1980s
 |
1980
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Bingo Master" | short story | Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural (1980) | Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (1994) | |
| "Dawn, Dusk" | short story | Shenandoah (1980) | Uncollected | |
| "A Middle-Class Education" | short story | A Middle-Class Education (1980) | A Sentimental Education (1980) | Originally published as standalone limited edition book |
| "Nightshade" | short story | StoryQuarterly (1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Bellefleur (1980) |
| "Ballerina" | short story | The Georgia Review (Winter 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "Birds of Night" | short story | Exile (Winter 1980) | Uncollected | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "The Changeling" | short story | The Missouri Review (Winter 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "Going-Away Party" | short story | Antaeus (Winter 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986); anthologized in Story: Fictions Past and Present (1985), Classic Short Fiction (1986) and one other |
| "The Haunted House" | short story | Kansas Quarterly (Winter 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "Sin" | short story | Fiction International (Winter 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986); anthologized in Moral Fiction: An Anthology (1980) |
| "Mutilated Woman" | short story | Michigan Quarterly Review (Spring 1980) | Uncollected | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1981: The O. Henry Awards (1981) |
| "Sisters" | short story | The South Carolina Review (Spring 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "Friday Evening" | short story | Penthouse (March 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "The Outing" | short story | Mademoiselle (March 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "The Clavichord" | short story | Confrontation (Spring/Summer 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Bellefleur (1980) |
| "The Ebony Casket" | short story | Exile (Summer 1980) | Uncollected | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "The Room of Contamination" | short story | Western Humanities Review (Summer 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Bellefleur (1980) |
| "The Joyful Wedding" | short story | Cosmopolitan (August 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Bellefleur (1980) |
| "Schwilk" | short story | California Quarterly (Summer/Fall 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "Presque Isle" | short story | The Agni Review (Fall 1980) | Uncollected | Anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 1981 (1981) |
| "The Doomed Girl" | short story | Bennington Review (September 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "The Antique Clock" | short story | The Malahat Review (October 1980) | Uncollected | |
| "Anatomical Studies" | short story | Chatelaine (November 1980) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Angel of Light (1981) |
1981
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Theft" | short story | Northwest Review (1981) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986); anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 1982 (1982) |
| "Marya and Sylvester" | short story | Western Humanities Review (Winter 1981) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "An Old-Fashioned Love Story" | short story | Exile (Winter 1981) | Uncollected | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "Poor Lizzie" | short story | Exile (Winter 1981) | Uncollected | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "The Lovers" | short story | Canto (February 1981) | Uncollected | |
| "The Man Whom Women Adored" | short story | North American Review (March 1981) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1982: The O. Henry Awards (1982) |
| "The Rose Wall" | short story | The Twilight Zone Magazine (April 1981) | Uncollected | Anthologized in Great Stories from Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine (1982) |
| "Détente" | short story | The Southern Review (Summer 1981) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Anthologized in The Pushcart Prize VII: Best of the Small Presses (1983) |
| "Minor Characters" | short story | The Massachusetts Review (Summer 1981) | Uncollected | |
| "My Warszawa, 1980" | short story | The Kenyon Review (Fall 1981) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Original title "My Warszawa"; anthologized in Prize Stories 1983: The O. Henry Awards (1983); included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "The Storm" | short story | Cosmopolitan (September 1981) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Angel of Light (1981) |
| "The Sunken Woman" | short story | Playboy (December 1981) | Uncollected |
1982
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Back Country" | short story | Shenandoah (1982–83) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "The Crystal Sea" | short story | Saturday Night (January 1982) | Uncollected | |
| "The Bat" | short story | Shenandoah (Summer 1982) | Uncollected | |
| "The Mirror" | short story | South Carolina Review (Spring 1982) | Uncollected | |
| "Our Wall" | short story | Partisan Review (Spring 1982) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "Ghost Town" | short story | The Literary Review (Summer 1982) | Uncollected | |
| "A Bloodsmoor Romance" | short story | Ms. (June 1982) | Uncollected | Excerpt from A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982); anthologized in 50 Years of Ms. (2023) |
| "Growing Seasons and Killing Frosts" | short story | The Agni Review (Fall 1982) | Uncollected | |
| "Magic" | short story | The Antioch Review (Fall 1982) | Uncollected | |
| "The Pedlar" | short story | New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly (Autumn–Winter 1982) | Uncollected | Excerpt from A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982) |
| "Plover Hill" | short story | Prairie Schooner (Winter 1982–83) | Uncollected | |
| "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" | short story | Esquire (December 1982) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Anthologized in Great Esquire Fiction: The Finest Stories from the First Fifty Years (1983) |
1983
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Hull and the Motions of Grace" | short story | Northwest Review (1983) | Uncollected | |
| "Nairobi" | short story | The Paris Review (Spring 1983) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 1984 (1984); included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "Rabies and Race: An Hypothesis" | short story | Partisan Review (Spring 1983) | Uncollected | Excerpt from The Crosswicks Horror; not included in novel published as The Accursed (2013) |
| "The Victim" | short story | The Iowa Review (Spring 1983) | Uncollected | |
| "The Witness" | short story | Antaeus (Spring 1983) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | |
| "The Granite Springs Elegies" | short story | Carolina Quarterly (Summer 1983) | Uncollected | |
| "Last Days" | short story | Michigan Quarterly Review (Summer 1983) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "The Funeral" | short story | Tropic (June 19, 1983) | Uncollected | |
| "Funland" | short story | Funland (July 1983) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | Originally published as standalone limited edition book |
| "Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars." | short story | Queen's Quarterly (Autumn 1983) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | |
| "Old Budapest" | short story | The Kenyon Review (Fall 1983) | Last Days: Stories (1984) | |
| "Harrow Street in Linden" | short story | The Massachusetts Review (Winter 1983) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "Improvisation" | short story | New Letters (Winter 1983) | Uncollected | |
| "December" | short story | Carolina Quarterly (Winter 1983) | Uncollected | Anthologized in Southern Lights: 75 Years of the Carolina Quarterly (2023) |
| "The Seasons" | short story | Ploughshares (Winter 1983–84) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1985: The O. Henry Awards (1985) |
1984
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Chloe" | short story | Fiction International (1984) | Uncollected | |
| "The Lost Suitor" | short story | Avenue (February 1984) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984) |
| "Silver Storm" | short story | The Agni Review (Spring 1984) | Uncollected | |
| "Manslaughter" | short story | The Malahat Review (June 1984) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "Canal Road" | short story | The Southern Review (Summer 1984) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "Delia's Adventures" | short story | Denver Quarterly (Summer 1984) | Uncollected | |
| "For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry" | short story | Michigan Quarterly Review (Summer 1984) | Uncollected | |
| "Raven's Wing" | short story | Esquire (August 1984) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 1985 (1985); included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "The Nordic Soul" | short story | The Washington Post Magazine (August 5, 1984) | Uncollected | Excerpt from The Crosswicks Horror, published as The Accursed (2013) |
| "Master Race" | short story | Partisan Review (Fall 1984) | Uncollected | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1986: The O. Henry Awards (1986) |
| "The Cure for Folly" | short story | TriQuarterly (Winter 1984) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "The Boy" | short story | Playgirl (December 1984) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "Happy" | short story | Vanity Fair (December 1984) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Anthologized in Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories (1986) |
1985
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Wild Nights" | short story | Wild Nights (1985) | Uncollected | Originally published as standalone limited edition book |
| "Sonata Quasi una Fantasia" | short story | Fiction (1985) | Uncollected | |
| "Ballad" | short story | Southwest Review (Spring 1985) | Uncollected | |
| "Pain" | short story | New Letters (Spring 1985) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "The Bequest" | short story | New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly (Spring 1985) | Uncollected | Excerpt from Marya: A Life (1986) |
| "Golden Gloves" | short story | The Washington Post Magazine (August 4, 1985) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "In Parenthesis" | short story | Chelsea (October 1985) | Uncollected | |
| "Baby" | short story | The Ontario Review (Fall–Winter 1985–86) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "The Heir" | short story | The Massachusetts Review (Winter 1985) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars..." | short story | Exile (Winter 1985) | Uncollected | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "The Jesuit" | short story | The Missouri Review (Winter 1985–86) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "The Mother" | short story | Shenandoah (1985–86) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Included in Where Is Here? (1992) |
1986
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "April" | short story | Raven's Wing (1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "Little Blood-Button" | short story | New Directions 50 (1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Included in Twelve Plays (1991); revised |
| "Nuclear Holocaust" | short story | New Directions 50 (1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Included in Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "Maximum Security" | short story | New Directions 50 (1986) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Turquoise" | short story | New Directions 50 (1986) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "Little Moses/The Society for the Reclamation and Restoration of 'E. Auguste Napoléon Bonaparte'" | short story | The New Black Mask (1986) | Uncollected | Excerpt from My Heart Laid Bare (1998) |
| "The Orphan" | short story | The Agni Review (1986) | Uncollected | |
| "Photographer's Model" | short story | Confrontation (1986) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Soldier" | short story | Confrontation (1986) | Uncollected | |
| "Señorita" | short story | Northwest Review (1986) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Angel Eyes" | short story | The South Carolina Review (Spring 1986) | Uncollected | |
| "Double Solitaire" | short story | Michigan Quarterly Review (Spring 1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "Little Wife" | short story | The Kenyon Review (Spring 1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "Surf City" | short story | Partisan Review (Summer 1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "Testimony" | short story | The Southern Review (Summer 1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | |
| "The Photographer" | short story | The Washington Post Magazine (August 17, 1986) | Uncollected | |
| "Fever" | short story | The South Carolina Review (Fall 1986) | Uncollected | |
| "The Betrayal" | short story | New Letters (Winter/Spring 1986) | Uncollected | |
| "Ace" | short story | New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly (Winter 1986) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Ancient Airs, Voices" | short story | The Antioch Review (Winter 1986) | Raven's Wing (1986) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1987: The O. Henry Awards (1987) |
| "Anecdote" | short story | Exile (Winter 1986) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "The Call" | short story | Exile (Winter 1986) | Uncollected | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) and Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "My Madman" | short story | Exile (Winter 1986) | Where Is Here? (1992) | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "One Flesh" | short story | Exile (Winter 1986) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) and Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "Romance" | short story | The Threepenny Review (Winter 1986) | The Assignation (1988) |
1987
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Blue-Bearded Lover" | short story | Blue-Bearded Lover (1987) | The Assignation (1988) | Originally published as standalone limited edition book; included as "Bluebeard's Last Wife" in Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "County Detention" | short story | Crosscurrents (1987) | Uncollected | |
| "Twins" | short story | The Ohio Review (1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Haunted" | short story | The Architecture of Fear (1987) | Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (1994) | Anthologized in The Year's Best Fantasy: First Annual Collection (1988); included in Small Avalanches and Other Stories (2003) and Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense (2022) |
| "The White Cat" | short story | A Matter of Crime: New Stories from the Masters of Mystery & Suspense (1987) | Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (1994) | Anthologized in The Sophisticated Cat: A Gathering of Stories, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings About Cats (1992) and Tails of Wonder and Imagination: Cat Stories (2010) |
| "From The Life of..." | short story | Shenandoah (1987) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "Slow" | short story | The Southern California Anthology (1987) | The Assignation (1988) | Included as "Slow Motion" in Twelve Plays (1991); anthologized in New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction (2018) |
| "Tick" | short story | The Southern California Anthology (1987) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "A Sentimental Encounter" | short story | Epoch (1987–88) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Questions" | short story | Playboy (January 1987) | Faithless: Tales of Transgression (2001) | |
| "Shopping" | short story | Ms. (March 1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary, Fourth Edition (1999) and Fifth Edition (2002) |
| "Sharpshooting" | short story | The Boston Globe Magazine (March 22, 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Mule" | short story | Boston Review (April 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "The Knife" | short story | Redbook (May 1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Original title "The Double-Edged Knife" |
| "Death, Etc." | short story | Mississippi Review (Spring/Summer 1987) | Uncollected | |
| "Black" | short story | Witness (Summer 1987) | Uncollected | Included in Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "Pinch" | short story | The American Voice (Summer 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "The Others" | short story | The Twilight Zone Magazine (August 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | Anthologized in Triumph of the Night: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by 20th Century Masters (1989) and The Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories (1992) |
| "Capital Punishment" | short story | The Southern Review (Autumn 1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "House Hunting" | short story | The Kenyon Review (Fall 1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1989: The O. Henry Awards (1989) |
| "The Abduction" | short story | Seventeen (November 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "First Marriage" | short story | Words International (November 1987) | Uncollected | |
| "Desire" | short story | Exile (Winter 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "Train" | short story | Exile (Winter 1987) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "Sundays in Summer" | short story | Michigan Quarterly Review (Winter 1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Yarrow" | short story | TriQuarterly (Winter 1987) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1988: The O. Henry Awards (1988); included in Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense (2022) |
1988
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Bad Habits" | short story | The Assignation (1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "A Touch of the Flu" | short story | Fiction Network (1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "White Trash" | short story | Lord John Ten: A Celebration (1988) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "The Assignation" | short story | Antaeus (Spring 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "The Boyfriend" | short story | The Massachusetts Review (Spring 1988) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Eleutheria" | short story | Fiction International (Spring 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Secret" | short story | Fiction International (Spring 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "Itch" | short story | Fiction International (Spring 1988) | Uncollected | |
| "Stroke" | short story | The Malahat Review (Spring 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Face" | short story | The Malahat Review (Spring 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "August Evening" | short story | The Malahat Review (Spring 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Geese" | short story | Ploughshares (Spring 1988) | Uncollected | |
| "The Bystander" | short story | Queen's Quarterly (Summer 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Getting to Know All About You" | short story | The Southern Review (Summer 1988) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Death Valley" | short story | Esquire (July 1988) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Included in Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense (2022) |
| "Party" | short story | Boston Review (August 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | Anthologized in The Pushcart Prize XIV: Best of the Small Presses (1990) |
| "The Track" | short story | GQ (September 1988) | Will You Always Love Me? And Other Stories (1996) | |
| "The Stadium" | short story | Omni (October 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Beauty Salon" | short story | The Gettysburg Review (Autumn 1988) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "Picnic" | short story | High Plains Literary Review (Fall 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "The Quarrel" | short story | Exile (Fall 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | Included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "Two Doors" | short story | Exile (Fall 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | Original title "The Doors"; included in Oates in Exile (1990) |
| "Visitation Rights" | short story | TriQuarterly (Fall 1988) | The Assignation (1988) | |
| "Foster Home" | short story | Virginia Quarterly Review (Winter 1988) | Uncollected | |
| "Naked" | short story | Witness (Winter 1988) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) |
1989
| Title | Type | Originally published in | Collected in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Blue Skies" | short story | The Invisible Enemy: Alcoholism and the Modern Short Story (1989) | Uncollected | |
| "Hostage" | short story | Louder Than Words (1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Craps" | short story | Boulevard (1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in Blowout in Little Man Flats and Other Spine-Tingling Stories of Murder in the West (1998) and one other; included in Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense (2022) |
| "Leila Lee" | short story | Northwest Review (1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Tell Me Everything You Know" | short story | Crosscurrents (1989) | Uncollected | |
| "Home" | short story | Ladies' Home Journal (January 1989) | Uncollected | |
| "Kindness" | short story | Ladies' Home Journal (May 1989) | Uncollected | |
| "Shot" | short story | The Ohio Review (Spring 1989) | Where Is Here? (1992) | Included in Small Avalanches and Other Stories (2003) |
| "Heat" | short story | The Paris Review (Spring 1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1990: The O. Henry Awards (1990) and three others; included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |
| "Cave of Ten Thousand Sacrifices" | short story | Mānoa (Spring–Fall 1989) | Uncollected | |
| "The Date" | short story | Savvy Woman (July 1989) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "The Damnation of A-- K--" | short story | Fantasy & Science Fiction (August 1989) | Uncollected | |
| "Embrace" | short story | Western Humanities Review (Autumn 1989) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "The Handclasp" | short story | The Kenyon Review (Fall 1989) | Will You Always Love Me? And Other Stories (1996) | |
| "The Crying Baby" | short story | New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly (Winter 1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | |
| "Abandoned" | short story | Western Humanities Review (Winter 1989) | Where Is Here? (1992) | |
| "Cuckold" | short story | Western Humanities Review (Winter 1989) | Where Is Here? (1992) | Included in Twelve Plays (1991) |
| "Emergency" | short story | The Antioch Review (Winter 1989) | Uncollected | |
| "Family" | short story | Omni (December 1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Third Annual Collection (1990) and two others; included in Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense (2022) |
| "The Swimmers" | short story | Playboy (December 1989) | Heat and Other Stories (1991) | Anthologized in Prize Stories 1991: The O. Henry Awards (1991); included in High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories (2006) |