“My
theory is that literature is essential to society in the way that dreams are
essential to our lives. We can't live without dreaming - as we can't live
without sleep. We are 'conscious' beings for only a limited period of time,
then we sink back into sleep - the 'unconscious.' It is nourishing, in ways we
can't fully understand.” – Joyce Carol Oates
Yesterday was Oates 84th birthday and
like almost every other day she probably spent 4 hours (or more) writing. The prolific writer said she enjoys the
process as much as the product and puts in the hours accordingly.
Oates, an Upstate New Yorker by birth, attended a
one-room country school as a child and had her first book published in 1963 when
she decided to go to Vanguard Press.
While that one cost some from her own pocket (Vanguard “shares”
publishing costs with the author), it was the last time that sort of thing
happened.
That novel’s success opened the floodgates for
her and since then she’s had more than 40 novels, a number of plays and
novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction published
by the world’s leading publishers. For
those efforts she’s won numerous awards, including a National Book Award for
her novel Them. A terrific writer in all genres, she’s also won
two O. Henry Awards and the National Humanities Medal. Three novels – Black Water, What I Lived For,
and Blonde – along with two of her short
story collections were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Joyce Carol
Oates
Oates
likes to write from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in her own unique style – longhand. Many days she also writes a couple hours in the
evenings.
“I
have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted," she said, "when I've
felt my soul as thin as a playing card…and somehow the activity of writing
changes everything.”
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