This novel is the first in Oates’s self-described trilogy on contemporary American life. Focusing on the rural environment, it traces the ill-fated life of its central character, Clara Walpole, from her traumatic birth to her institutionalization following a psychological breakdown in middle age. (The second and third volumes of the trilogy are
Expensive People, which treats suburbia, and
them, which concerns the inner city.) For a recent Modern Library edition of the novel, Oates has made substantial revisions to the originally published version of the novel. What follows is a summary of that original version.
Clara’s parents are riding in the back of a truck when a traffic accident causes her mother to go into labor prematurely. So Clara is born literally and inauspiciously into
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Citation: Kich, Martin. "A Garden of Earthly Delights". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 November 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7130, accessed 25 November 2024.]
