Butcher: A Novel is a historical novel by Joyce Carol Oates published in 2024 by Alfred A. Knopf.
The Gothic genre work is a fictional rendering of the medical careers of three professionals educated and practicing medicine in the 19th century.Merkin, 2024: "Through the lens of a 19th-century doctor, Joyce Carol Oates explores gothic medical horror." These are J. Marion Sims, M.D., Silas Weir Mitchell, M. D., and Henry Cotton, M. D., notable researchers and practitioners in, respectively, gynecology, neurology, and psychology.Oates, 2024: Acknowledgments, after p. 332Anderson, 2024: "The novel is a fictional biography..."
Contents Dedication Epigraph Editor's Note Prologue Part I: Young Doctor Weir Editor's Note Exile: Morris County, New Jersey—1837 The Hermitage, Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey—1839 Early Years as a Practitioner—1846-1851 Summons to Trenton—1851 Part II: New Jersey State Asylum for Female Lunatics Destiny The Vow Fistula Miracle (March 11, 1852) Miracle (Postscript) Misfortune Reversal of Fortune Part III: The Pioneer Reformer Sacred Monomania Esther C__ Christian Burial The Chair of Tranquility Halcyon Years The Humbling Slander Nurse-Assistant The Laboratory: The Experiment Fever Day of Triumph The Gift Part IV: Red-Handed Butcher God's Chosen Wilhelmina S__: The Twins "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child..." The Penitent God's Blessing, God's Wrath. Part V: The Insurrection Lost Girl, Found: An Orphan's True Story Told by Herself Part VI: Epilogue: Afterlife The Promise The Pledge
Reception Publishers Weekly writes: "Oates's scathing indictment of the physical and psychological treatment of women by the medical establishment makes for compulsive but challenging reading. Unlike the ghastly procedures depicted, Oates's inventive Gothic novel pays off."
Eric K. Anderson at LonesomeReader Blog calls Butcher "an arresting, horrifying and impactful novel" in which Oates exposes "how misogyny is built into the medical profession leading to a near total ignorance about how the human body actually works."Anderson, 2024: "[A] striking representation of a misogynistic mind which is motivated more by self-belief and personal gain than caring for patients."
Commenting on Oates's productivity as a writer—"almost compulsive, verging on the hypergraphic"—critic Daphne Merkin praises Butcher for its "feverish energy, narrative propulsion and descriptive amplitude—sometimes to excess—of much of her earlier work."
In a positive review, Kirkus Reviews called the novel "Vintage Oates: splendidly written, and a useful warning to choose your doctors wisely."
Footnotes
Sources Anderson, Eric Karl. 2024. Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates. LonesomeReader Blog. July 25, 2024. https://lonesomereader.com/blog/2024/7/25/butcher-by-joyce-carol-oates Accessed 14 March 2025. Merkin, Daphne. 2024. 'Butcher' Tells the (Mostly) True Story of a Very Bad Gynecologist. New York Times, May 21, 2024.https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/21/books/review/butcher-joyce-carol-oates.html Accessed 17 April 2025. Oates, Joyce Carol. 2024. Butcher: A Novel. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.