There are many similarities in the careers and concerns of these two prominent writers: both expose in their work the violence that permeates contemporary society, whether among the rural and industrial poor or in middle-class family life. This book compares and contrasts their short fiction through a review of their critical reception, both the immediate press reactions and later academic assessments, in the United States and in Germany (where Oates has been read in translation since the 1970s). How their stories were perceived reflects the preoccupations of the times in both countries, and offers a panorama of the American and German literary scene. This is the first English-language presentation to include a summary of important German criticism of both authors.