Sunday with Books: Wonderland

There is no catalog in modern literature more daunting than that of Joyce Carol Oates. No author that I’m aware of comes even remotely close in terms of volume; last time I consulted wikipedia (her bibliography has its own page), she’s down as having penned 62 different novels, novellas, and memoirs, although I’d probably have to hit refresh a few times to be sure. 

There’s no “saving the best for last” with a writer like Oates; wading through the mush would take half a lifetime. So, 2023 was the year I finally decided that - rather than dip my toes - I’d dive in head first and start with the book that’s most commonly referred to as her “best work,” for what that’s worth.

Wonderland is the fourth and final installation in the much-celebrated “Wonderland Quartet,” four novels that - other than dealing with social class - aren’t connected in any way. The book follows Jesse Vogel, who suffers a bizarre family tragedy in his youth, and traces the effect this incident has on the rest of his life, all the way up to the pinnacle of his career in the medical world. It’s a strange, sprawling, and often disturbing odyssey that begins in bloodshed and ends with a sort of spiritual quest, as Jesse struggles to rescue his daughter from the drug-addled counterculture of the sixties. 

Much like the actual content of the story, Oates’ prose can come off as a bit violent, raw, jarring even, as if written without much consideration for flow or technique. But that’s really the beauty of it, that it radiates a certain confidence, or - for lack of a better word - truth. I’ll end on a quote by Oates, which just might be the best piece of writing advice I’ve ever heard, simple as it may be:

““Be daring, take on anything. Don’t labor over little cameo works in which every word is to be perfect. Technique holds a reader from sentence to sentence, but only content will stay in his mind.”
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[photo: untitled by Pauline Desramont]