Kana

【Young – adult Fiction】

《week 15》

《Where are you going? Where have you been?》

Where are you going? Where have you been?: Where are you going? Where have you been? is a frequently anthologized short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. The story first appeared in the Fall 1966 edition of Epoch Magazine. It was inspired by three Tucson, Arizona murders committed by Charles Schmidt, which were profiled in Life magazine in an article written by Don Moser on March 4, 1966. Oates said that she dedicated the story to Bob Dylan because she was inspired to write it after listening to his song "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."

l   Summary

How It All Goes Down

It is summer, and 15-year-old Connie spends much of her time lounging around the house, going out with friends, and meeting boys. One night a strange guy makes a threatening gesture to her in the parking lot of a local drive-in restaurant. She thinks nothing of it until one Sunday afternoon, when the rest of her family attends a barbecue at an aunt's house, leaving her home alone.

The strange guy pulls up in her driveway in a gold-colored car, accompanied by a friend. The driver introduces himself as Arnold Friend and asks Connie to join him for a ride. During the course of their conversation, Connie realizes that Arnold is a threat. Arnold's language becomes more sexually explicit and violent, and he threatens to harm her family if she calls the police. Connie makes a last-ditch effort to call the police, but panics and is unable to make the call. In the end, she leaves the house and joins Arnold.

《Elaine Showalter》

Elaine Showalter: Elaine Showalter is an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues. She is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in United States academia, developing the concept and practice of gynocritics.

Best known in academic and popular cultural fields, she has written and edited numerous books and articles focused on a variety of subjects, from feminist literary criticism to fashion, sometimes sparking widespread controversy, especially with her work on illnesses. Showalter has been a television critic for People magazine and a commentator on BBC radio and television. Her famous book is A Literature of Their Own.

《A Literature of their own》

A Literature of Their Own: A Literature of Their Own is British women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing and Sister’s Choice.

《British Women Novelist》

1. 1.          Jane Austen: Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.

1. 2.          Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte: Charlotte Bronte was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. She wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell.

1. 3.          George Eliot

George Eliot: George Eliot was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. She wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell.

《Amy Tan》

Amy Tan: Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her best-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages.

《The Joy Luck Club》

The Joy Luck Club: The Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club known as The Joy Luck Club, playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods. The book is structured somewhat like a mahjong game, with four parts divided into four sections to create sixteen chapters.

《Theme》

l   Violence

l   Freedom and confinement

Garden of Eden (Free Will in the Midst of the Garden)

《Willa Sibert Cather》

Willa Sibert Cather: Willa Sibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I. Cather grew up in Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska. She lived and worked in Pittsburgh for ten years. At the age of 33 she moved to New York, where she lived for the rest of her life.

l   Chicago

l   Omaha

Paul was tall for his age and very thin, with high, cramped shoulders, and a narrow chest. His eyes were remarkable for a certain hysterical brilliancy.

《Paul’s Case》

Paul’s Case: Paul’s Case is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in McClure's Magazine in 1905. A study in Temperament.