The Other Nature Essay -- Writing Writer Literature Papers

The Other spirit Early in her exploration of mans soul, Joyce Carol Oates discovers a fundamental law while writing about the character of Stavrogin in Dostoyevskys The Possessed-that as circumstances of his inevitable fall, man violates nature in so complete a way as to separate himself from the only forces that can save him. This estimate dealing with the set of man is a constant thread that weaves itself with most of Oates essays, the corruption by various internal and external forces and the calamity that results from mans blindness to his own nature and to what would result him salvation. Oates power lies in her mightiness to delve deep within the personalities of the writers, the characters they create, and the powerful themes buried deep in the works soul. She applies psychological concepts and archetypes in order to explore the implications brought about by the similarities and differences in the characters thoughts and actions. She reaches her most thought-prov oking insights by connecting parallel motifs across a wide-cut spectrum of literature and constantly leaps from one generalization to the next causing the commentator to wonder how she has come to the fascinating and brilliant conclusions presented in Contraries. By examining the Fall of man, she discovers how self-awargonness and material preoccupations lead to a corruption of the cancel self. Later, the discussion of tragedy and transcendence in essays about King Lear and Nostromo reveals the fundamental importance of women-as saviors of the natural world and representatives of salvation for men. Women are the underlying focus of her essays the archetypes and roles they adhere to and harbor as literary characters shape the way she perceives the female. Ultimat... ... subjection is presented as disconsolate and mean. Perhaps this shift of focus from the sublime to the obscene is necessary to ingest more clearly into focus the longstanding female archetype and provide us with the strength to intervene in such deep-running cultural patterns. Oates for sure does not preach at us, and she never tells us exactly what to do. precisely reading Connies story, and reading over Oatess shoulder as she sees the archetype that created it, we are pushed, at least, to read the stories we encounter to find and reflect on the conflicts of sympathetic nature they reveal.Works CitedOates, Joyce Carol. Contraries Essays. New York Oxford UP, 1981. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 1966. Celestial timer Joyce Carol Oates Archive. Ed. Randy Souther. Dec. 1996. San Francisco. 10 Dec. 2000. <http//storm.usfca.edu/ southerr/wgoing.html