Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates (1938- )

Bio:

Born in 1938 in Lockport, New York where she attended a one room school house.
Was given a typewriter when she was 14 years old and never stopped writing.
Completed her first novel at the age of 15.
Went to the University of Syracuse for her BA and University of Wisconsin for her MA in English.
While at Wisconsin, she met and married Richard Joseph Smith.
Lived in Detroit for a while teaching at the University of Windsor.
Moved to Princeton in 1978 and has never left.
She and her husband own a small press and publish a literary magazine called The Ontario Review.

Work:

Extremely prolific writer of novels, short stories, plays, young adult fiction, poetry and criticism; over 50 volumes of work including 20 novels.
Her work is marked by violence, madness and social disorder.
She explores the mysteries of psychological and sociological motivation and constructs ingenious theories to explain them and to focus their moral significance.
Chronicles life and culture of the 20th century: a writer’s job is to be a conscious of his race.
Works regular hours with this Henry James quotation over her desk: “We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and out passion our task. The rest is the madness of art.”

Comments on her Work:

"Any assessment of Oates's accomplishments should admit that the sheer quantity and range of her writing is impressive," observed a Contemporary Novelists essayist. The essayist added: "Oates is a writer who embarks on ambitious projects; her imagination is protean; her energies and curiosity seemingly boundless; and throughout all her writing, the reader detects her sharp intelligence, spirit of inquiry, and her zeal to tell a story."
In Book Oates said, "I am a chronicler of the American experience. We have been historically a nation prone to violence, and it would be unreal to ignore this fact. What intrigues me is the response to violence: its aftermath in the private lives of women and children in particular."

Online References:

University of San Francisco webpage: http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/southerr/jco.html
New York Times collection of reviews, audio and interviews: http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/07/05/specials/oates.html
Salon Interview: http://www.salon.com/06/departments/litchat.html

Source: http://intranet.micds.org/upper/english/Teachers/Mittler/Coursepack/Documents/Oates.doc

Web site to visit: http://intranet.micds.org

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Joyce Carol Oates

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