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Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

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Joyce Carol Oates is a renowned American author born on June 16, 1938. Her works span various literary forms such as novels, poetry, and drama, known for her unique narrative techniques and profound thematic explorations.

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Famous Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

“To be knocked out doesn't mean what it seems. A boxer does not have to get up.”

Mean Doe Seems Get Up Boxers

Book:Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

Source: Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

“We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.”

Language Memories Blood Linked Ancestry

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“We are stimulated to emotional response, not by works that confirm our sense of the world, but by works that challenge it.”

World Challenges Emotional Response Emotional Response

Book:Contraries

Source: Contraries

“Except that awards are competitive, which is a negative thing, they are wonderful for singling out deserving individuals and bringing their work to the attention of many potential readers who might otherwise have been totally unaware of them.”

Has Beens Might Individual Attention Wonderful Reader Negative Awards Deserving

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“A lot of widows feel that they have betrayed their spouse by continuing to live. It's deranged thinking. I know that, but that doesn't stop you feeling it.”

Thinking Knows Feels Feelings Continuing Spouse Betrayed Widows Deranged

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“After my parents passed away - in 2000 and 2003 - I felt I could take the time to think about the past and imagine what it would have been like to be my grandmother.”

Thinking Has Beens Past Felt Parent Imagine Grandmother My Grandmother Time To Think Passed Away

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“'A Fair Maiden' existed in notes and sketches for perhaps a year. When I traveled, I would take along with me my folder of notes - 'ideas for stories.' Eventually, I began to write it and wrote it fairly swiftly - in perhaps two months of fairly intense writing and rewriting. Most of my time writing is really re-writing.”

Writing Years Two Ideas Stories Months Fairs Notes Intense My Time Traveled Maidens Two Months Rewriting Folders Maiden Names

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“A typical biography relying upon individuals' notorious memories and the anecdotes they've invented contains a high degree of fiction, yet is considered 'nonfiction.'”

Individual Memories Fiction Degrees Nonfiction Typical Biographies Anecdotes Notorious Fiction And Nonfiction

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“After my husband died, I could not write much - I could not concentrate. I was too exhausted most of the time even to contemplate writing. But I did take notes - not for fiction, but for a journal, or diary, of this terrible time. I did not think that I would ever survive this interlude.”

Thinking Writing Fiction Terrible Husband Died Notes My Husband Contemplating Journal Exhausted Diaries Terrible Times

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Among many of my friends and acquaintances, I seem to be one of the very few individuals who felt or feels no ambivalence about my mother. All my feelings for my mother were positive, very strong and abiding.”

Feels Feelings Seems Mother Individual Strong Felt My Friends Very Strong Acquaintance Abiding Ambivalence

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Any kind of creative activity is likely to be stressful. The more anxiety, the more you feel that you are headed in the right direction. Easiness, relaxation, comfort - these are not conditions that usually accompany serious work.”

Feels Kind Creative Conditions Serious Comfort Activity Anxiety Relaxation Stressful Accompany Right Direction Easiness Serious Work

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“As a farm girl, even when I was quite young, I had my 'farm chores' - but I had time also to be alone, to explore the fields, woods and creek side. And to read.”

Young Girl Sides Fields Woods Farms Chores Creeks Farm Girl

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“As soon as I moved to Princeton in 1978, I became fascinated by local history, much of it Revolutionary War-era; and I became fascinated by the presidency of Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University.”

War Moved University Locals Eras Revolutionary Fascinated Presidency Wilson Revolutionary War Princeton Local History Princeton University

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Criticism is, for me, like essay writing, a wonderful way of relaxation; it doesn't require a heightened and mediated voice, like prose fiction, but rather a calm, rational, even conversational voice.”

Way Writing Voice Fiction Wonderful Criticism Calm Rational Prose Essays Relaxation Essay Writing

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“For some reason, voters can be brainwashed, and they vote sometimes against their own best interests, let alone voting against the interests of people who need them, like people who are disenfranchised and people who are poor and so forth.”

People Needs Sometimes Reason Interest Poor Vote Voting Voters Brainwashed Disenfranchised

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Henry James's later works would have been better had he resisted that curious sort of self-indulgence, dictating to a secretary. The roaming garrulousness of ordinary speech is usually corrected when it's transcribed into written prose.”

Has Beens Self Written Speech Ordinary Curious Prose Secretary Indulgence Self Indulgence Roaming Dictating

Book:Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

Source: Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

“Honorary degrees and lifetime achievement awards are very encouraging. I know that it might sound strange that a writer who has published many books still needs encouragement, but this is true.”

Knows Needs Stills Book Might Sound Strange Degrees Achievement Encouragement Lifetime Awards Encouraging Honorary Lifetime Achievement Need Encouragement

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I always rewrite the very beginning of a novel. I rewrite the beginning as I write the ending, so I may spend part of morning writing the ending, the last 100 pages approximately, and then part of the morning revising the beginning. So the style of the novel has a consistency.”

Writing May Lasts Morning Novel Style Pages Consistency Revising

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I am not conscious of working especially hard, or of 'working' at all. Writing and teaching have always been, for me, so richly rewarding that I don't think of them as work in the usual sense of the word.”

Thinking Writing Hard Teaching Conscious Usual

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I compose most of my tweets with care, as if they were aphorisms - they are not usually dashed-off. Sometimes I'm surprised by the high, poetic quality of Twitter - it lends itself to a surreal sort of self-expression.”

Ifs Self Sometimes Care Quality Expression Poetic Aphorism Surreal Tweet Self Expression

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I don't feel I write fast. I write in longhand and do so much revision. On the page, it's so old-fashioned. I could write a whole novel on scrap paper, scribbles and things. I keep looking at it and something develops. For me, using a word processor would mean staring at a screen for too many hours.”

Feels Writing Mean Whole Hours Novel Paper Pages Screens Staring Old Fashioned Scrap Revision Scribbles Processors

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I don't know what marriages are like in general, but there are many things which I don't talk about with my husband. We discuss practical problems, but I wouldn't sit down with him and talk about the distant past. It's somewhat in contrast to other Americans, who feel that they have to confess things, but I'm really not like that.”

Knows Feels Problem Past Husband Practicals My Husband Contrast

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I don't read for amusement, I read for enlightenment. I do a lot of reviewing, so I have a steady assignment of reading. I'm also a judge for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, which gives awards to literature and nonfiction.”

Giving Book Reading Literature Judging Enlightenment Awards Steady Nonfiction Amusement Assignments

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I don't teach literature from my perspective as 'Joyce Carol Oates.' I try to teach fiction from the perspective of each writer. If I'm teaching a story by Hemingway, my endeavor is to present the story that Hemingway wrote in its fullest realization.”

Ifs Trying Stories Literature Fiction Teach Teaching Perspective Realization Endeavor Carols Joyce

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I don't think I'm morbid by nature. Serious writers have always written about serious subjects. Lighthearted material doesn't appeal to me, and I don't read it. I think I'm a realist, with a realistic sensibility of history and the tragedy of history.”

Thinking Written Subjects Serious Materials Tragedy Appeals Realistic Sensibility Realist Morbid Serious Subjects

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I haven't any formal schedule, but I love to write in the morning, before breakfast. Sometimes the writing goes so smoothly that I don't take a break for many hours - and consequently have breakfast at two or three in the afternoon on good days.”

Writing Two Sometimes Three Hours Break Morning Havens Breakfast Afternoon Formal Schedules Good Day

Book:Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

Source: Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

“I haven't the faintest idea what my royalties are. I haven't the faintest idea how many copies of books sold, or how many books that I've written. I could look these things up; I have no interest in them. I don't know how much money I have. There are a lot of things I just don't care about.”

Knows Looks Book Ideas Care Interest Know How Written Havens Don't Care Copies Royalty

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.”

Writing Age Wanted Young Conscious Ideals Twenties Young Age

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I remember once asking Grandma about a book she was reading, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and how she answered me: this was the first conversation of my life that concerned a book, and 'the life of the mind' - and now, such subjects have become my life.”

Mind Firsts Book Remember Reading Subjects Conversation Concerned Asking Biographies Grandma Abraham

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people's lives when they go in one direction, not another.”

People Thinking Writing Art Events Conflict Dramatic One Direction Kernel Juncture

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I think it's very important for writers and artists generally to be witnesses to the world, and to be transparent. To let other people speak... to travel... to experience the world. And memorialize it.”

People Thinking World Important Artist Speak Witness Transparent

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I think whenever we think of our hometowns, we tend to think of very specific people: with whom you rode on the school bus, who was your next door neighbor you were playing with, who your girlfriend was. It's always something very specific.”

People Thinking School Next Doors Neighbor Girlfriend Bus Hometown Your Girlfriend Next Door Neighbors School Bus

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I would suggest the widow do things the husband used to do, so he seems to be there with you. You will feel like just going to bed. It's so wonderful, going to bed.”

Feels Seems Used Wonderful Bed Husband Widows

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I write in longhand and assemble lots of notes, and then I try to collate them into a coherent chronology. It's like groping along in the dark. I like writing and find it challenging, but I don't find it easy.”

Writing Trying Easy Challenges Dark Notes Chronology

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I wrote a novel called "Blonde," which is about Norma Jean Baker, who becomes Marilyn Monroe, which I called a fictitious biography. That uses the material as if it were myth - that Marilyn Monroe is like this mythical figure in our culture.”

Ifs Use Culture Novel Figures Materials Myth Biographies Blonde Bakers

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“I've always been interested in writing about people, including young children who are not able to speak for themselves. As in my novel 'Black Water,' I provide a voice for someone who has died and can't speak for herself.”

People Writing Children Able Young Speak Black Voice Water Novel Died Including Young Children

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“If a book I've committed myself to review turns out to be 'disappointing' I make an effort to present it objectively to the reader, including a good number of excerpts from the text, so that the reader might form his or her own opinion independent of my own.”

Ifs Book Might Form Turns My Own Numbers Effort Opinion Reader Independent Including Committed Reviews Disappointing

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“If my favorite, most comfortable place is by our fireplace in cold weather, expedient places are on an airplane, in a waiting room or even waiting in line; frequently these days, while on the phone having been 'put on hold.'”

Ifs Waiting Lines Rooms Cold Comfortable My Favorite Phones Weather These Days Airplane Fireplaces Cold Weather Waiting Rooms Waiting In Line

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“If you're living with a scientist, you see the world differently than you do with a humanist. It's in some ways very subtle, the differences in perceiving reality.”

Ifs World Way Reality Differences Scientist Subtle Humanist

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Mark Twain was very unhappy with himself for various reasons. He was very unhappy with America of this time. He thought it was terrible we had no anti-lynching laws, and he was also a feminist, and he was also very concerned with anti-Semitism. He was a good man, but he was hard on himself.”

Men Hard Reason America Law Terrible Concerned Mark Feminist Various Unhappy Good Man Anti Semitism Lynching

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Most people think that a widow is inhabiting some elegiac world of - it's like Mozart's 'Requiem Mass.' You know, it's very beautiful and elevated thoughts and some measure of dignity. I didn't have that experience at all. I had one pratfall after another.”

People Thinking Knows World Beautiful Mass Dignity Widows Very Beautiful Requiem

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“My grandmother could never have written a memoir, so 'The Gravedigger's Daughter' is a homage to her life, and to the lives of other young women of her generation, which are so rarely articulated.”

Young Written Generations Daughter Memoir Grandmother Young Women My Grandmother Lives Of Others Homage Gravediggers

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“My own way of writing is very meditated and, despite my reputation, rather slow-moving. So I do spend a good deal of time contemplating endings. The final ending is usually arrived at simply by intuition.”

Way Writing Moving My Own Deals Finals Intuition Reputation Despite Contemplating

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“My students often say, "My roommate read this story and really liked it", and it's hard to convince them that there are things wrong with it. I say, "well, people who love you want you to be happy. But I'm your professor and I'm supposed to be teaching you something."”

People Want Wells Hard Stories Teaching Love You Students Supposed To Be Convince Professors Roommate

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.”

Way Writing Stories Opportunity Too Much Witness Affected Personal Life Bearing Witness

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Novels usually evolve out of 'character.' Characters generate stories, and the shape of a novel is entirely imagined but should have an aesthetic coherence.”

Should Character Stories Novel Shapes Should Have Evolve Aesthetic Coherence

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Often in gothic novels there's a large house, an estate, and it's symbolic of that culture. Usually it's sort of moldering or rotted or something, and sometimes it's a whole community.”

Sometimes Whole Culture House Community Novel Estates Gothic Symbolic

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“People have libraries at home, they have bookshelves, they have CDs. And they sort of try, people try to bring great artists into their lives, into their physical houses and sort of live with portions of them. But they're not really deeply engaging with them.”

People Trying Home Artist House Library Portions Engaging Cds Great Artist Bookshelves

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“People who are disenfranchised politically and people who are poor often don't vote. They often don't elect politicians, so the politicians who are supporting them are really being very charitable, because they're not going to give them billions of dollars in campaign funds.”

People Giving Poor Politician Vote Dollars Billions Campaigns Fund Charitable Disenfranchised

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Primarily, 'Black Girl/White Girl' is the story of two very different, yet somehow 'fated' girls; for Genna, her 'friendship' with Minette is the most haunting of her life, though it is one-sided and ends in tragedy.”

Two Different Ends Stories Girl Black White Tragedy Haunting One Sided Black Girl White Girl

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

About the Author

Born: June 16, 1938
Known for: Author
Quotes: 500

Related Topics

Writing Ifs People Thinking Art Knows Novel Might Way Book

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Conversations with Joyce Carol OatesRelated source material

(Woman) writer: occasions and opportunitiesRelated source material

The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, ArtRelated source material

BlondeRelated source material

I Am No One You Know: And Other StoriesRelated source material

On BoxingRelated source material

A Fair MaidenRelated source material

The AccursedRelated source material

Foxfire: confessions of a girl gangRelated source material

The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982Related source material

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