Joyce Carol Oates: The Man Without a Shadow

Joyce Carol Oates' The Man without a Shadow (Ecco) raises questions about memory – ethics, what it means to love, identity, and the ability to engage – when a nurse begins an affair with her patient, a man with short term memory loss. She talks about neuroscientists researching amnesia by working with subjects suffering from Alzheimer's or alcohol deterioration. She points out that memory is elastic and can be improved. She also takes us on a delightful trip down memory lane with a reading from a previous memoir recounting her favorite bad-for-you childhood foods.

Photo: Gregg Lewis