Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart is a 1990 novel by American novelist Joyce Carol Oates.[1] The title is taken from "In the Desert", a poem by Stephen Crane. Oates's novel was nominated for best work of fiction in the 1990 National Book Awards.[2]
Plot summary
[edit]In the early 1950s in Hammond, New York, a young white girl named Iris Courtney and her black friend Jinx Fairchild are united by a murder that they commit in self-defense. From this central moment, this novel weaves out the stories of two families that intercross across divisions of race and class.
Critical reaction
[edit]Entertainment Weekly gave it an A, calling Oates "a storyteller with few peers".[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Oates, Joyce Carol (1990). Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart. E. P. Dutton. ISBN 9780525248606.
- ^ "National Book Award Nominations Announced : Literature: Nominees include two first-time novelists and an 88-year-old writer". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 20 October 1990. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ Lyons, Gene (27 April 1990). "Because It is Bitter, and Because It is My Heart". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 19 June 2020.