Upon the Sweeping Flood and Other Stories

Upon the Sweeping Flood and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by Joyce Carol Oates. It was published in 1966 by Vanguard Press.

Stories
Those stories first appearing in literary journals are indicated.


 * “Stigmata” (Colorado Quarterly, Spring 1963)
 * “The Survival of Childhood” (Southwest Review, Spring 1964)
 * “The Death of Mrs. Sheer”
 * “First Views of the Enemy” (Prairie Schooner, Spring 1964)
 * “At the Seminary” (Kenyon Review, Summer 1965)
 * “Norman and the Killer” (Southwest Review, Spring 1965)
 * “The Man That Turned Into a Statue”
 * “Archways” (Cosmopolitan, March 1965)
 * “Dying” (The Transatlantic Review, Spring 1966)
 * “What Death With Love Should Have to Do.” (Literary Review, Autumn 1965)
 * “Upon the Sweeping Flood” (Southwest Review, Spring 1963)

Reception
Upon the Sweeping Flood “achieves in its best stories the distinctively violent yet compassionate vision that would inform her later fiction” according to literary critic Greg Johnson.

Kirkus Reviews was “disappointed” at the lurid narratives involving “hideous incidentals" which they report mars the collection. Acknowledging that Oates is an notable author, the article observes that the volume suggests “An on-going talent—idling.”

Analysis
Joanne V. Creighton points out both the differences and the similarities between the two volumes:

"Less often set in Eden County than the stories in By the North Gate, those in Upon the Sweeping Flood embody some of the same themes: the groping of inarticulate people for order and meaning and the discovery of hidden, unlovely depth of passion or of emptiness within one's self. The emphasis here, however, is more focused on the interrelationships among people, be they familial, emotional, or social. Oates exhibits here the beginning of her intense preoccupation with both the tenacious bands of the family and the mysterious emotions of love."