The Tattooed Girl: A Novel - Hardcover

Oates, Joyce Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060531061 ISBN 13: 9780060531065

Publisher: Ecco Pr, 2003

Synopsis

Joshua Seigl, a celebrated but reclusive author, is forced for reasons of failing health to surrender his much-prized bachelor's independence. Advertising for an assistant, he unwittingly embarks upon the most dangerous adventure of his privileged life.

Alma Busch, a sensuous, physically attractive young woman with bizarre tattoos covering much of her body, stirs in Seigl a complex of emotions: pity? desire? responsibility? guilt? Unaware of her painful past and her troubled personality, Seigl hires her as his assistant. As the novel alternates between Seigl's and Alma's points of view, the naïve altruism of the one and the virulent anti-Semitism of the other clash in a tragedy of thwarted erotic desire.

With her masterful balance of dark suspense and surprising tenderness, Joyce Carol Oates probes the contemporary tragedy of ethnic hatred and challenges our accepted limits of desire. The Tattooed Girl may be her most controversial novel.

About this title

Review:

Praise for I’ll Take You There:

‘One of the female frontrunners for the title of Great American Novelist...powerful, fresh and as youthful as if Oates were still writing her first thirsty, clear-sighted book, four decades ago.’ Maggie Gee, Sunday Times

‘Oates is a writer of extraordinary strengths...she has dealt consistently with what is probably the great American theme – the quest for the creation of self...Her great subject, naturally, is love.’ Ian Sansom, Guardian

‘Her prose is peerless and her ability to make you think as she re-invents genres is unique. Few writers move so effortlessly from the gothic tale to the psychological thriller to the epic family saga to the lyrical novella. Even fewer authors can so compellingly and entertainingly tell a story.’ Jackie McGlone, Scotland on Sunday

‘A visceral, spiritual portrait of an extraordinary woman growing in self-awareness. Written with an enthralling combination of sensual perception and intellectual seeking....luminously powerful.’ Rosemay Goring, The Herald

About the Author:

Joyce Carol Oates is a writer of wide appeal for all readers, described as ‘One of the Nation’s finest writers’, she has been a recipient of the National Book Award, PEN/Malamud Award for short fiction and was an Oprah Book Club Selection with WE WERE THE MULVANEYS. Her recent novels include MIDDLE AGE and I’LL TAKE YOU THERE. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is the Roger S Berlind Distinguished Professor at Princeton University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0060531061
• ISBN 13: 9780060531065
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 307