This book demonstrates the greatness of Joyce Carol Oates, who is a nominee for a Nobel Award in Literature. Nancy Watanabe discusses Oates's previously undiscovered roots in the literatures of Europe and Asia. Watanabe's thought-provoking analyses are enhanced by a cinematically inspired principle of organization that reflects Oates's own stratagems. In a massive build-up of metaphorical links between a Copernican world of nature and actions taken by ordinary people in the course of their daily living, Oates portrays America as a land of justice that is always a step behind a Faustian desire for freedom to pursue material desires. Oates documents an eclipsing of a divinely inspired Christian love by Faustian quest. Through this study, readers will gain a broader perspective and a more accurate assessment of Oates's global significance.