Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart
1990 novel by Joyce Carol Oates
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart is a 1990 novel by American novelist Joyce Carol Oates.[1] The title is taken from "In the Desert", a poem by Stephen Crane. Oates's novel was nominated for best work of fiction in the 1990 National Book Awards.[2]
Plot summary
In the early 1950s in Hammond, New York, a young white girl named Iris Courtney and her black friend Jinx Fairchild are united by a murder that they commit in self-defense. From this central moment, this novel weaves out the stories of two families that intercross across divisions of race and class.
Critical reaction
Entertainment Weekly gave it an A, calling Oates "a storyteller with few peers".[3]
References
- ^ Oates, Joyce Carol (1990). Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart. E. P. Dutton. ISBN 9780525248606.
- ^ "National Book Award Nominations Announced : Literature: Nominees include two first-time novelists and an 88-year-old writer". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 20 October 1990. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ Lyons, Gene (27 April 1990). "Because It is Bitter, and Because It is My Heart". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
External links
- http://jco.usfca.edu/works/novels/bitter.html
- Book Review, The New York Times
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Works by Joyce Carol Oates
- A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967)
- Expensive People (1968)
- Them (1969)
- Wonderland (1971)
- Bellefleur (1980)
- A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
- Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
- My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
- The Accursed (2013)
- With Shuddering Fall (1964)
- Do with Me What You Will (1973)
- The Assassins: A Book of Hours (1975)
- Childwold (1976)
- Son of the Morning (1978)
- Cybele (1979)
- Unholy Loves (1979)
- Angel of Light (1981)
- Solstice (1985)
- Marya: A Life (1986)
- You Must Remember This (1987)
- American Appetites (1989)
- Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990)
- Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993)
- What I Lived For (1994)
- Zombie (1995)
- We Were the Mulvaneys (1996)
- Man Crazy (1997)
- Broke Heart Blues (1999)
- Blonde (2000)
- Middle Age: A Romance (2001)
- I'll Take You There (2002)
- The Tattooed Girl (2003)
- The Falls (2004)
- Missing Mom (2005)
- Black Girl / White Girl (2006)
- The Gravedigger's Daughter (2007)
- My Sister, My Love (2008)
- Little Bird of Heaven (2009)
- Mudwoman (2012)
- The Sacrifice (2015)
- Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. (2020)
- Black Water (1992)
- First Love: A Gothic Tale (1996)
- Beasts (2001)
- The Corn Maiden: A Love Story (2005)
- A Fair Maiden (2010)
- By the North Gate (1963)
- Upon the Sweeping Flood and Other Stories (1966)
- The Wheel of Love and Other Stories (1970)
- Marriages and Infidelities (1972)
- The Goddess and Other Women (1974)
- The Poisoned Kiss and Other Stories from the Portuguese (1975)
- Crossing the Border (1976)
- Night-Side (1977)
- All the Good People I've Left Behind (1979)
- The Assignation (1988)
- Demon and Other Tales (1996)
- I Am No One You Know: Stories (2004)
- High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories, 1966–2006 (2006)
- The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense (2007)
- Wild Nights! (2008)
- Dear Husband (2009)
- The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares (2011)
- The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror (2016)
- "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (1963)
- "Stalking" (1972)
- "The Temple" (1996)
- Big Mouth & Ugly Girl (2002)
- Small Avalanches and Other Stories (2003)
- Freaky Green Eyes (2003)
- Sexy (2005)
- After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away (2006)