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Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

Author

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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All Writing Ifs People Thinking Art Knows Novel Might Way Book Stories Voice Men Self World Feels Reading Seems Humans Kind

Famous Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

“Vividly imagined, beautifully written, at times almost unbearably suspenseful-the stories in Kristiana Kahakauwila's debut collection, This Is Paradise, are boldly inventive in their exploration of the tenuous nature of human relations. These are poignant stories of 'paradise'-Hawai'i-with all that 'paradise' entails of the transience of sensuous beauty.”

Humans Stories Written Relation Paradise Collections Exploration Human Relations Poignant Debut Sensuous Transience

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Stories come to us as wraiths requiring precise embodiments.”

Stories Precise Embodiment Wraith

Book:The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art

Source: The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art

“Though I am never exactly "blocked" I do have difficult periods. I am led by a fascination with material - the challenge of presenting it in an original and engaging way. I have no problem imagining stories, characters, distinctive settings & themes - but the difficulty is choosing a voice & a language in which to present it.”

“Characters begin as voices, then gain presence by being viewed in others' eyes. Characters define one another in dramatic contexts. It is often very exciting, when characters meet - out of their encounters, unanticipated stories can spring.”

Character Stories Eye Voice Spring Gains Exciting Dramatic Encounters

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Because the meaning of a story does not lie on its surface, visible and self-defining, does not mean that meaning does not exist. Indeed, the ambiguity of meaning, its inner private quality, may well be part of the writer's vision.”

Wells May Mean Doe Self Stories Lying Quality Vision Surface Visible Defining Ambiguity

Book:The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

Source: The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

“I feel akin to [William] Shakespeare in the sense that, as I see it, he lived to dramatize the unfailingly exciting, unfathomably strange interplay among human beings that constitutes "scenes" in his plays, and constitutes "story" in prose fiction.”

Feels Humans Play Stories Human Beings Fiction Strange Scene Exciting Prose

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“It is important for me to discover the ideal title, for without this title the story or novel isn't quite in focus.”

Important Stories Novel Focus Ideals Titles

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“Only when you have completed a novel, or a story, can you return to the beginning and revise or rewrite.”

Stories Novel Return

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“If Shakespeare's great plays are variants of stories, even novels, you can see how each character is telling his story from his perspective; each is vying with the others for dominance, but in the end, in tragedy, most of these voices will die, to be replaced by the yet more vigorous voice of a younger generation.”

Ifs Ends Play Character Stories Dies Voice Novel Generations Perspective Tragedy Replaced Vigorous Dominance Younger Generation

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“In a sense, I may not consciously know what I'm doing. I feel that I'm telling a story. I'm a kind of medium by which something is transmitted.”

Knows Feels Kind May Stories Mediums

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“No, the thing is, we all love storytelling, and as a writer you get to tell stories all the time.”

Stories Storytelling

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

“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

“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

“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

“When I complete a novel I set it aside, and begin work on short stories, and eventually another long work. When I complete that novel I return to the earlier novel and rewrite much of it. In the meantime the second novel lies in a desk drawer.”

Long Stories Lying Novel Return Short Story Desks Drawers

Book:Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

Source: Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates

“I can't imagine a mental life, a spiritual existence, not inextricably bound up with language of a formal, mediated nature. Telling stories, choosing an appropriate language with which to tell the story: This seems to me quintessentially human, one of the great adventures of our species.”

Writing Humans I Can Stories Seems Spiritual Language Existence Imagine Adventure Species Bounds Appropriate Formal Telling Stories Great Adventure

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

About the Author

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

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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