In a period characterized by the abandonment of so much of the realistic tradition by authors such as John Barth，Donald Barthelme，and Thomas Pynchon, Joyce Carol Oates has seemed at times determinedly old-fashioned in her insistence on the essentially mimetic quality of her fiction.
(特殊结构characterized by…——以…为特征)
【译句】尽管处于一个以抛弃大量现实主义传统(以作家约翰?巴思、唐纳德?巴塞尔姆和托马斯.品钦为代表)为特征的时代，乔伊斯?卡罗尔?欧茨因为坚持自己小说本质上模仿的特点，有时候看起来是一个坚定的守旧派。
分句1. characterized by the abandonment of so much of the realistic tradition by authors such as John Barth，Donald Barthelme，and Thomas Pynchon,
分句2. Joyce Carol Oates has seemed at times determinedly old-fashioned in her insistence OD the essentially mimetic quality of her fiction.
分句1 做时间状语“In a period”的后置定语，补充修饰period，相当于省略了 “which was”的定语从句。 分句2 是主句。
整个句子的难点在于找主句。 其实分句1的末尾是 "such as" 引导的三个人名的并列，在最后一个人名Thomas Pynchon前有"and", 说明这个列举对象中的最后一个。所以整个句子的主干在T P 这个人后面出现。