Joyce Carol Oates presents Butcher at the Cambridge Public Library
a thrilling novel about a cruel doctor in a 19th century women’s asylum
Joyce Carol Oates
Butcher
Cambridge Public Library
July 18, 2024
On Thursday, July 18, 2024, acclaimed novelist Joyce Carol Oates gave a book talk about her new novel, Butcher, at the Cambridge Public Library. Harvard Book Store hosted the event, and author Daphne Kalotay was the moderator for the discussion. Oates is a prolific author, and her most famous works include We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. A professor emerita at Princeton University, Oates has received numerous awards for her literary work, notably the National Humanities Medal in 2010.
Based on the dark history of gynecology and mental asylums in the 19th century, Butcher is a novel about Dr. Silas Weir, a doctor who performs gruesome surgeries on women in the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics. Told by Dr. Weir’s eldest son, Jonathan, the story centers on Weir and Brigit, a young Irish indentured servant who is Weir’s main experimental subject but then becomes his assistant due to the close relationship that forms between them.
Oates started the event by reading an excerpt from Butcher that focuses on an escalating conflict between Dr. Weir and Brigit, as Dr. Weir wants Brigit to be physically punished for defying his orders. Dr. Weir believes that his cruel experimentation on a patient called Lucy is justified, but Brigit is deeply upset by his decision.
Oates read the passage in a relatively calm manner, but the intense dialogue and tension drew in the audience. The audience was engaged with her reading; there were some chuckles for the humorous parts and gasps at the end when Oates left readers on a cliffhanger.
Although Dr. Weir is a fictional character, Oates described him as “a composite portrait” of the following medical figures: J. Marion Sims, Silas Weir Mitchell, and Henry Cotton. Oates purposefully chose Dr. Weir’s name to mirror Silas Weir Mitchell because of their overlapping vile personalities and immoral consciences.
These doctors not only had pseudoscientific theories about the causes and treatments for illnesses in women, but also performed horrific experiments on female patients. Oates considers Butcher “a historical novel” because she did extensive research during the COVID quarantine to develop the characters and setting for the novel.
While Butcher focuses on medicine’s misogynistic past, the novel also explores other complex themes, especially the love triangle that forms among Dr. Weir, Brigit, and Jonathan. Oates acknowledged that these relationships can go wrong, but made the audience laugh when she added that “it goes interestingly wrong.” What she said regarding the interesting aspect of these failed relationships was eloquent and moving.
“It could be very, very devastating and hurtful and moving, but also it expands you,” Oates said. “There’s almost a romance of melancholy, say a broken heart: something that’s better than having never experienced loss.”
The book discussion touched upon many topics, from the parallels between slavery and indentured servitude to “The Yellow Wallpaper,” a short story about mental illness in women. Afterwards, the talk transitioned from Butcher to Oates’ approach to writing.
When asked about how she writes and thinks about her stories, Oates said that going out for a walk or run helps her a lot. On these runs, Oates likes to picture various elements of her story coming together. “It’s like there’s a little video or scene in my head,” she said. When Oates is stuck on a problem, she runs to the top of a local hill and back. From this exercise, she said that she would have the answer to writing tricky passages in Butcher.
Besides sharing her writing philosophy, Oates also addressed an audience member’s question about how to maintain the fine balance of creativity and accuracy in historical fiction. She said that “there’s really no answer,” as some authors choose to closely stick to the facts, while others choose to employ more creative liberties. Oates used her novel Blonde as an example, saying that she put historical events on a chart as a reference. The creative part, Oates explained, comes from imagining certain aspects, such as the conversation between Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.
Given that the audience had a lot of aspiring writers, Oates wrapped up her talk by giving advice on how to introduce structure. Her main recommendation was to start a story with a scene consisting of characters interacting with each other. While a story could begin with a single character, Oates suggested that a focus on a scene creates drama, which comes from the interaction of people in a certain space and time. “My novels are all sorts of scenes with some exposition bringing them together,” Oates said. Despite this style, she finds value in exposition. “But I like description. I mean, that kind of writing we call expository can also be exciting.”
A combination of gothic and historical fiction, Butcher is definitely worth reading. The event ended with a warm round of applause from the packed audience, and a long line formed for a personalized signing of Butcher. Overall, the book event was interesting because of the many topics that Butcher investigates and great insight into Oates’ unique writing style.