多產作家Joyce Carol Oates（1938- ；雙子座）被認為是1960年代以來最重要的美國小說家：Oates是典型美國夢的縮影─成長於紐約郊區的工人階級家庭，Oates是她家第一個念完高中的孩子，後來靠文學獎學金完成雪城大學學士學位，甚至還去威斯康辛州攻讀碩士。1963發表首部短篇小說集By the North Gate，Oates開始她的創作生涯。她的小說除了Them (1969)獲得1970的National Book Award之外，Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), 和Blonde (2000) 也被提名Pulitzer Prize for Fiction。Oates1962年起開使在大學教creative writing, 目前任教於Princeton University。"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"是Oates最常被選入文集的一篇短篇小說，早先發表於Epoch Magazine，靈感來自Life Magazine報導的一宗謀殺案。Oates把這篇作品獻給Bob Dylan，因為他的"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"那首歌，啟發她創作這篇關於15歲女孩Connie的故事。跟所有惶惑青少年一樣，Connie不甘讓她的青春落得像她媽媽或胖姐姐般的平庸無趣，恣意揮灑之餘卻招惹禍端Arnold Friend…
Bob Dylan
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue
The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense
Take what you have gathered from coincidence
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue
All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home
All your reindeer armies, are all going home
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue
Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
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