The Accursed - by Joyce Carol Oates (Paperback)

About the Book

In 20th century Princeton, New Jersey, a powerful curse, which besets the wealthiest of families, causes the disappearance of a young bride. When her brother sets out to find her, he crosses paths with the town's most formidable people, including Grover Cleveland and Upton Sinclair.

Book Synopsis

"Joyce Carol Oates has written what may be the world's finest postmodern Gothic novel: E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime set in Dracula's castle. It's dense, challenging, problematic, horrifying, funny, prolix and full of crazy people. You should read it." --Stephen King, New York Times Book Review

Princeton, New Jersey at the turn of the 20th century: a tranquil place to raise a family, a genteel town for genteel souls. But something dark and dangerous lurks at the edges of the town, corrupting and infecting its residents. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of the innocent. A powerful curse besets the elite families of Princeton--their daughters begin disappearing. A young bride on the verge of the altar is seduced and abducted by a dangerously compelling man--a shape-shifting, vaguely European prince who might just be the devil, and who spreads his curse upon a richly deserving community of white Anglo-Saxon privilege. And in the Pine Barrens that border the town, a lush and terrifying underworld opens up.

When the bride's brother sets out against all odds to find her, his path will cross those of Princeton's most formidable people, from Grover Cleveland, fresh out of his second term in the White House and retired to town for a quieter life, to soon-to-be commander in chief Woodrow Wilson, president of the University, and a complex individual obsessed to the point of madness with his need to retain power; from the young Socialist idealist Upton Sinclair, to his charismatic comrade Jack London, and the most famous writer of the era, Samuel Clemens/ Mark Twain--all plagued by "accursed" visions.

Narrated with Oates's unmistakable psychological insight, The Accursed combines beautifully transporting historical detail with chilling supernatural elements to stunning effect.

From the Back Cover

Princeton, New Jersey, at the turn of the twentieth century: a genteel town for genteel souls. But something dark and dangerous lurks at its edges, corrupting and infecting its residents. Vampires and ghosts haunt the dreams of the innocent and a powerful curse besets the families of the elite-their daughters begin disappearing. And in the Pine Barrens that border the town, a lush and terrifying underworld opens up.

When a shape-shifting, vaguely European prince, who might just be the devil, abducts a young bride on the verge of the altar, her brother sets out against all odds to find her. His path will cross those of Princeton's most formidable people, including Grover Cleveland, fresh out of his second term in the White House, soon-to-be commander in chief Woodrow Wilson, a complex individual obsessed to the point of madness with his need to retain power, the young idealist Upton Sinclair and his charismatic comrade Jack London, and the most famous writer of the era, Mark Twain-all of whom are plagued by "accursed" visions.

Review Quotes

Oates has published more than enough books to take risks, and her newest is exactly that... the novel is, in addition to being a thrilling tale in the best gothic tradition, a lesson in master craftsmanship...The story sprawls, reaches, demands, tears, and shrieks in homage to the traditional gothic, yet with fresh, surprising twists and turns... Oates has given us a brilliantly crafted work ." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[The Accursed] is in addition to being a thrilling tale in the best gothic tradition, a lesson in master craftsmanship...The story sprawls, reaches, demands, tears, and shrieks in homage to the traditional gothic, yet with fresh, surprising twists and turns... Oates has given us a brilliantly crafted work ." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Carefully and densely plotted, chockablock with twists and turns and fleeting characters, her novel offers a satisfying modern rejoinder to the best of M.R. James--and perhaps even Henry James." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most brilliantly original, wildly imaginative, daringly wacky, and singularly unfettered writers around. Her latest major novel, The Accursed, is a sprawling, madcap ride into the lurid metaphysical thickets of American Gothic, narrated by a fictional historian in a florid, occasionally breathless nineteenth-century style. . . . Oates skewers everyone equally . . . she artfully exposes and then slyly, satirically punctures everyone's hypocrisies, self-delusions, and illicit urges. This is a bizarre, complex country, and Oates is one of its most passionate chroniclers." - Elle
"Some novels are almost impossible to review, either because they're deeply ambiguous or because they contain big surprises the review doesn't wish to give away. In the case of THE ACCURSED, both strictures apply. What I wish I could say is simply this: 'Joyce Carol Oates has written what may be the world's finest postmodern Gothic novel: E.L. Doctorow's 'Ragtime' set in Dracula's castle. It's dense, challenging, problematic, horrifying, funny, prolix and full of crazy people. You should read it. I wish I could tell you more' . . . remarkable Gothic . . . Oates's hypnotic prose has never been better displayed than it is in the book's final fabulism, which concerns a game of checkers between a brave child and a demon who cheats at every opportunity. I could tell you who wins . . . but it's a secret." - Stephen King, New York Times Book Review (Cover Review)
"The Accursed is very much in the American gothic tradition of Charles Brockden Brown, Hawthorne, Poe, and Faulkner." - New York Review of Books
"In this new novel Oates has achieved a nearly flawless combination of postmodernism, gothic horror, "traditional" narrative, politically engaged literature, historical novel, and popular bestseller--a heady and enjoyable mix." - Harvard Review Online
"Joyce Carol Oates is at the top of her game in her glorious new novel, THE ACCURSED - a long, lush account of perhaps-preternatural happenings in Princeton, N.J., a century ago." - Buffalo News
"This latest effort looks like a belated candidate for the Great Oates Novel . . . The Accursed is a big, mad, colourful romp, respectful of the literary traditions in which it participates, leavened with a piquant humour." - Financial Times
"Joyce Carol Oates is at her gothic best... an astonishing fever dream of a novel." - Los Angeles Times
"A smart and relentlessly absorbing read." - Library Journal
"For those who enjoy total immersion in this kind of historical fiction, The Accursed is good fun, as mesmerizing as a demon and as addictive as a patent cure." - Boston Globe
"The Accursed blends history, horror, fantasy and black comedy into a trippy literary brew. For fans of Oates' gothic works, this is a heady draught indeed." - Dallas Morning News
"Regular readers of Oates will be familiar with the game. . . after [new readers make] their way through The Accursed, no one will find it easy to forget." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Few novelists could carry off the unstable mix of historical and gothic fiction in The Accursed, and even fewer could do it at such elaborate length. . . a fascinating novel in which historical truth and imagination collide to create an unsettling vision of America as it entered the 20th century. . . paints a vivid picture of a community whose members are at war with the parts of themselves and their society that they have tried to repress." - Columbus Dispatch
"A fascinating novel in which historical truth and imagination collide to create an unsettling vision of America as it entered the 20th century." - Columbus Dispatch
"A grand literary pastiche in style and substance, its genre-bending plot pieced together from secret journal entries, newspaper accounts and firsthand recollection . . . Oates' novel is populated with fascinating characters, including specters, demons, jilted spouses, likable lunatics (such as the memorable Mrs. Adelaide McLean Burr), novelists and United States presidents (past and future). Oates' atmospheric prose beautifully captures the flavor of gothic fiction . . . In Oates' hands, this supernatural tale becomes a meditation on the perils of parochial thinking. It demands we think - with monsters - about our failure to face the darkest truths about ourselves and the choices we've made." - NPR
"Oates' atmospheric prose beautifully captures the flavor of gothic fiction . . . In Oates' hands, this supernatural tale becomes a meditation on the perils of parochial thinking. It demands we think - with monsters - about our failure to face the darkest truths about ourselves and the choices we've made." - NPR
"A lush, arch, and blistering fusion of historical fact, supernatural mystery, and devilish social commentary. . . Oates brings her nightshade humor and extraordinary fluency in eroticism and violence, American history and literature (her magnetizing characters include Mark Twain, Jack London, and Upton Sinclair) to this piercing novel of the devastating toll of repression and prejudice, sexism and class warfare. A diabolically enthralling and subversive literary mash-up. Propelled by a lavish national tour and multimedia campaign, The Accursed is destined to be one of Oates' most widely appealing and avidly read novels." - Booklist (starred review)
"A lush, arch, and blistering fusion of historical fact, supernatural mystery, and devilish social commentary... A diabolically enthralling and subversive literary mash-up. " - Booklist (starred review)
"Joyce Carol Oates has written what may be the world's finest postmodern Gothic novel: E.L. Doctorow's 'Ragtime' set in Dracula's castle. It's dense, challenging, problematic, horrifying, funny, prolix and full of crazy people. You should read it... Oates's hypnotic prose has never been better displayed." - Stephen King, New York Times Book Review (Cover Review)
"The Accursed is the latest addition to Joyce Carol Oates's boundless body of work, and it's spectacular--a coalescence of history, horror and social satire that whirls around for almost 700 mesmerizing pages. . . The Accursed arises in full bloom, boasting as much craft as witchcraft. . . The delights of this macabre novel gather thick as ghouls at midnight in the cemetery . . . With its vast scope, its mingling of comic and tragic tones, its omnivorous gorging on American literature, and especially its complex reflection on the major themes of our history, The Accursed is the kind of outrageous masterpiece only Joyce Carol Oates could create." - Ron Charles, Washington Post
"Spectacular. . . With its vast scope, its mingling of comic and tragic tones, its omnivorous gorging on American literature, and especially its complex reflection on the major themes of our history, The Accursed is the kind of outrageous masterpiece only Joyce Carol Oates could create." - Ron Charles, Washington Post
"The Accursed is a unique, vast multilayered narrative; a genre bending beast of a book, utterly startling from start to finish, compulsive and engaging, the writing crackling with energy and wit. This is an elaborately conceived work." - New York Review of Books
" [Joyce Carol Oates's] most accessible and absorbing novel since Blonde. With appearances by historical figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Upton Sinclair, this is a brilliant Gothic mystery that has the punch of historical fiction. Currents of race, class and academic intrigue swirl under the surface, but it's the demonic curse that propels the action. A master of sharp dialogue and vibrant descriptions, Oates casts a powerful spell. You'll close The Accursed and want to start it all over again." - People (4 Stars)
"A brilliant Gothic mystery that has the punch of historical fiction. Currents of race, class and academic intrigue swirl under the surface, but it's the demonic curse that propels the action... Oates casts a powerful spell. You'll close The Accursed and want to start it all over again." - People (4 Stars)