Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart

1990 novel by Joyce Carol Oates
First edition (publ. Dutton)

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

  1. ^ Oates, Joyce Carol (1990). Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart. E. P. Dutton. ISBN 9780525248606.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ 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
  • v
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Works by Joyce Carol Oates
The Wonderland Quartet
The Gothic Saga
  • Bellefleur (1980)
  • A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
  • Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
  • My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
  • The Accursed (2013)
Other novels
  • 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)
Novellas
  • Black Water (1992)
  • First Love: A Gothic Tale (1996)
  • Beasts (2001)
  • The Corn Maiden: A Love Story (2005)
  • A Fair Maiden (2010)
Short story collections
Short stories
Young adult fiction