Annotated Bibliography
Andrews, Lori B. “My Body, My Property.” The Hastings Center Report, vol. 16, no. 5, [Hastings Center, Wiley], 1986, pp. 28–38, https://doi.org/10.2307/3562693
The article “My Body, My Property,” written by Lori B. Andrews, goes in-depth about issues like the autonomy of donors and recipients’ bodies not being respected and how this can be managed as well as its effects on all the people involved and on society. It is a good source to use when looking at Joyce Carol Oates’ science fiction short story “*BD 11 1 86,” for the lens of new historical criticism because this article was written in the year 1986, which is the year that Joyce Carol Oates specifically used for her short story, which is written around a teenage boy who was raised to become a full body donor against his will.
Araújo, Susana. “Joyce Carol Oates Reread: Overview and Interview with the Author.” Critical Survey, vol. 18, no. 3, Sept. 2006, pp. 92–105. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.cwi.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23933974&site=ehost-live&scope=site
In this interview, Oates answers quite a lot of questions concerning a wide range of topics. She discusses specific stories she has written, general writing ideals, plans for future books, style, and much more. Because of how many topics the interview covers, it is useful for a wide range of lenses and opinions. It can be used to add context to the author’s opinions and experiences, thus arguing for a specific interpretation of a text. It can be used to add depth to specific styles, themes, and patterns that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. More specifically, with a deconstruction lens in mind, it offers further insight into the contradictions, irony, and paradoxes seen throughout “BD 11 1 86” thus showing what and how different interpretations and perspectives co-exist. It is a fascinating interview with information to aid in all types of arguments or simply to enjoy and keep in mind while reading Oates’ many works.
Bender, Eileen T. “Between the Categories: Recent Short Fiction by Joyce Carol Oates.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 17, no. 4, Fall 1980, p. 415. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=ns149246&db=a9h&AN=7134668&site=ehost-live
Eileen T. Bender’s article, Between the Categories: Recent Short Fiction by Joyce Carol Oates, examines several Oates short stories to demonstrate Oates’ ability to move “between the categories” (Bender, 415). In this essay, she expounds on Oates’ artistic prowess to write in both traditional contexts and her power to create new inventive approaches in literature. Bender analyzes three of Oates’ short story collections, focusing on the different methods and writing techniques that Oates employs. The first collection is The Hungry Ghosts, in which multiple souls haunt a university. “The university has become the testing ground for cultural values” (Bender, 416). These stories scrutinize academia and the people that inhabit it. The Poisoned Kiss is presented as translated parables from Portuguese. This collection discusses meta-fiction and its death. The last collection of short stories that Bender examines is from The Goddess, where Oates writes of femininity and the creative power of women’s minds. This essay illustrates Oates capacity to write in polymorphic forms that push the boundaries of fiction.
This essay effectually establishes Oates propensity to reimagine literature and create new methods, keeping her writing diverse. Any student researching Oates and her fiction will find this essay as an invaluable resource. Dissecting various short stories and the writing techniques involved will give insight into Oates’ compositions and her experimentation with new creative forms. This essay not only emphasizes Oates’ ability to write in diverse styles, but there is also a central focus on the characters within the stories, illuminating their dispositions, which lead to a deeper comprehension of Oates and her writing.
Carroll, Rachel. “Imitations of Life: Cloning, Heterosexuality and the Human in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Rereading Heterosexuality: Feminism, Queer Theory and Contemporary Fiction, Edinburgh University Press, 2012, pp. 131–48. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt3fgtnm.10. Accessed 29 Apr. 2023.
This article explores the concept of cloning in Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go. The author of this article, is using the Feminist and Queer Theory critical lenses to look at the main characters struggles with identity and the rights the society they live in refuses to give them. Carroll argues that Ishiguro uses the concept of cloning to critique heteronormative culture in the real world.
Corr, C. A. (2018). Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the “five stages” model in a sampling of recent American textbooks. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying, 82(2), 294–322.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and the “the five stages” model in a sampling of recent American textbooks” is an article that discusses how the five stages of grief is viewed in a modern lens. The article is about showing the different viewpoints that are had on the model as well as giving the own personal thoughts and conclusions of the writer. It also discusses the five stages of grief and helps to clear up some misconceptions such as that the five stages are not always in one set order and that it is more complex than that. The sources used are cited at the end and there is listed info on the author. The article’s purpose is to show conflicting viewpoints on the matter and if it is something that is still worth studying and using in the modern day with the author making their own points and observations. It is to inform the reader of modern viewpoints as well as allow them to make their own conclusions as to what to think about the five stages of grief. The article is a mix of being objective as well as personal since it is the author putting in their own commentary as well.
Curry, Linda Cox, and Joy Graham Stone. “The grief process: a preparation for death.” Clinical Nurse Specialist CNS 5.1 (1991): 17-22.
The grief process: a preparation for death” is an article that chronicles the process someone goes through when they are afflicted with a terminal disease and how they learn to cope with such a serious situation. It discusses the five stages of grief and how it can help someone eventually get to that point of accepting their death. It documents how it affects both the patient and those close to the patient as the grief of death is looming near. It observes a case of this on a personal level concerning someone with a terminal illness and their family, showing how even in loss there can be some good on an emotional level. It has mentioned the authors’ credentials in the field that they are studying in along with a listing of their sources that were used for the paper. It is a case study that uses a real-world instance to tell the reader a situation that they or someone they know could be in one day. It is primarily observational with the authors making their own conclusions about their observations to make their point on how acceptance can be important even if the patient ends up deceased by the end of it.
Daly, Brenda. “Sexual Politics in Two Collections of Joyce Carol Oates’s Short Fiction.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 32, no. 1, Winter 1995, p. 83. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9507233937&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This article looks at 2 works by Joyce Carol Oates and discusses the common threads between them in regards to how women and men are portrayed on the wide spectrum of sexuality. This author of the article also discusses the style in which her stories are written and how minor choices like ambiguity and fragmentation are used to reference sexuality and gender.
Felski, Rita. Uses of Literature: A Positive Aesthetic. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Felski’s book delves into the subject of how and why readers engage with literature. She explores the engagement teachers and students have when reading literature. Felski has become discontented with academic analysis and evaluation; instead, she contemplates why readers are “drawn to certain texts more than others.” She focuses on why readers are attracted to particular texts while reflecting on why certain works of literature become significant or consequential. Felski proposes that readers engage with literature in four primary ways.
In Uses of Literature: A Positive Aesthetic, Felski examines contemporary critical theory within literature and argues that they all have one thing in common, and that is “disenchantment” (Felski, 58). She writes of dissatisfaction with literary critics and their critiques. Instead of focusing on “the act of reading” (Felski, 3), she wants to place value on the “objects read” (Felski, 3). Uses of Literature is divided into four categories, recognition, enchantment, knowledge, and shock. Felski illustrates the power of literature, how it can change lives and what readers experience while becoming absorbed in a text.
Felski’s book is essential to reader-response criticism examining and reflecting on why readers engage with literature. Felski uses multiple texts to illustrate readers’ engagement with literature in the four themes that she outlines and elaborates on the capacity literature has to change lives. Felski’s four foundational categories are ideal examples of the emotions readers experience while reading “*BD* 11 1 86,” leading to a cognizance of how readers will receive and absorb this text. Students of academia will find Felski’s book crucial to studying literature in any genre.
Johnson, Carl Nils. “If You Had My Brain, Where Would I Be? Children’s Understanding of the Brain and Identity.” Child Development, vol. 61, no. 4, Aug. 1990, pp. 962–972. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/1130868
As the title suggests, this article discusses a study done to test children’s understanding of identity by asking them various questions about transplanting different body parts. The study found that the younger the children were, the more challenging time they had understanding personal identity as opposed to physical attributes. They also found that the answer to what would happen to a person physically and mentally changed depending on who was receiving the transplant. Specifically, the children showed that they believed if their mind or other body part were transplanted into another person, the other person would become more like them. However, if the roles were reversed, they believed they would not be affected by the other person’s body part. These findings are beneficial in analyzing “BD 11 1 86” because it presents the nuances and different ideas surrounding brain transplants and their implication, all of which are essential things to consider from a deconstruction lens due to its focus on multiple interpretations. A lot of ideas come to contradictory conclusions based on predetermined assumptions, which this article displays quite thoroughly.
Lynn, Steven. “Chapter 4, Creating the Text Reader-Response Criticism.” Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory, 7th ed., Pearson, Boston, 2016, pp. 73–107.
Steven Lynn’s Texts and Contexts: Writing with Literature with Critical Theory, is a text that assists students in writing and understanding literature with contemporary critical theories. This text guides students with a step-by-step process on how to analyze and write literature through various critical lenses. Texts and Contexts offers example essays for students to study, enabling them to employ critical writing methods on their own, enhancing their reading, writing, and comprehension of literature.
Any student wanting to study the subject of reading and writing literature with critical theory will find this book an indispensable resource. Steven Lynn encourages students to engage and examine literature with close readings. Learning this technique allows students to view literature in new creative ways. With a close reading and comprehension of new theories, students will be prepared to survey and discover valuable information within literary works that remained hidden before reading and applying the methods within this text. Chapter four of this text focuses on reader-response criticism. Any student writing under this critical lens would find this text to be full of insurmountable information.
Lynn, Steven. “Chapter 6 Connecting the Text Historical and New Historical Criticism.” Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory, 7th ed. Pearson Education Inc., New York, New York, 2017, pp. 145-193.
Steven Lynn’s book Texts and Contexts offers a comprehensive introduction and explanation of many of the major critical lenses used for literary analysis. Each lens has its own respective chapter and attention. In addition, each lens comes with example pieces that connect to that lens and example essays set up around a specific lens. What makes this book most comprehensive is that Lynn goes through all the steps of crafting each essay so that the reader can learn through the whole process of using new lenses and plugging them into essay formats effectively. There are lively notes and examples that are not merely a bullet list of characteristics and rules regarding the lens but in-depth usage and explanation that makes connections that readers and students can resonate with and understand. Though this book is written for an academic audience, it has a conversational style that doesn’t bore the reader or lose the reader’s attention, for it is intriguing as well as thorough.
Specifically, Steven Lynn’s chapter six of Texts and Contexts that covers Historical and New Historical Criticism is great for connecting the use of New Historical critical lens, which is the lens that I am using for my analysis of *BD 11 1 86. This chapter thoroughly explains the critical lens of New Historical. Moreover, it comes with examples and step-by-step methods of using the lens within an essay, which benefits me well in this literary analysis course.
Moo, Jessica Murphy. “The Art of the Unconscious.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 6 July 2005, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/07/the-art-of-the-unconscious/304150/
Jessica Murphy Moo writes on the subject of Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “*BD* 11 1 86” and interviews the author in The Atlantic. The article summaries “*BD* 11 1 86” and writes of Oates’ accomplishments in literature. Jessica Murphy Moo inquires about Oates’ writing techniques and brings a new nuance to the story. In the interview, she askes Oates multiple questions that led to the writing of this short fiction.
This article takes a deep dive into Oates’ story “*BD* 11 1 86,” starting with a short summary of the story. Jessica Murphy Moo displays Oates’ aptitude by referencing several of Oates’ novels and other short stories, such as We Were the Mulvaneys and Zombie. The interview questions Oates and how she came to write “*BD* 11 1 86.” Murphy Moo inquires about the protagonist, Danny Neuworth, and his character development. Murphy Moo discusses with Oates the subject of the story, giving insight into Oates’ inspiration. The interview brings forth understanding into Oates’ thought process and her views on human nature, along with her preferred genre, while illuminating some of her early work. Any person studying or researching Joyce Carol Oates and her short story “*BD* 11 1 86” will find this article to be a beneficial source. It highlights Oates’ writing process and the influences that led to this story’s creation. Oates discusses her early work, offering acute information that assists in comprehending Oates’ complex writing and her thought processes on multiple issues concerning literature.
Jessica Murphy Moo interviewed Joyce Carol Oates about her thoughts behind BD 11 1 86. “Joyce Carol Oates talks about modern science, the writing life, and “*BD* 11 1 86,” her short story in the fiction issue.” (Moo). The article gives a short summary of the Oates story, BD 11 1 86, including the ending, which explains the dates on Danny’s confidential file. The first one, 11 1 86 is what Danny understood to be his birthdate. Instead, it is the day a crop of BDs, himself included, were engineered in a biotech lab. (Moo). The second date, 6-2-05 is the date that the BDs are harvested. In the interview Moo inquires about how Oates came up with the idea behind the story of BD 11 1 86. Oates responds by saying that she often identifies with adolescents. She says it’s a time in life when everything is volatile. (Moo.) Moo writes about Oates’ many works that are meant to intrigue her readers and give a mind-boggling experience. Moo asks Oates how the premise of the short story came to her. She asks how she begins her writing process. Moo even asks if her story meant to be her way of expressing her political views, as Oates is accustomed to doing. Oates’ answers should be found to be very intriguing indeed.
Oates, Joyce Carol “BD 11 1 86” The Atlantic Magazine.https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/08/-bd-11-1-86/304109/. 2005
Joyce Carol Oates’ short story was published in the July 2005 issue of the Atlantic Magazine. The story challenges futuristic science as well as our imaginations. It provokes the imagination and makes us wonder if we could ever find ourselves in this head-turning situation. BD 11 1 86 is a story about Danny Neuworth, who seems like an average teenager about to graduate from high school. He’s been asked to see the school counselor, but for what he doesn’t know. He second-guesses everything. He thinks he’s in trouble, but for what? For having average grades, for being an average athlete on the track team? What could he have possibly done? The adults all around Danny seem nervous or uneasy about something but no one seems to want to say what it is that they are so concerned about. Then, Danny’s principal gives him the news he’s been waiting for. He’s not in trouble, in fact, it’s just the opposite. He’s been granted a scholarship, the Good Citizen Scholarship! Suddenly, the colleges he applied for will accept him with open arms where before his grades meant closed doors. It’s confusing to Danny, but eventually, he accepts this as great news. Even as the bus with the other scholars takes him away before his graduation, Danny feels like he’s been given an opportunity. But the adults are hiding something about who he really is and who he is meant to be. In BD 11 1 86, we find out exactly what that is.
Mughal, Saba, Yusra Azhar, and Waqas J. Siddiqui. “Grief Reaction.” (2018). In StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507832/
“Grief Reaction” is an article that talks about grief in specific scenarios such as grief over the loss of a loved one and grief over a terminal illness. It dissects the specifics of grief, using specific terms and making distinctions in how grief happens. It also discusses the five stages of grief as well given it is a model that is used to better understand the feelings that go into grief. It is an article that helps explain the info for those who need specifics on grief and how it may be of use depending on the grief that is affecting them both physically and mentally. It lists its author and their association which is with Drexel University and shows it has been reviewed by others as well. It also lists its bibliography at the end, showing each of the sources that were used. It is more of a straightforward article since it is more about going into the specifics of grief and takes an objective tone throughout, showing the author is not taking any specific sides when it comes to the topic. Its purpose is to inform the reader and give them a better understanding of the subject matter.
Phelan, James, and John Frow. “Reading Characters Rhetorically.” Narrative, vol. 38, no. 3, May 2022, pp. 1–14. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=157058746&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
This article goes over the various ways in which different works of literature and media can be viewed through the Rhetorical Analysis Lens. The authors of the article also argue what other factors can be considered from the reader’s perspective based on background and ethnicity.
Simone, Lisa. “Interview: Joyce Carol Oates Discusses Her New Collection of Short Stories, ‘Faithless: Tales of Transgression,’ and the Importance of Setting When Writing Fiction.” Weekend All Things Considered (NPR). EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=6XN200106242008&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.
Lisa Simone wrote this article for “Weekend All Things Considered NPR, the April 27, 2023 issue. In it, she speaks to Oates about the numerous short stories of Oates’ career, as well as her many accomplishments as an author. Oates speaks of her writing style as well as how she comes up with the subjects she writes about. The main subject of the interview is of her book, Faithless: Tales of Transgression, which chronicles much of her work from 1966 to 2006.
However, it is in this interview where we see what lies behind the mind of Joyce Carol Oates. It is here that we see that she likes to play with the extreme and wave it around for everyone to see. BD 11 1 86 shows us a future that could one day become our reality. Body donors may seem very immoral to us now, but if cloning technology takes off, could this be our new reality? Given Oates writing style and the fact that she doesn’t shy away from controversy, BD 11 1 86 was a story she most likely wanted the world to hear.
Wulczyn, Fred H., and Robert M. Goerge. “Foster Care in New York and Illinois: The Challenge of Rapid Change.” Social Service Review, vol. 66, no. 2, University of Chicago Press, 1992, pp. 278–94, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30012166
The article “Foster Care in New York and Illinois: The Challenge of Rapid Change,” written by Fred H. Wulczyn and Robert M. George, is about the rapid growth of foster care caseloads that grew in the 1980s among infants and children under ten years old. This particular article is primarily going over these changes through the East Coast at that time. This article follows trends that implied that this steady growth would double in the coming decade. The exact year is uncannily connected to the main character of Oates’ character and this time of birth is also important to the other “BD” individuals who were also put into foster care in this year, which makes this source fitting and helpful for my analysis through the lens of new historical on Oates’ short story.
