American Melancholy

American Melancholy 

American Melancholy from author Joyce Carol Oates is the latest book to be checked off my to be read list, that never seems to stop growing. This is a collection of poems, her first in over twenty five years. Given these were her first in such a long time, I was really excited to read them.

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Have you read American Melancholy? Come on in and let me tell you about it! 

About American Melancholy 

A new collection of poetry from an American literary legend, her first in twenty-five years

Joyce Carol Oates is one of our most insightful observers of the human heart and mind, and, with her acute social consciousness, one of the most insistent and inspired witnesses of a shared American history.

Oates is perhaps best known for her prodigious output of novels and short stories, many of which have become contemporary classics. However, Oates has also always been a faithful writer of poetry. American Melancholy showcases some of her finest work of the last few decades.

Covering subjects big and small, and written in an immediate and engaging style, this collection touches on both the personal and political. Loss, love, and memory are investigated, along with the upheavals of our modern age, the reality of our current predicaments, and the ravages of poverty, racism, and social unrest. Oates skillfully writes characters ranging from a former doctor at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army hospital to Little Albert, a six-month-old infant who took part in a famous study that revealed evidence of classical conditioning in human beings.  

Thoughts on American Melancholy 

I have been reading Joyce Carol Oates books since I was in high school, starting with We Were the Mulvaneys. Her writing has always spoken to me, even at such a young age. I’m slowly working my way through a lot of her books again since I’ve started this blog, and she is a repeat author here. 

“Sinkholes 

Take you where 

You didn’t want to go. 

Where you’d been

And had passed smilingly through, 

And were alive. Then.”  

Joyce Carol Oates, American Melancholy

I had never read any of her poems before, so this was a brand new experience, and one that I’m very glad to have had. Joyce Carol Oates has a talent for writing in a wide variety of ways, and it speaks to some, and others, not so much. I wasn’t prepared for it, and definitely wasn’t sure what to expect.

The two that spoke the most to me were called “Doctor Help Me” and “Palliative.” These two both made me take the time to think about social issues, but also mortality. I’m definitely not getting any younger, and Palliative hit me right in the feels. 

The “Harvesting Skin” poem was dark and very creepy. But even the ones I wasn’t necessarily a fan of made me think about them, and I appreciate that. 

I’m not a fan of flat writing where I don’t feel anything after I’ve read it. I can drive down the street and read stop signs for that. I have a firm belief that I don’t have to like something to appreciate the talent it takes to write it or the fact it got me thinking, and that is how I felt about all of her poems. The ones I didn’t relate to still made me stop and think, and have stuck with me. 

That is what makes a great writer, in my opinion. I’m very glad that Joyce Carol Oates published this book of poems, and I really hope it isn’t another twenty five years before she publishes more. I appreciate the range in which Joyce Carol Oates can write. She never disappoints, that is for sure. 

Final Thoughts on American Melancholy 

American Melancholy made me want to go searching for more poetry from Joyce Carol Oates. A great author is one who makes me want more, makes me emotional, and gets me thinking about what they wrote. I felt all of these when I was finished with American Melancholy. 

I highly recommend giving American Melancholy from Joyce Carol Oates a read. Her writing has never disappointed me, and this was no exception to that. I’m inspired to go and binge read some of my other favorites that she has written. 

Discussion 

Have you read American Melancholy or any other writing from author Joyce Carol Oates? Are you a fan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

About the Author 

Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. 

Among her many honors are the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the National Book Award. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. 

Purchasing American Melancholy 

• If you are interested in buying the Hardcover version of American Melancholy, click here.
• Click here for the Kindle version.
• Click here for my favorite Kindle I currently own.

More from Joyce Carol Oates 

Did you enjoy my review of American Melancholy? Are you looking for another great read from Joyce Carol Oates? Here are some of my favorites! 

• By the North Gate 
• With Shuddering Fall 
• The Goddess and Other Women 
• Upon the Sweeping Flood 
• Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 
• A Garden of Earthly Delights 
• Expensive People 
• Anonymous Sins and Other Poems 
• Them 
• The Wheel of Love and Other Stories 
• Cupid and Psyche 
• Wonderland 
• Angel Fire 
• Do With Me What You Will 
• The Hungry Ghosts 
• Love and Its Derangements and Other Poems 
• The Seduction and Other Stories 
• The Poisoned Kiss and Other Stories from the Portuguese 
• The Assassins 
• Crossing the Border 
• The Triumph of the Spider Monkey 
• Childwold 
• Night-Side 
• Women Whose Lives Are Food, Men Whose Lives Are Money 
• Marriage and Infidelities 
• Cybele 
• Son of the Morning 
• All the Good People I’ve Left Behind 
• Unholy Loves 
• A Sentimental Education 
• Three Plays 
• Bellefleur 
• The Perfectionist and Other Plays 
• Angel of Light 
• Invisible Woman 
• A Bloodsmoor Romance 
• Wild Saturday and Other Stories 
• Last Days 
• Mysteries of Winterthurn 
• Luxury of Sin 
• Solstice 
• Raven’s Wing 
• Marya 
• You Must Remember This 
• The Assignation
• Time Traveler 
• American Appetites 
• I Lock My Door Upon Myself 
• Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart 
• Heat and Other Stories 
• Oates in Exile 
• Twelve Plays 
• The Rise of Life on Earth 
• Where is Here? 
• Black Water 
• Foxfire 
• Haunted 
• What I Lived For 
• Zombie 
• First Love 
• Tenderness 
• Demon and Other Tales 
• Will You Always Love Me? 
• We Were the Mulvaneys 
• Man Crazy
• The Collector of Hearts 
• New Plays 
• My Heart Laid Bare 
• Where I’ve Been, and Where I’m Going 
• Broke Heart Blues 
• In Shock 
• Blonde 
• Faithless 
• Beasts 
• Middle Age 
• I’ll Take You There 
• Big Mouth and Ugly Girl 
• Small Avalanches and Other Stories
• The Haunting 
• Rape 
• Freaky Green Eyes 
• The Tattooed Girl 
• I Am No One You Know 
• The Falls 
• The Female of the Species 
• Sexy 
• Missing Mom 
• High Lonesome 
• Black Girl/White Girl 
• After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away 
• The Museum of Dr. Moses 
• The Gravedigger’s Daughter 
• Little Bird of Heaven 
• Wild Nights! 
• My Sister, My Love 
• Dear Husband 
• Give Me Your Heart 
• Sourland 
• A Fair Maiden 
• L.A. Noire 
• Spotted Hyenas 
• The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares 
• Black Dahlia White Rose 
• Patricide 
• The Rescuer 
• Mudwoman 
• Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You 
• Evil Eye 
• Daddy Love 
• The Accursed 
• High Crime Area 
• Lovely, Dark, Deep
• Carthage 
• Mystery, Inc. 
• The Sacrifice 
• Jack of Spades 
• The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror 
• Big Momma 
• Gun Accident 
• The Crawl Space 
• The Man Without a Shadow 
• The Sign of the Beast 
• A Book of American Martyrs 
• Beautiful Days 
• Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense 
• Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense 
• Hazards of Time Travel 
• My Life as a Rat 
• The Pursuit 
• Cardiff, by the Sea 
• Night Sleep Death The Stars 
• The (Other) You: Stories 
• American Melancholy 
• Night, Neon 
• Breathe 
• Extenuating Circumstances 
• Babysitter 
• Zero Sum 
• 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister 
• Flint Kill Creek 
• Butcher 
• Fox 

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