Readers of Bellefleur will need to suspend their disbelief and accept the supernatural, Gothic elements of the text. The novel is dense with subplots, so discussion might begin with some attention simply to what happens in the book.

1. The novel traces the history of the Bellefleur family in upstate New York.

To what extent is this a successful family? To what extent is it doomed?

Doomed by what? By whom?

2. Bellefleur is a novel of revenge.

How important is the revenge theme in literature? In life? Can revenge expiate a wrong?

3. Jedediah comes down from his fanatical retreat on the mountain to marry Germaine and continue the family line. Will this help to save or will it merely continue the family?

4. When Gideon crashes his plane into Bellefleur castle, he re-enacts the original murder. Why is this necessary?

5. How does Oates use history to ground her...