie has made it a feminist classic. Connie's life anticipates the emergence of American society from the social innocence of the fifties into the harsher contemporary realities of war, random violence, and crime. The story was the basis for the movie Smooth Talk, which became the subject of much feminist debate. This casebook includes an introduction by the editor, a chronology of Oates's life, and authoritative text of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" an essay by Oates on Smooth Talk, the original Life article about the serial killer, ten critical essays (including two about the film), and a bibliography. The contributors are Brenda O. Daly, Christina Marsden Gillis, Don Moser, Tom Quirk, B. Ruby Rich, R.J.R. Rockwood, Larry Rubin, Gretchen Schultz, Marie Mitchell Oleson Urbanski, Joyce M. Wegs, and Joan D. Winslow. Elaine Showalter is Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities at Princeton University. She is the author and editor of many books on women's writing, including Sister's Choice: Tradition and Change in American Women's Writing. A volume in the Women Writers: Texts and Contexts Series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; First Paperback Edition edition (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813521351
• ISBN-13: 978-0813521350
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #709,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Purchased for literature class, March 3, 2011

By 

Raoul Duke - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?': Joyce Carol Oates (Women Writers : Texts and Contexts) (Kindle Edition)

I bought this book for my literature class - it was excellent, my first time reading Oates and I most definately recommend her if you are interested in literature (or even if you're not - the background of her short story is interesting - based on a real-life serial killer in Arizona). The critical essays in the back of the book are invaluable, so if you are looking to write a research paper this is a fanstastic purchase!

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Story, February 8, 2011

By 

CallistianStar "Calli" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?': Joyce Carol Oates (Women Writers : Texts and Contexts) (Kindle Edition)

The price is a little bit much for this short story that you can find online, but otherwise still a really compelling coming-of-age story.

What this book offers, however, is just a couple of papers of critique on the book and what Oates meant by some of the events in the book.

I needed this for a class, but I don't mind keeping it. Still a good buy.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rehashing a classic, July 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?': Joyce Carol Oates (Women Writers) (Paperback)

This book is an interesting look at Joyce Carol Oates's short story, "Where are you going? Where have you been?". It includes articles about theories regarding the story and its 1980 movie version, but more importantly this edition includes the actual news article that inspired the lurid tale of Connie and A. Friend as well as Ms. Oates own comments on the piece.