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Joyce Carol Oates

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The Corn Maiden: And Other Nightmares Kindle Edition

by Joyce Carol Oates (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.8 325 ratings

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Seven “masterfully told” stories of suspense and nightmarish drama from the National Book Award–winning author of Them (The Guardian).

With the novella and six stories collected here, Joyce Carol Oates reaffirms her singular reputation for portraying the dark complexities of the human psyche. The title novella tells the story of Marissa, an eleven-year-old girl with hair the color of corn silk. When she suddenly disappears, mounting evidence points to a local substitute teacher. Meanwhile, an older girl from Melissa’s school is giddy with her power to cause so much havoc unnoticed. And she intends to use that power to enact a terrifying ritual called The Corn Maiden.

In “Helping Hands,” published here for the first time, a widow meets an Iraq War veteran in a dingy charity shop, having no idea where the peculiar encounter is about to lead. In “Fossil-Figures,” a pair of twins—an artist and a congressman—never outgrow an ugly sibling rivalry. And in “A Hole in the Head,” a plastic surgeon gives in to an unusual and dangerous request.

Together, these seven tales offer “a virtuoso performance” of “probing, unsettling, intelligent” storytelling from one of the world’s greatest writers of suspense (The Guardian).

“The seven stories in this stellar collection from the prolific Oates may prompt the reader to turn on all the lights or jump at imagined noises. . . . This volume burnishes [her] reputation as a master of psychological dread.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“For horror stories to be truly horrific, the reader has to care. Oates feels this deeply in her writing, and delivers with style.” —The Independent

“Further confirmation of a unique writer’s restless, preternatural brilliance.” —The Guardian

Print length

385 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Mysterious Press
Publication date

December 6, 2011
File size

7694 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

From Publishers Weekly:

The seven stories in this stellar collection from the prolific Oates (Give Me Your Heart) may prompt the reader to turn on all the lights or jump at imagined noises. In the excruciating title tale, a novella subtitled A Love Story,” an adolescent girl leads two of her friends in the kidnapping of 11-year old Marissa Bantry to enact the ritual sacrifice of the Corn Maiden as performed by the Onigara Indians. Children or childhood traumas play significant roles in Beersheba,” in which a man’s past catches up to him, and Nobody Knows My Name,” in which the birth of a sibling turns nine-year-old Jessica’s world upside down. Twins figure in both the eerie Fossil-Figures” and the harrowing Death-Cup” with its sly allusions to Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson.” In A Hole in the Head,” a plastic surgeon succumbs to a patient’s request for an unusual operation with unexpected results. This volume burnishes Oates’s reputation as a master of psychological dread.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Seven nightmarish tales written over a 15-year period.

The first and longest story is the title novella, about Jude Trahern, a precocious and evil eighth-grader who abducts a fellow classmate, Marissa, to enact a ritual human sacrifice. Brilliant, charismatic and severely disturbed, Jude chooses Marissa because of the latter’s status as an outsider, both new to the school and set apart by her intellectual slowness. Jude enlists two of her friends in the elaborately planned ceremony, but their enthusiasm begins to wane as things start to get spookier and it becomes clear that Jude is serious about following through on the ritual. Meanwhile, Marissa’s mother, Leah, becomes frantic about her missing daughter and starts to believe in the guilt of Mikal Zallman, a part-time employee at the school whom Jude has cleverly implicated. The story ends on a jarring and somewhat surreal note as Leah and Mikal develop a romantic attachment. Throughout this collection Oates is fascinated by the idea of doubling, for example in Death-Cup,” in which Lyle King tries to poison his evil twin Alastor with Amanita mushroom soup. Alastor is the evil” brother, successful on the outside but unscrupulous within, and Lyle finds out that ultimately they can never be separated. (It’s no coincidence that Lyle is designing a new edition, with hand-sewn pages and letterpress printing,” of Poe’s William Wilson.”) Similarly, in Fossil-Figures,” brothers Edgar and Edward Waldman mirror opposing sides of the self, while in the masterful Beersheba” womanizer Brad gets his comeuppance at the hands of Stacy Lynn, who at first comes on to him seductively and then exacts a terrible revenge.

While the shadows of Poe and Hitchcock loom over these tales, it’s clear that Oates herself is a master at creeping out her readers.

Praise for Joyce Carol Oates:

"Oates is just a fearless writer ... with her brave heart and her impossibly lush and dead-on imaginative powers." Los Angeles Times

"If the phrase 'woman of letters' existed, Joyce Carol Oates would be, foremost in this country, entitled to it." John Updike

"What keeps us coming back to Oates country is her uncanny gift of making the page a window, with something happening on the other side that we'd swear was life itself." The New York Times Book Review

"Her genius happens to be giant." The Washington Post Book World

"No living American writer echoes the chord of dread plucked by Edgar Allen Poe quite like Joyce Carol Oates." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

In addition to many prize-winning and bestselling novels, JOYCE CAROL OATES is the author of a number of works of award-winning gothic fiction. In 1994, Oates received the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award in Horror Fiction. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005R18CMK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mysterious Press (December 6, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 6, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7694 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #525,963 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,054 in Horror Short Stories
- #3,601 in Kidnapping Thrillers
- #5,298 in Psychological Thrillers (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
3.8 325 ratings

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Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. Among her many honors are the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the National Book Award. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

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A JOURNEY INTO THE MACABRE PSYCHE

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2014

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In this short story collection of seven suspenseful tales, Joyce Carol Oates takes the reader along on various journeys into the psyche of evil, while also showing us the naivete and innocence of the victims in each piece.

In the opening title story, The Corn Maiden, we are greeted first with the oddly deranged voice of the thirteen-year-old perpetrator, Jude Trahern, a child of privilege and a fellow student, who has captured Marissa Bantry, eleven years old, whom she has dubbed "The Corn Maiden" because of her long silky blond hair. Under her thumb are two other girls, her assistants. But Jude is the Master Mind. Torture follows, and we then see what is happening outside the torture chamber: Marissa's mother Leah, morose and concerned that she will be blamed for allowing her child to go home alone after school, and worries about how she will be perceived.

Another player in the tale is a male computer consultant, blamed by an anonymous eyewitness.

As readers, we can share the angst of the mother and the "innocent" suspect, knowing all the while who is behind the events. Why has Jude captured this sweet young girl? What is in it for her?

Like so many other stories by this author, evil seems to have no explanation, but the reader can speculate.

In Helping Hands, near the end of the collection, a shy middle-aged widow believes she has found potential companionship in the charity thrift shop where she takes some of her deceased husband's effects, only to discover that she has sadly miscalculated the troubled young man who waits on her and seems so friendly and helpful.

As with many of her other short stories, I enjoyed the well-written prose, but I was happy to close the final page of The Corn Maiden , and told myself that I was relieved to be set free from them. Others might enjoy the macabre suspense, but for me, this one earned 3.5 stars.

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Trust No One, Most of All Yourself

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2019

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“The Corn Maiden: And Other Nightmares” is a collection of short stories in the horror genre by the prolific writer Joyce Carol Oates. Many of the stories delve into the twisted minds of some young children, whose views of the world have been distorted by disturbances in their lives. Two of the stories even dealt with the lives of twins, their jealousies toward one another manifesting in evil thoughts and unhappy lives. As a literature major in college, I have followed the works of Oates for many years: always psychologically probing, well researched, lyrically written. My only problem with the book was poor editing: in several of the stories, the title of the book was inserted erroneously into the narrative multiple times. Possibly a copy writer was intentionally having fun during the editorial process, and the editor missed it (perish the thought!), or some other typesetting errors occurred. Otherwise, the stories are sufficiently frightening make you doubt yourself and to ruin your sleep.

5 people found this helpful

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David Watson

Her weaker stories better than most by other authors

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2012

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JCO takes a lot of chances. She generally avoids understatement, one part of the holy grail for a lot of 20th century fiction. Her characters are usually not overly inhibited by social convention, thank God. She is not John Cheever or Alice Monroe (who have their own great qualities, of course). It's good to get JCO's unique approach to the human condition. These stories are almost all great, but most still have flaws, even the title story. In it, she writes a little too much at the end about her characters' closure and hopefulness. The story could have left more uncertainty, and have depended more on the reader's resonance. As many readers know, JCO could use some editing. Yet, I don't care if the stories have some flaws. They are almost all wonderful to read.

In particular, she pulls the reader into the narratives with vivid characters, deft use of point of view, and absorbing plots -- yes, plots with building tension and suspense. (I like suspense, even though, to some, it smacks of "lowbrow" genre.) In contrast, I think of the forgettable, literary fiction that I read in the 1970's by other authors that took a "slice of life" approach with no building tension and with boring characters. Or I think of many forgettable literary stories by other authors that adopted a self-consciously poetic voice -- usually the author's voice at the expense of the characters and the narrative. JCO's stories provide an antidote.

3 people found this helpful

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marcia riley

Why do we read short stories?

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2014

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I do not know. So often in novels -- even long ones -- after the story ends, we wish it had gone on and on, so we can know what happens next. In a short story, it is just that: short and too short! ALWAYS! But the worst of all is where the excitement of a story builds and builds and you can't wait to see what happens next -- and then -- NOTHING. This was the case in the best of the stories, "A Hole in the Head," exciting beyond belief, "OMG, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!?????"........... and then......the end.

Everyone of these stories could have been the beginnings of fabulous novels WITH ENDINGS, but alas, they were not.

So, no more short stories for me. However, I love Ms. Oates writing (my favorites are "The Falls" and "The Gravedigger's Daughter") and out of tremendous respect and admiration for her, I cannot give her less than 4 stars.

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