The Man Without a Shadow A Novel
The Man Without a Shadow A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates is a thought-provoking exploration of memory and identity, published by HarperCollins on January 19, 2016. This 384-page novel delves into the life of neuroscientist Margot Sharpe and her complex relationship with Elihu Hoopes, a man suffering from profound amnesia. As Margot navigates her professional and personal feelings towards Elihu, the narrative examines the intricate dynamics of love and the ethical dilemmas that arise from their connection.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of psychological and literary themes woven throughout the story, as it tracks the evolution of Margot and Elihu’s relationship over three decades. The novel poses profound questions about the nature of memory and the possibility of love in the absence of recollection. Oates’s keen insight into the human psyche and her detailed prose create a compelling backdrop for this unique narrative, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of human emotion and the mysteries that define our lives.
Official synopsis Publisher
In this taut and fascinating novel, the bestselling, New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of The Sacrifice, The Accursed, and Lovely, Dark, Deep examines the mysteries of memory, personality, and identity and pierces the enigmatic force that drives human lives—love.
In 1965, neuroscientist Margot Sharpe meets the attractive, charismatic Elihu Hoopes—the “man without a shadow”—whose devastated memory, unable to store new experiences or to retrieve the old, will make him the most famous and most studied amnesiac in history. Over the course of the next thirty years, Margot herself becomes famous for her experiments with E. H.—and inadvertently falls in love with him, despite the ethical ambiguity of their affair, and though he remains forever elusive and mysterious to her, haunted by mysteries of the past.
The Man Without a Shadow tracks the intimate, illicit relationship between Margot and Eli, as scientist and subject embark upon an exploration of the labyrinthine mysteries of the human brain. Where does “memory” reside? Where is “love”? Is it possible to love an individual who cannot love you, who cannot “remember” you from one meeting to the next?
Made vivid by her exceptional eye for detail and her keen insight into the human psyche, The Man Without A Shadow is a unique story of forbidden love, a kind of secret, evolving marriage, depicted in Joyce Carol Oates’s tight, impassioned prose. It is an uncanny, ambitious, and structurally complex novel that penetrates the mind and illuminates the heart.
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