Joyce Carol Oates

A good, sympathetic review is always a wonderful surprise. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#good #review #surprise #sympathetic #wonderful

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. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#continuing #deranged #feel #feeling #i

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

— Joyce Carol Oates

#biography #considered #contains #degree #fiction

A writer can't subtract or excise any of his/her past because doing so would erase the work produced during that time. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#because #doing #during #erase #her

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. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#after #away #been #could #felt

Anyone who teaches knows that you don't really experience a text until you've taught it, in loving detail, with an intelligent and responsive class. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#class #detail #experience #intelligent #knows

Before you can write a novel you have to have a number of ideas that come together. One idea is not enough. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#come #enough #idea #ideas #novel

Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#boxing #celebration #lost #masculinity #more

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. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#conversational #criticism #essay #even #fiction

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. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#awards #books #degrees #encouragement #encouraging