All too often, novellas about haunting, spooky old houses and things that go bump in the night are reduced to the level of pulp fiction, despite their promising storyline and potential for suspense. However, in Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque, we see what happens when an icon of American literature turns her hand to creating new tales of the macabre; the genre is elevated, and in this collection of sixteen stories, ranging from traditional ghost stories and hauntings, to the truly aberrant psychological thrillers, Joyce Carol Oates writes novellas that are multi-dimensional, complex, and, yes, very terrifying indeed.
The collection is divided into four parts, with different stories within each, and part two is a novella "The Model". Each of the tales is gripping and scary in its own particular way. For example, "The Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly" is a reworking of Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", bringing back to life James' evil-doing characters Miss Jessel and Quint, but giving them a far more macabre motive for their actions. The title story, "Haunted", is a classic ghost story featuring two overly inquisitive young girls, Mary Lou and Melissa, who stumble upon an old house that they decide to go inside. However, this is no ordinary haunted house, and years afterwards, Melissa is still psychologically damaged because of the malevolence she experienced there, and also by the murder of Mary Lou. The collection's one novella, "Model", is a Lolita-like story of a young girl who is the object of the obsession of a creepy older man called Mr Starr, but the novella takes a dark and dangerous turn when both characters reveal the true depths of the capacity for evil in their hearts.
This book is not a book about violence and crime per se, but it does add a dark and violent twist to each of the stories as they move along. Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque received wide critical acclaim and was a finalist in the World Fantasy Awards for a Story Collection. "Haunted" was awarded Best Fantasy and Horror story of the year in 1988, with "Martyrdom" receiving the same honor in 1993.
Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most prolific American authors of the Twentieth Century, having published her first novel in 1962, and following this up with over forty further novels and collections of short stories, as well as non-fiction and poetry. She writes in longhand, from 8am until 1pm and then again in the evening. However, her output has become a double-edged sword, as some critics consider the sheer volume of her work to be somewhat off-putting, and feel that her prolific publication is overshadowing the variety and quality of her work. Best known for her fictionalization of Marilyn Monroe's life and death, "Blonde", Oates received so much critical acclaim for Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque that she is now considered to be the best horror writer in modern American literature, and has been compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
