- Publisher:
- HARPER
- Year of publication:
- 2001
- ISBN:
- 978-1-84115-372-8
- Pages:
- 939
BLONDE
A NOVEL
JOYCE CAROL OATES
Blonde, Joyce Carol Oates's masterpiece, is a deeply moving exploration of the inner life of the woman who became Marilyn Monroe and a portrait of American culture hypnotised by it's own myths. Who was Norma Jeane Baker? The girl who visits the cinema as a child; the orphan whose mother is declared mad; the woman who changes her name to become an actress; the fated celebrity, lover, comedienne, muse and icon. Blonde is an epic American story of how a fragile, gifted young woman makes and remakes her identity. Here is the very essence of the individual hungry and needy for love: from an elusive mother; from a mysterious distant father and from a succession of lovers and husbands. In her most ambitious work to date Joyce Carol Oates explores the inner life of the woman destined to become Hollywood's most compelling legend, with astonishing - and often disturbing portraits of the powerful men in her life: the Ex-Athlete, the Playwright, the President, the Dark Prince. Blonde is a brilliant and deeply moving portrait of a culture hypnotised by its own myths and the shattering reality of the effects it had on the woman who became Marilyn Monroe.
