In this ambitious book, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker--the child, the woman, the fated celebrity and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn Monroe. In a voice startling, intimate,and rich, Norma Jeane tells her own story,that of an emblematic American artist--in-tensely conflicted and driven--who has lost her way. A powerful portrait of Hollywood's myth and an extraordinary woman's heart-breaking reality, Blonde is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great twentieth-century American star.

PROLOGUE 3 AUGUST 1962

Special Delivery

THE CHILD 1932-1938

The Kiss

The Bath

City of Sand

Aunt Jess and Uncle Clive

The Lost One

The Gift Givers

The Orphan

The Curse

THE GIRL 1942-1947

The Shark

"Time to Get Married"

The Embalmer's Boy

Little Wife

War

Pinup 1945

For Hire

Daughter and Mother

Freak

Hummingbird

THE WOMAN 1949-1953

The Dark Prince

"Miss Golden Dreams" 1949

The Lover

The Audition

The Birth

Angela 1950

The Broken Altar

Rumpelstiltskin

The Transaction

Nell 1952

The Death of Rumpelstiltskin

The Rescue

That Night...

Rose 1953

The Gemini

The Vision

"MARILYN" 1953-1958

"Famous"

The Magi

"Can't Get Enough of Polish Sausage"

The Ex-Athlete: The Sighting

The Cypresses

"Where Do You Go When You Disappear?"

The Ex-Athlete and the Blond Actress: The Date

"Ftir Elise"

The Scream. The Song.

The Ex-Athlete and the Blond Actress: The Proposal

After the Wedding: A Montage

The American Goddess of Love on the Subway Grating

  New York City 1954

"My Beautiful Lost Daughter"

After the Divorce

The Drowned Woman

The Playwright and the Blond Actress: The Seduction

The Emissary

"Dancing in the Dark"

The Mystery. The Obscenity.

Cherie 1956

The (American) Showgirl 1957

The Kingdom by the Sea

The Farewell

THE AFTERLIFE 1959-1962

In Sympathy

Sugar Kane 1959

Rat Beauty

The Collected Works of Marilyn Monroe

The Sharpshooter

Roslyn 1961

Club Zuma

Divorce (Retake)

My House. My Journey.

The President's Pimp

The Prince and the Beggar Maid

The Beggar Maid in Love

The President and the Blond Actress: The Rendezvous

Whitey Stories

"Happy Birthday Mr. President"

Special Delivery 3 August 1962

"We Are All Gone Into the World of Light"