Joyce Carol Oates 'What Doesn' T Exist, Is Everything
Jodelis Diaz
Joyce Carol Oates is a very distinguished American writer but is known worldwide. She has produced novels, plays, short stories, and poetry. Oates is known for dark stories, brutality that her characters endure, and how she puts her personal life into these stories. Four sources that I have provided show how her stories connect with her life and why they are so dark. My first source, “The ‘I,’ Which doesn’t Exist, is Everything” written by Jonne V. Creighton gives in depth information about her family background and as to why her stories are so dark. In this article, Oates says it because it “is part of her literal and psychic inheritance” (Creighton) that is why her work is so dark. Also, her family past had a violent history, her great-grandfather attempted to kill his wife and then kills himself at the end, her maternal grandfather was murdered in a brawl and her paternal grandfather abandoned her father and grandmother when he was young boy. My second source, …show more content…
Understanding Joyce Carol Oates by Greg Johnson gives his interpretation of Oates writing and stories. My third source, Joyce Carol Oates Interview by the National Book Award was an interesting interview with Oates, where she explains her process of writing her novels and her many inspirations. One of her biggest inspiration is her parents because of what they went endured especially through the Great Depression and that is why many of her stories are based in that time frame. My fourth source, Current Biography written by H.W Wilson gives specific details to Oates journey in writing. It also gives events in Oates life that she puts in her first Novels. She featured the city of Detroit where she and her husband lived and encountered the racial tensions the city had at the time and where they lived close to the looting and burning of summer 1967. Reading all of these sources, I have really gained respect for Oates and her writing. Her life story is so interesting to me and I am fascinated on how she can incorporate her life into these stories and is able to gain such a big audience.
Oates also has a fascination with researching professional professions like lawyers, doctors, politics etc. She incorporates her interests into several of her writings. The Assassins: Book of Horrors(1975) is about political corruption, and how a politician gets murdered. Oates also wrote a story based on a real politician Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the novel Black Water (1992). It was about a female campaign worker who drowned in the passenger seat of a car from a drunk driver who drove the car in a lake. Another famous novel, Angel of Light (1981) is more toward a psychological aspect where siblings seek to avenge their father’s death. (H. Wilson)
As I mentioned before, Oates ties in her life with her works. These major books that Oates has written, she has interestedly combined her life or the life of other close to her and has caught my attention. One Novel Marya:A life (1987) is about a woman journalist who confronts her childhood molester, which happens to be her cousin and also confronts a mother who deserted her. You Must Remember This (1987) is about a teenager girl who has a sexual affair with her uncle. (H. Wilson) When interviewed about these novels she said they were closely related to her life and the lives of her parents. Even though, Oates hasn’t specifically told us what events in her life was in this story, I still find a fascinating that she leaves us with this sense of mystery of what when on in her life. Oates mentions in a lot of her work young females who are interested books who come from a farming environment background just like Oates. She lived on a farm where her love for animals came from during her childhood and that is also the place where she discovered that she wanted to write. (Oates) In another famous novel, American Appetite (1989) she combines the life of her great-grandfather, where a man accidentally kills his wife in an argument. (Creighton). Even though, Oates had events and personal experiences to write these stories she says if it wasn’t for her parents she would have never been the writer that she is today. (Oates)
Oates parents were creative themselves, her dad played the piano and her mom made clothes for the children and was an eye for arranging flowers. Both encouraged Oates to write as a young child on a farm. Her parent’s generation really inspired her to write she says “America has been rather easy to live in since the Depression” (Oates) so her curiosity of what her parents went through really farmed her work into that generation. Her dad especially had an impact on Oates writing. I mention earlier in one of my sources that her family had a violent past but fortunately her father did not continue this violent history. After his father abandoned him, he tried to re-enter into his life and force him to enage in violent activities like fighting but Oates’ dad refused. But he still had a fascination for the “romance of violence” (Creighton) which was boxing. He would take Oates to boxing matches where she developed the love for the sport and ends up writing a novel about the sport Boxing (1987) she says boxing is “ an American sport…in which images of incalculable beauty and violence, desperation and ingenuity, are routinely entwined.” (qtd in Wilson). Another big inspiration of Oates was her first teacher in Buffalo, New York she was a heavy woman who had to manage multiple grades of students in one room that had a fireplace in which she had to manage as well. (Oates) With all these inspirations and experiences in her life to has to come produce many novels.
But with so many novels and novels in the making, there are sure to be critics with the same views or total opposite views.
In one of her short stories, Last Days ( 1984) they said that her work was “ excessive, overdone, and wrought”. (qtd in Wilson) But others argued that it was “one of her strongest” (qtd in Wilson). In Angel of Light, Oates received the same reviews as I read in my sources. One said Angel of Light was “a stunning performance by writer whose power and vision seem to grow each novel… It is.. a psychological study with overtones of classical Greek tragedy, an inquiry into the nature of justice and revenge, a many-layered dissection of love and loyalty and deceit.” (qtd in Wilson), Another critic said in Angel of Light “can have little doubt that Oates is an extremely careful and deliberate craftsman.” (qtd in Johnson). Even though there are more reviews about her work. Oates says she just doesn’t have the time to read reviews and says that it is very distracting.
(Oates)
People also have reviews to say about Oates herself in my fourth source it is mentioned that Oates is “striking-looking and slender, with… dark hair and large, inquiring eyes. A highly attractive woman, she is not photogenic; no photo has ever done her justice to her appearance, which conveys grace and high intelligence.” (qtd in Wilson). In my third source, which is an interview with Joyce Carol Oates also includes video of her interview and old photo of her. I didn’t find her attractive but in her old photos of her as a young woman I did find her very beautiful. I did find her personality somewhat strange. Through the whole interview as I seen in some of the video she had no emotion in her voice. She also said about herself that she is neutral person with “almost no personality” (Oates). Which I find strange with somebody who has so many interesting stories has she does. With so many critics good or bad, Oates is still able to maintain a big audience and her stories continue to capture people’s attention. If it wasn’t for her inspirations and parents encouraging her to write many of her stories wouldn’t have existed. Also, living in Detroit had an impact on Oates’ writing. All these impacts made her stories interesting to me, she is able to incorporate her life in her stories in an interesting way.
Annotated Bibliography Creighton, Jonne V. "“The ‘I,’ Which Doesn’t Exist, Is Everything”." Joyce Carol Oates: Novels of the Middle Years. New York: Twayne, 1992. 1-11. Twayne 's United States Authors Ser. 597. Twayne 's Authors on GVRL. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Creighton writes about Joyce Carol Oates childhood and some of her novels and short stories that were influenced by her childhood and adulthood. Some of her settings in her stories are based on places in her life. For example, some of her stories are based in college setting on where she went to school at. So often, she ties her stories to real life she now says “ it is impossible for me now to extract the historical from the fictional.”8 . Creighton mentions Oates family history and their violent past. Even though Oates father wasn’t violent, he had loved romance of violence like boxing; he would take her boxing games. Creighton also writes Joyce Carol Oates first journey to Hungry where her family is originally from. This information that Creighton writes about can be useful in my writing because now I have some family background on Oates that can help me understand her writing.
Johnson, Greg. "Understanding Joyce Carol Oates." Understanding Joyce Carol Oates. Greg Johnson. University of South Carolina Press, 1987. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz. Vol. 52. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
In this final article that I picked, Greg writes about his understanding of Oates and her writing. He gives specific detail on some of her work and gives his meaning to her way of writing. Not only does he talk about her writing but also her way of teaching. Greg praises Oates and loves her writing and stories. He also mentions occasionally what other people say about her work to what is contrary of his thinking. Greg also mentions why her writing is so dark and violent and it is not only because of her background that is mentioned in the article. This information can help me in my writing because I may not agree with his literary criticism so I can show in my article if I agree or disagree. It gives me information about other perception of Joyce Carol Oates.
"Joyce Carol Oates Interview (page: 6 / 6)." Joyce Carol Oates Interview. National Book Award, 20 May 1997. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
In this interview, a lot of questions were asked to Joyce Carol Oates. She spoke briefly about her family but said they were a big inspiration to her because of what they went through in the Great Depression. She also says that, that time period fascinates her and that’s what a lot of her settings in the stories are from that time. She also speaks about how she became a writer and also a teacher. Her to journey to writing are also spoken about in this interview and how present historical events help her write a story. She mentions what books and author she looks up to and read as a child growing up. All this information can help in my essay because it can make me understand her writing and where she comes from when she is developing her story. Now I have a sense on her point of view of writing these stories.
"Oates, Joyce Carol." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1994): Current Biography Illustrated (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
This article is somewhat the same as my first article, where it talks about Joyce Carol Oates and her family. It also talks about the settings in her stories are based on her true life. This specific article pin points the specific events that had the influence in Oate’s writing. The article also speaks about her siblings and how her sister from birth was in an institution. It talks about Oates experience in Detroit and how it influenced one of her famous stories about racism. It gives various stories and connects it to Oates life. The article briefly speaks about critics and how their Oate’s critic varies with each novel she writes and they mention the stories and some of the criticism that she receives. Explained in the text Oates doesn’t really pay much mind and just continues her work.
Joyce Carol Oates is a very distinguished American writer but is known worldwide. She has produced novels, plays, short stories, and poetry. Oates is known for dark stories, brutality that her characters endure, and how she puts her personal life into these stories. Four sources that I have provided show how her stories connect with her life and why they are so dark. My first source, “The ‘I,’ Which doesn’t Exist, is Everything” written by Jonne V. Creighton gives in depth information about her family background and as to why her stories are so dark. In this article, Oates says it because it “is part of her literal and psychic inheritance” (Creighton) that is why her work is so dark. Also, her family past had a violent history, her great-grandfather attempted to kill his wife and then kills himself at the end, her maternal grandfather was murdered in a brawl and her paternal grandfather abandoned her father and grandmother when he was young boy. My second source, …show more content…
Understanding Joyce Carol Oates by Greg Johnson gives his interpretation of Oates writing and stories. My third source, Joyce Carol Oates Interview by the National Book Award was an interesting interview with Oates, where she explains her process of writing her novels and her many inspirations. One of her biggest inspiration is her parents because of what they went endured especially through the Great Depression and that is why many of her stories are based in that time frame. My fourth source, Current Biography written by H.W Wilson gives specific details to Oates journey in writing. It also gives events in Oates life that she puts in her first Novels. She featured the city of Detroit where she and her husband lived and encountered the racial tensions the city had at the time and where they lived close to the looting and burning of summer 1967. Reading all of these sources, I have really gained respect for Oates and her writing. Her life story is so interesting to me and I am fascinated on how she can incorporate her life into these stories and is able to gain such a big audience.
Oates also has a fascination with researching professional professions like lawyers, doctors, politics etc. She incorporates her interests into several of her writings. The Assassins: Book of Horrors(1975) is about political corruption, and how a politician gets murdered. Oates also wrote a story based on a real politician Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the novel Black Water (1992). It was about a female campaign worker who drowned in the passenger seat of a car from a drunk driver who drove the car in a lake. Another famous novel, Angel of Light (1981) is more toward a psychological aspect where siblings seek to avenge their father’s death. (H. Wilson)
As I mentioned before, Oates ties in her life with her works. These major books that Oates has written, she has interestedly combined her life or the life of other close to her and has caught my attention. One Novel Marya:A life (1987) is about a woman journalist who confronts her childhood molester, which happens to be her cousin and also confronts a mother who deserted her. You Must Remember This (1987) is about a teenager girl who has a sexual affair with her uncle. (H. Wilson) When interviewed about these novels she said they were closely related to her life and the lives of her parents. Even though, Oates hasn’t specifically told us what events in her life was in this story, I still find a fascinating that she leaves us with this sense of mystery of what when on in her life. Oates mentions in a lot of her work young females who are interested books who come from a farming environment background just like Oates. She lived on a farm where her love for animals came from during her childhood and that is also the place where she discovered that she wanted to write. (Oates) In another famous novel, American Appetite (1989) she combines the life of her great-grandfather, where a man accidentally kills his wife in an argument. (Creighton). Even though, Oates had events and personal experiences to write these stories she says if it wasn’t for her parents she would have never been the writer that she is today. (Oates)
Oates parents were creative themselves, her dad played the piano and her mom made clothes for the children and was an eye for arranging flowers. Both encouraged Oates to write as a young child on a farm. Her parent’s generation really inspired her to write she says “America has been rather easy to live in since the Depression” (Oates) so her curiosity of what her parents went through really farmed her work into that generation. Her dad especially had an impact on Oates writing. I mention earlier in one of my sources that her family had a violent past but fortunately her father did not continue this violent history. After his father abandoned him, he tried to re-enter into his life and force him to enage in violent activities like fighting but Oates’ dad refused. But he still had a fascination for the “romance of violence” (Creighton) which was boxing. He would take Oates to boxing matches where she developed the love for the sport and ends up writing a novel about the sport Boxing (1987) she says boxing is “ an American sport…in which images of incalculable beauty and violence, desperation and ingenuity, are routinely entwined.” (qtd in Wilson). Another big inspiration of Oates was her first teacher in Buffalo, New York she was a heavy woman who had to manage multiple grades of students in one room that had a fireplace in which she had to manage as well. (Oates) With all these inspirations and experiences in her life to has to come produce many novels.
But with so many novels and novels in the making, there are sure to be critics with the same views or total opposite views.
In one of her short stories, Last Days ( 1984) they said that her work was “ excessive, overdone, and wrought”. (qtd in Wilson) But others argued that it was “one of her strongest” (qtd in Wilson). In Angel of Light, Oates received the same reviews as I read in my sources. One said Angel of Light was “a stunning performance by writer whose power and vision seem to grow each novel… It is.. a psychological study with overtones of classical Greek tragedy, an inquiry into the nature of justice and revenge, a many-layered dissection of love and loyalty and deceit.” (qtd in Wilson), Another critic said in Angel of Light “can have little doubt that Oates is an extremely careful and deliberate craftsman.” (qtd in Johnson). Even though there are more reviews about her work. Oates says she just doesn’t have the time to read reviews and says that it is very distracting.
(Oates)
People also have reviews to say about Oates herself in my fourth source it is mentioned that Oates is “striking-looking and slender, with… dark hair and large, inquiring eyes. A highly attractive woman, she is not photogenic; no photo has ever done her justice to her appearance, which conveys grace and high intelligence.” (qtd in Wilson). In my third source, which is an interview with Joyce Carol Oates also includes video of her interview and old photo of her. I didn’t find her attractive but in her old photos of her as a young woman I did find her very beautiful. I did find her personality somewhat strange. Through the whole interview as I seen in some of the video she had no emotion in her voice. She also said about herself that she is neutral person with “almost no personality” (Oates). Which I find strange with somebody who has so many interesting stories has she does. With so many critics good or bad, Oates is still able to maintain a big audience and her stories continue to capture people’s attention. If it wasn’t for her inspirations and parents encouraging her to write many of her stories wouldn’t have existed. Also, living in Detroit had an impact on Oates’ writing. All these impacts made her stories interesting to me, she is able to incorporate her life in her stories in an interesting way.
Annotated Bibliography Creighton, Jonne V. "“The ‘I,’ Which Doesn’t Exist, Is Everything”." Joyce Carol Oates: Novels of the Middle Years. New York: Twayne, 1992. 1-11. Twayne 's United States Authors Ser. 597. Twayne 's Authors on GVRL. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Creighton writes about Joyce Carol Oates childhood and some of her novels and short stories that were influenced by her childhood and adulthood. Some of her settings in her stories are based on places in her life. For example, some of her stories are based in college setting on where she went to school at. So often, she ties her stories to real life she now says “ it is impossible for me now to extract the historical from the fictional.”8 . Creighton mentions Oates family history and their violent past. Even though Oates father wasn’t violent, he had loved romance of violence like boxing; he would take her boxing games. Creighton also writes Joyce Carol Oates first journey to Hungry where her family is originally from. This information that Creighton writes about can be useful in my writing because now I have some family background on Oates that can help me understand her writing.
Johnson, Greg. "Understanding Joyce Carol Oates." Understanding Joyce Carol Oates. Greg Johnson. University of South Carolina Press, 1987. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz. Vol. 52. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
In this final article that I picked, Greg writes about his understanding of Oates and her writing. He gives specific detail on some of her work and gives his meaning to her way of writing. Not only does he talk about her writing but also her way of teaching. Greg praises Oates and loves her writing and stories. He also mentions occasionally what other people say about her work to what is contrary of his thinking. Greg also mentions why her writing is so dark and violent and it is not only because of her background that is mentioned in the article. This information can help me in my writing because I may not agree with his literary criticism so I can show in my article if I agree or disagree. It gives me information about other perception of Joyce Carol Oates.
"Joyce Carol Oates Interview (page: 6 / 6)." Joyce Carol Oates Interview. National Book Award, 20 May 1997. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
In this interview, a lot of questions were asked to Joyce Carol Oates. She spoke briefly about her family but said they were a big inspiration to her because of what they went through in the Great Depression. She also says that, that time period fascinates her and that’s what a lot of her settings in the stories are from that time. She also speaks about how she became a writer and also a teacher. Her to journey to writing are also spoken about in this interview and how present historical events help her write a story. She mentions what books and author she looks up to and read as a child growing up. All this information can help in my essay because it can make me understand her writing and where she comes from when she is developing her story. Now I have a sense on her point of view of writing these stories.
"Oates, Joyce Carol." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1994): Current Biography Illustrated (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Sept. 2014.
This article is somewhat the same as my first article, where it talks about Joyce Carol Oates and her family. It also talks about the settings in her stories are based on her true life. This specific article pin points the specific events that had the influence in Oate’s writing. The article also speaks about her siblings and how her sister from birth was in an institution. It talks about Oates experience in Detroit and how it influenced one of her famous stories about racism. It gives various stories and connects it to Oates life. The article briefly speaks about critics and how their Oate’s critic varies with each novel she writes and they mention the stories and some of the criticism that she receives. Explained in the text Oates doesn’t really pay much mind and just continues her work.