American Melancholy: Poems

A new collection of poetry from an American literary legend, her first in twenty-five years

Joyce Carol Oates is one of our most insightful observers of the human heart and mind, and, with her acute social consciousness, one of the most insistent and inspired witnesses of a shared American history.

Oates is perhaps best known for her prodigious output of novels and short stories, many of which have become contemporary classics. However, Oates has also always been a faithful writer of poetry. American Melancholy showcases some of her finest work of the last few decades.

Covering subjects big and small, and written in an immediate and engaging style, this collection touches on both the personal and political. Loss, love, and memory are investigated, along with the upheavals of our modern age, the reality of our current predicaments, and the ravages of poverty, racism, and social unrest. Oates skillfully writes characters ranging from a former doctor at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army hospital to Little Albert, a six-month-old infant who took part in a famous study that revealed evidence of classical conditioning in human beings. 

This vital collection of American poetry confronts our shared history and inner lives with:

• Literary Poetry: From an iconic voice in American letters, her first collection of poems in twenty-five years.
• American History: Poems that bear witness to our nation’s upheavals, from the ravages of poverty and racism to the dark legacy of figures like Marlon Brando.
• Character-Driven Narratives: Step into the minds of subjects from Edward Hopper’s solitary women to "Little Albert," the infant subject of a notorious behavioral study.
• Love, Loss, and Memory: A deeply personal and political exploration of the ties that bind us, the grief that reshapes us, and the memories that haunt us.