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 First edition | |
| Author | Joyce Carol Oates |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Carroll & Graf Publishers |
| Publication date | 29 Nov 2001 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 80 |
| ISBN | 0-7867-0896-4 |
| OCLC | 48513006 |
Beasts is a novella by Joyce Carol Oates and was originally published in 2001.
Plot summary
Set in an apparently idyllic New England college town in the 1970s, Beasts is the story of Gillian Brauer, a talented young student obsessed with her charismatic anti-establishment English professor Andre Harrow. The book is presented as a middle aged Gillian's reflections of her time at college.
Knowing that other girls preceded her does not deter Gillian from being drawn into the decadent world of Professor Harrow and his wife, Dorcas, the outrageous sculptor of primal totems. Gillian soon tumbles into a nightmare of carnal desire and corrupted sexual innocence.
Dorcas and Andre regularly drug Gillian without her consent. One of the drugs that the pair give Gillian are quaaludes. Gillian discovers that Andre and Dorcas have sexually explicit photographs of other young people that they have drugged and used in order to fulfill their own sexual desires. Towards the end of the novella, an intoxicated Gillian burns Andre and Dorcas alive, but she is never tried for the incident. It is revealed that Gillian currently has a teaching job.
References
- "Edition details". Archived from the original on 2009-03-10. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
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