"Adriana loved even the rank animal smell of the man's body, her sweat-slicked breasts and belly flattened beneath him, and her arms and legs clutching him as a drowning woman might clutch another person to save her life. Don't don't don't don't leave me. DON'T LEAVE ME. As in animal copulation the frenzy is to be locked together not out of sentiment or choice but physical compulsion. As if bolts of electric current ran through both their bodies and would only release them from each other when it ceased."

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Source: Joyce Carol Oates (2008). “Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway”, Ecco

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Joyce Carol Oates

Author, Poet

Joyce Carol Oates is an acclaimed American author known for her deep psychological insights and exploration of identity in works like 'We Were the Mulvaneys.'

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Joyce Carol Oates Author, Poet

"If my favorite, most comfortable place is by our fireplace in cold weather, expedient places are on an airplane, in a waiting room or even waiting in line; frequently these days, while on the phone having been 'put on hold.'"

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