The Accursed (Oates novel)

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First edition
Cover artist Giovanni Boldini,
"Profile of a Young Woman", date unknown TheAccursedNovel.jpg
First edition
Cover artist Giovanni Boldini,
"Profile of a Young Woman", date unknown

The Accursed is the fifth volume of United States writer Joyce Carol Oates's Gothic series following Bellefleur (1980), A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982), Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984), and My Heart Laid Bare (1998). The novel was published by Ecco on March 5, 2013. [1] It is set in and around Princeton, New Jersey in the early twentieth century, and explores a variety of supernatural themes, tracing their effect upon members of several families who reside in the area. The Accursed contains a number of historical figures used in a fictional context, among them President Woodrow Wilson, and writers Mark Twain, Jack London and Upton Sinclair and his first wife Meta.

The Accursed was well-reviewed by a number of major authors, with writer Stephen King describing it in The New York Times Book Review as "the world's first postmodern Gothic novel". [2]

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References

  1. Oates, Joyce Carol (March 5, 2013). The Accursed. HarperCollins. ISBN   9780062231703.
  2. Stephen King, New York Times Book Reviews March 14, 2013