Book description
This eerie tale of psychological horror sees the real inhabitants of
turn-of-the-century Princeton fall under the influence of a supernatural power.
New Jersey, 1905: soon-to-be commander-in-chief Woodrow Wilson is
president of Princeton University. On a nearby farm, Socialist author
Upton Sinclair, enjoying the success of his novel 'The Jungle', has
taken up residence with his family. This is a quiet, bookish community -
elite, intellectual and indisputably privileged.
But when a savage lynching in a nearby town is hushed up, a horrifying
chain of events is initiated - until it becomes apparent that the
families of Princeton have been beset by a powerful curse. The Devil has
come to this little town and not a soul will be spared.
'The Accursed' marks new territory for the masterful Joyce Carol Oates
- narrated with her unmistakable psychological insight, it combines
beautifully transporting historical detail with chilling fantastical
elements to stunning effect. 'Oates has written what may be the
world's postmodern Gothic novel…It's dense, challenging, problematic,
horrifying, funny, prolix and full of crazy people. You should read it.
I wish I could tell you more…feverishly entertaining' Stephen King, New
York Times Book Review
'Enthralling … it is both a commentary on the art of Gothic fiction,
and a marvellously sustained piece of Gothic writing itself. We await
the next novel with renewed excitement. We will not have to wait long'
Stephen Abell, Sunday Telegraph
'Oates is not a genre writer, but like most writers sincerely engaged
in the job of telling stories, she isn't afraid of genre motifs, and
“The Accursed” is packed to the gills with them: ghouls, succubi,
vampires, body snatchers, a plague of snakes consorting with
schoolgirls, child-devouring beasts in the night…a large number of the
narrative riffs are powerful and absorbing…it's clear throughout these
six hundred-plus pages that, as always, Oates intimately knows her
characters and the worlds they inhabit' Literary Review
'A thrilling tale in the best gothic tradition, a lesson in master
craftsmanship…it has vampires, demons, angels, murder, lynching,
beatings, rape, sex, parallel worlds, Antarctic voyages, socialism,
sexism, racism, paranoia, gossip, spiritualism, and escalating
insanity…The story sprawls, reaches, demands, tears, and shrieks in
homage to the traditional gothic, yet with fresh, surprising twists and
turns… Hang on for the ride' Publishers Weekly Joyce Carol Oates is a
recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for
Excellence in Short Fiction. She has written some of the most enduring
fiction of our time, including 'We Were the Mulvaneys', which was an
Oprah Book Club Choice, and 'Blonde', which was nominated for the
National Book Award. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor
of Humanities at Princeton University.
