Joyce Carol Oates (1938-) Biography
Personal, Addresses, Career, Member, Honors Awards, Writings, Adaptations, Sidelights
(Lauren Kelly, Rosamond Smith)
Personal
Born 1938, in Lockport, NY; Education: Syracuse University, B.A., 1960; University of Wisconsin, M.A., 1961.
Addresses
Office—Council of the Humanities, 223 185 Nassau St., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. Agent—John Hawkins, 71 West 23rd St., New York, NY 10010; (for plays) Peter Franklin, c/o William Morris Agency, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.
Career
Writer. University of Detroit, Detroit, MI, instructor, 1961-65, assistant professor, 1965-67; University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, member of English department faculty, 1967-78; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, writer-in-residence, 1978-81, professor, 1987—, currently Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor in the Humanities.
Member
PEN, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Phi Beta Kappa.
Honors Awards
Mademoiselle college fiction award, 1959, for "In the Old World"; National Endowment for the Arts grants, 1966, 1968; Guggenheim fellowship, 1967; O. Henry Award, 1967, for "In the Region of Ice," 1973, for "The Dead," and 1983, for "My Warszawa"; Rosenthal Award, National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1968, for A Garden of Earthly Delights; National Book Award nomination, 1968, for A Garden of Earthly Delights, and 1969, for Expensive People; National Book Award for fiction, 1970, for them; O. Henry Special Award for Continuing Achievement, 1970 and 1986; Lotos Club Award of Merit, 1975; Pushcart Prize, 1976; Notable Book designation, American Library Association, 1979, Joyce Carol Oates for Unholy Loves; Bellefleur nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize in fiction, 1980; St. Louis Literary Award, 1988; Rhea Award for the short story, Dungannon Foundation, 1990; Alan Swallow Award for fiction, 1990; co-winner, Heidemann Award for one-act plays, 1990; Bobst Award for Lifetime Achievement in Fiction, 1990; National Book Award nomination, 1990, for Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart; National Book Critics Circle Award nomination, and Pulitzer Prize finalist, both 1993, both for Black Water; Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award for horror fiction, Horror Writers of America, 1994; best new play nomination, American Theatre Critics Association, 1994, for The Perfectionist; Pulitzer Prize finalist, 1995, for What I Lived For; Bram Stoker Award, and Fisk Fiction Prize, both 1996, both for Zombie; O. Henry Prize Story, 2001, for "The Girl with the Blackened Eye"; National Book Award, and Pulitzer Prize finalist, both 2001, both for Blonde; Best American Mystery Stories designation, 2002, for "High School Sweetheart"; Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, Tulsa Library Trust, 2002; Common Wealth Literature Award of Distinguished Service, PNC Financial Services Group, 2003.
Writings
FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, HarperTempest (New York, NY), 2002.
Small Avalanches and Other Stories, HarperTempest (New York, NY), 2003.
Freaky Green Eyes, HarperTempest (New York, NY), 2003.
FOR CHILDREN
Come Meet Muffin!, illustrated by Mark Graham, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1998.
Where Is Little Reynard? (picture book), illustrated by Mark Graham, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.
NOVELS
With Shuddering Fall, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1964.
A Garden of Earthly Delights, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1967, revised edition, Random House (New York, NY), 2003.
Expensive People, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1967.
them, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1969, with introduction by Greg Johnson and afterword by Oates, Modern Library (New York, NY), 2000.
Wonderland, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1971, revised, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1992.
Do with Me What You Will, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1973.
The Assassins: A Book of Hours, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1975.
Triumph of the Spider Monkey: The First-Person Confession of the Maniac Bobby Gotteson as Told to Joyce Carol Oates (novella; also see below), Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1976.
Childwold, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1976.
Son of the Morning, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1978.
Unholy Loves, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1979.
Cybele, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1979.
Bellefleur, Dutton (New York, NY), 1980.
Angel of Light, Dutton (New York, NY), 1981.
A Bloodsmoor Romance, Dutton (New York, NY), 1982.
Mysteries of Winterthurn, Dutton (New York, NY), 1984.
Solstice, Dutton (New York, NY), 1985, revised edition, Ontario Review Press (Princeton, NJ), 2000.
Marya: A Life, Dutton (New York, NY), 1986.
You Must Remember This, Dutton (New York, NY), 1987.
American Appetites, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart, Dutton (New York, NY), 1990.
I Lock My Door upon Myself, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1990, revised edition, Ontario Review Press (Princeton, NJ), 2002.
The Rise of Life on Earth, New Directions (New York, NY), 1991.
Black Water, Dutton (New York, NY), 1992.
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, Dutton (New York, NY), 1993.
What I Lived For, Dutton (New York, NY), 1994.
Zombie, Dutton (New York, NY), 1995.
Tenderness, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1996.
We Were the Mulvaneys, Dutton (New York, NY), 1996.
First Love: A Gothic Tale, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1996.
Man Crazy, Dutton (New York, NY), 1997.
My Heart Laid Bare, Dutton (New York, NY), 1998.
Broke Heart Blues, Dutton (New York, NY), 1999.
Blonde, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.
Middle Age: A Romance, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2001.
Beasts, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2002.
I'll Take You There, Ecco (New York, NY), 2002.
The Tattooed Girl, Ecco (New York, NY), 2003.
A Garden of Earthly Delights, Modern Library (New York, NY), 2003.
Rape: A Love Story (novella), Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2003.
The Falls, Ecco (New York, NY), 2004.
(Under pseudonym, Lauren Kelly) Take Me, Take Me with You: A Novel of Suspense, Ecco (New York, NY), 2004.
Sexy, HarperTempest (New York, NY), 2005.
Uncensored: Views and (Re)views, Ecco (New York, NY), 2005.
NOVELS; UNDER PSEUDONYM ROSAMOND SMITH
Lives of the Twins, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1988.
Soul/Mate, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.
Nemesis, Dutton (New York, NY), 1990.
Snake Eyes, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1992.
You Can't Catch Me, Dutton (New York, NY), 1995.
Double Delight, Dutton (New York, NY), 1997.
Starr Bright Will Be with You Soon, Dutton (New York, NY), 1999.
The Barrens, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2001.
SHORT STORIES
By the North Gate, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1963.
Upon the Sweeping Flood and Other Stories, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1966.
The Wheel of Love and Other Stories, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1970.
Marriages and Infidelities, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1972.
The Goddess and Other Women, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1974.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Stories of Young America, Fawcett (New York, NY), 1974, published as Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories, Ontario Review Press (Princeton, NJ), 1993, expanded edition, edited and with an introduction by Elaine Showalter, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ), 1994.
The Hungry Ghosts: Seven Allusive Comedies, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1974.
The Poisoned Kiss and Other Stories from the Portuguese, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1975.
The Seduction and Other Stories, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1975.
Crossing the Border: Fifteen Tales, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1976.
Night Side: Eighteen Tales, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1977.
All the Good People I've Left Behind, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1978.
The Lamb of Abyssalia, Pomegranate (Cambridge, MA), 1980.
A Sentimental Education, Dutton (New York, NY), 1981.
Last Days, Dutton (New York, NY), 1984.
Wild Nights, (limited edition), Croissant (Athens, OH), 1985.
Raven's Wing, Dutton (New York, NY), 1986.
The Assignation, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1988.
Where Is Here?, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1992.
Heat: And Other Stories, Plume (New York, NY), 1992.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1993.
Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque, Dutton (New York, NY), 1994.
Will You Always Love Me? and Other Stories, Dutton (New York, NY), 1995.
The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque, Dutton (New York, NY), 1999.
Faithless: Tales of Transgression, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2001.
I Am No One You Know: Stories, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2004.
POETRY
Women in Love and Other Poems, Albondacani Press (New York, NY), 1968.
Anonymous Sins and Other Poems (also see below), Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1969.
Love and Its Derangements (also see below), Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1970.
Angel Fire (also see below), Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1973.
Dreaming America (limited edition), Aloe Editions, 1973.
Love and Its Derangements and Other Poems (includes Anonymous Sins and Other Poems, Love and Its Derangements, and Angel Fire), Fawcett (New York, NY), 1974.
The Fabulous Beasts, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1975.
Season of Peril, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1977.
Women Whose Lives Are Food, Men Whose Lives Are Money, illustrated by Elizabeth Hansell, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1978.
The Stepfather (limited edition), Lord John Press (Northridge, CA), 1978.
Celestial Timepiece (limited edition), Pressworks (Dallas, TX), 1981.
Invisible Woman: New and Selected Poems, 1970-1972, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1982.
The Luxury of Sin (limited edition), Lord John Press (Northridge, CA), 1983.
The Time Traveler, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.
Tenderness, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1996.
NONFICTION
The Edge of Impossibility: Tragic Forms in Literature, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1972.
The Hostile Sun: The Poetry of D. H. Lawrence, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1973.
New Heaven, New Earth: The Visionary Experience in Literature, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1974.
Contraries: Essays, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1981.
The Profane Art: Essays and Reviews, Dutton (New York, NY), 1983.
(Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities, Dutton (New York, NY), 1988.
Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates, edited by Lee Milazzo, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 1989.
On Boxing, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1987, expanded edition, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1994.
Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going: Essays, Reviews, and Prose, Plume (New York, NY), 1999.
The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2003.
PLAYS
The Sweet Enemy, produced off-Broadway, 1965.
Sunday Dinner, produced off-Broadway, 1970.
Ontological Proof of My Existence, (produced off-off-Broadway, 1972), published in Partisan Review, Volume 37, 1970.
Miracle Play, Black Sparrow Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1974.
Three Plays, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1980.
Presque Isle, produced in New York, NY, 1984.
Triumph of the Spider Monkey, produced at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 1985.
American Holiday, produced at Los Angeles Theatre Academy, 1990.
In Darkest America: Two Plays, Samuel French (New York, NY), 1991.
I Stand before You Naked, (produced in New York, NY; also see below), Samuel French (New York, NY), 1991.
How Do You Like Your Meat? (also see below), produced in New Haven, CT, 1991.
Twelve Plays, Plume (New York, NY), 1991.
Black, produced at the Williamstown Summer Festival, 1992.
Gulf War, produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, 1992.
The Secret Mirror, produced in Philadelphia, PA, 1992.
The Rehearsal, produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre, 1993.
The Perfectionist (also see below; produced in Princeton, NJ, 1993), published in The Perfectionist, and Other Plays, 1995.
The Truth-Teller, Circle Rep Play-in-Progress, 1993.
The Perfectionist, and Other Plays, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1995.
HERE SHE IS!, produced in Philadelphia, PA, 1995.
New Plays, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1998.
EDITOR OR COMPILER
Scenes from American Life: Contemporary Short Fiction, Random House (New York, NY), 1973.
(With Shannon Ravenel) Best American Short Stories of 1979, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1979.
Night Walks, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1982.
First-Person Singular: Writers on Their Craft, Ontario Review Press (New York, NY), 1983.
(With Boyd Litzinger) Story: Fictions Past and Present (textbook), Heath (Lexington, MA), 1985.
(With Daniel Halpern) Reading the Fights: The Best Writing about the Most Controversial of Sports, Holt (New York, NY), 1988.
The Best American Essays, Ticknor & Fields (New York, NY), 1991.
(With Daniel Halpern) The Sophisticated Cat: A Gathering of Stories, Poems, and Miscellaneous Writings about Cats, Dutton (New York, NY), 1992.
The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1992.
George Bellows: American Artist, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1995.
(Author of foreword) David Robinson, Saving Graces: Images of Women in European Cemeteries, Norton (New York, NY), 1995.
The Essential Dickinson, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1996.
American Gothic Tales, Plume (New York, NY), 1996.
Story: The Art and the Craft of Narrative Fiction, Norton (New York, NY), 1997.
The Best of H. P. Lovecraft, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 1997.
(With R. V. Cassill) The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, Norton (New York, NY), 1997.
(Also author of introduction) Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers, Norton (New York, NY), 1997.
(With Janet Berliner) Snapshots: Twentieth-Century Mother-Daughter Fiction, David R. Godine (Boston, MA), 2000.
The Best American Essays of the Century, Houghton (Boston, MA), 2000.
The Best New American Voices 2003, Harvest (San Diego, CA), 2002.
Contributor of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction to periodicals, including New York Times Book Review, New York Times Magazine, New York Review of Books, New Yorker, Harper's, Times Literary Supplement, Michigan Quarterly Review, Mademoiselle, Vogue, Hudson Review, Paris Review, Grand Street, Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, and Esquire. Editor, with husband, Raymond Smith, of Ontario Review.
Most of Oates's manuscripts, including her ongoing journal, are housed in Special Collections, Syracuse University Library.
Adaptations
Oates's short story "In the Region of Ice" was made into an Academy Award-winning short feature, c. 1970s; "Daisy" was adapted for the stage by Victoria Rue and produced off-off-Broadway, 1980; the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" was adapted for the screen as SmoothTalk, directed by Joyce Chopra and produced by Martin Rosen, Spectrafilm, 1981; the story "Norman and the Killer" was made into a short feature; an opera based on Black Water was developed by the American Music Festival Theatre, Philadelphia, with composer John Duffy, 1996; Foxfire was adapted as a motion picture, 1996; Getting to Know You, a film based on Oates's 1992 short-story collection Heat, was released, 2000; We Were the Mulvaneys was adapted as a teleplay, Lifetime, 2002. Some of Oates's works were adapted for sound recordings, including the play Black, L.A. Theatre Works, "The Woman Who Laughed," L.A. Theatre Works, 1994, American Appetites, L.A. Theatre Works, 2000, The Best American Essays of the Century, 2001, Middle Age: A Romance, Blonde, and Big Mouth and Ugly Girl.
Sidelights
Joyce Carol Oates is a prolific writer whose works include novels, short stories, criticism, plays, and poetry. Few living writers are as prolific as Oates, whose productivity has been the cause of much commentary in the world of letters. Not a year has gone by since the mid-1960s in which she has not published at least one book; occasionally as many as three have been released in a single year. As a Contemporary Novelists essayist noted, "Oates is a writer who embarks on ambitious projects; her imagination is protean; her energies and curiosity seemingly boundless; and throughout all her writing, the reader detects her sharp intelligence, spirit of inquiry, and her zeal to tell a story." Although many of her adult works feature teen-aged protagonist, in 2002 Oates addressed herself to teen readers with the novel Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, and has also published the picture books Where Is Little Reynard? and Come Meet Muffin for even younger readers. Other novels for young adults include Freaky Green Eyes and Sexy, the last a story about an emotionally confused high schooler who participates in a hoax that threatens to destroy his English teachers's career.
Born into a working-class family, Oates grew up in rural Erie County, New York, spending a great deal of time at her grandparents' farm. She attended a one-room school as a child and developed a love for reading and writing at an early age. By age fifteen, she had completed her first novel and submitted it for publication, only to discover that those who read it found it too depressing for younger readers. Oates graduated from Syracuse University in 1960 and earned her master's degree the following year at the University of Wisconsin. It was at Wisconsin that she met and married her husband, Raymond Joseph Smith, with whom she has edited the Ontario Review. The newlyweds moved to Detroit, where Oates taught at the University of Detroit between 1961 and 1967. After one of her stories was anthologized in the Best American Short Stories, she decided to devote herself to creative writing.
One of Oates's most popular and representative short stories is "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Frequently anthologized, the story first appeared in 1966 and is considered by many to be a masterpiece of the short form. Relating the sexual awakening of a teenage girl by a mysterious older man through circumstances that assume strange and menacing proportions, it is a study in the peril that lurks beneath the surface of everyday life. With an eye to teen readers, Small Avalanches and Other Stories collects several of Oates's previously published stories for adults as well as new material. The collected twelve stories each deal with young people taking risks and dealing with the consequences that follow. As with her adult fiction, Oates maintains her dark tone; as School Library Journal reviewer Allison Follos observed, each of the tales has "a slow, deliberate, and unsettling current," while James Neal Webb noted in a BookPage.com review that the author's "trademark is her ability to tap, uncontrived, into the danger that's implicit in everyday life."
Oates explores another genre with Bellefleur, A Bloodsmoor Romance, and Mysteries of Winterthurn, which together serve as an homage to old-fashioned Gothic novels. While these novels feature many of the stock elements of conventional Gothics, including ghosts, haunted mansions, and mysterious deaths, the plots are also tied to actual events. Though fanciful in form, they are serious in purpose and examine such sensitive issues as crimes against women, children, and the poor, as well as the role of family history in shaping destiny. Bellefleur, for example, is a five-part novel that presents the saga of a rich and rapacious American family that is haunted by a family curse. Interwoven with the family's tale are real people from the nineteenth century, including abolitionist John Brown and U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, the latter who in the novel fakes his own assassination in order to escape the pressures of public life.
Oates's 1993 novel Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang recounts in retrospect the destructive sisterhood of a group of teenage girls in the 1950s. The story is pieced together from former Foxfire gang member Maddy Wirtz's memories and journal and takes place in the industrial New York town of Hammond. The gang, led by the very charismatic and very angry Legs Sadovsky, directs its energy at men, the enemy force Legs perceives as responsible for the degradation and ruin of the girls' mothers and friends. The members celebrate their bond to one another by branding each others' shoulders with tattoos. However, as they lash out with sex and violence against teachers and father figures, they "become demons themselves—violent and conniving and exuberant in their victories over the opposite sex," wrote Los Angeles Times Book Review contributor Cynthia Kadohata. Acknowledging to New York Times Book Review critic Lynn Karpen that Foxfire is one of her most overtly feminist books, Oates explained that she wanted to show that although "the bond of sisterhood can be very deep and emotionally gratifying," it is a fleeting, fragile bond.
Oates' first YA novel, Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, focuses on sixteen-year-old high schoolers Matt Donaghy and Ursula Riggs. The two begin a romance after Matt's poor decision to make a joke to his friends about a school massacre results in a police investigation and Matt's ostracism by most of his classmates. Ursulla, an ungainly but capable athlete whose view of herself as ugly keeps her withdrawn from most of her fellow students, takes a public stand by coming to Matt's defense, despite the fact that she barely knows him. "Oates shows the same skill in portraying family dynamics and violence that she has in her adult fiction," commented Paula Rohrlick in her Kliatt review of the book.
Prompting several critics to compare its storyline to the events resulting in the O. J. Simpson trial of the early 1990s, Freaky Green Eyes also focuses on a teenaged girl who must make a choice about whether action is better than inaction. Francesca "Frankie" Pierson is the daughter of a wealthy but abusive sportscaster whom she idolizes. When her mother seems to intentionally provoke Frankie's father to anger by drifting away from the family, the teen becomes resentful, but after her mother disappears altogether Frankie is forced to view the relationship between her parents—as well as her own role in the dynamic of control and violence—in a new way. Praising Oates' for creating a "strong, intelligent young woman" protagonist, Kliatt reviewer Claire Rosser dubbed Freaky Green Eyes a "suspenseful story" in which the unfolding drama is "grippingly realistic." A Kirkus Reviews contributor described the novel as a "quietly gripping, beautifully written, impeccably paced psychological thriller," while in Publishers Weekly a reviewer wrote that Oates "builds the mounting tension masterfully, crafting a fast-paced narrative that will haunt readers."
While Oates plans to continue to write for teen readers, she explained to Publishers Weekly interviewer Kate Pavao that young-adult novels would not be a primary focus. "It's probably like a cook, a chef who makes a certain meal and really puts all he has into it," she explained; "then he won't make that meal again for a long time." Still, Oates continues to gravitate to teen characters in her writing for older readers; as she told Pavao, "Adults can live with compromises in a way that children and adolescents find grating. I'm just very drawn to the adolescent personality."
Biographical and Critical Sources
BOOKS
Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 15, 1987, Volume 52, 2003.
Bender, Eileen, Joyce Carol Oates, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1987.
Bloom, Harold, editor, Modern Critical Views: Joyce Carol Oates, Chelsea House (New York, NY), 1987.
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 1, 1973, Volume 2, 1974, Volume 3, 1975, Volume 6, 1976, Volume 9, 1978, Volume 11, 1979, Volume 15, 1980, Volume 19, 1981, Volume 33, 1985, Volume 52, 1989, Volume 108, 1998.
Contemporary Novelists, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2001.
Contemporary Poets, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.
Contemporary Popular Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1997.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 2: American Novelists since World War II, 1978, Volume 5: American Poets since World War II, 1980, Volume 130: American Short Story Writers since World War II, 1993.
Johnson, Greg, Joyce Carol Oates: A Study of the Short Fiction, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1994.
Johnson, Greg, Invisible Writer: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates, Dutton (New York, NY), 1998.
Mayer, Sigrid, and Martha Hanscom, The Reception of Joyce Carol Oates's and Gabriele Wohlmann's Short Fiction, Camden House (Columbia, SC), 1998.
Modern American Literature, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1997.
Reference Guide to American Literature, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.
Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.
St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1998.
Short Story Criticism, Volume 6, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990.
Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1990.
PERIODICALS
America, March 16, 1996, p. 18; November 17, 2003, Richard Fusco, review of A Garden of Earthly Delights, p. 19.
American Literature, September, 1997, p. 642.
Atlantic Monthly, October, 1969; December, 1973; September, 1997, p. 118.
Book, March, 2001, Susan Tekulve, review of Faithless: Tales of Transgression, p. 70; May, 2001, p. 42; November-December, 2001, Beth Kephart, review of Middle Age: A Romance, p. 65.
Booklist, April 15, 1998, Brad Hooper, review of My Heart Laid Bare, p. 1357; July, 1999, Donna Seaman, review of Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going: Essays, Reviews, and Prose, p. 1917; January 1, 2000, Donna Seaman, review of Blonde, p. 835; February 1, 2001, Donna Seaman, review of Faithless, p. 1020; July, 2001, Carol Haggas, review of Middle Age, p. 1952; October 1, 2001, Donna Seaman, review of Beasts, p. 300; August, 2002, Donna Seaman, review of I'll Take You There, p. 1886; March 1, 2003, Joanne Wilkenson, review of The Tattooed Girl, p. 1108; March 15, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Small Avalanches, and Other Stories, p. 1323; September 1, 2003, John Peters, review of Where Is Little Reynard?, p. 130; December 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 660.
Chicago Tribune Book World, September 30, 1979; July 27, 1980; January 11, 1981; August 16, 1981; February 26, 1984; August 12, 1984; January 13, 1985; February 23, 1986.
Choice, March, 1997, p. 1160.
Christian Century, January 13, 2004, p. 7.
Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), February 11, 1984; April 25, 1987.
Horn Book, November-December, 2003, Roger Sutton, review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 752; March-April, 2005, Lauren Adams, review of Sexy, p. 206.
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2002, review of I'll Take You There, p. 1855; April 1, 2003, review of The Tattooed Girl, p. 501, and Where Is Little Reynard?, p. 1201; September 1, 2003, review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 1128; February 15, 2005, review of Sexy, p. 235.
Kliatt, July, 2003, Paula Rohrlick, review of Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, p. 25; September, 2003, Claire Rosser, review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 10; May, 2004, Susan Allison, review of Small Avalanches, and Other Stories, p. 31; November, 2004, Janet Julian, review of Freaky Green Eyes p. 47; March, 2005, Michele Winship, review of Sexy, p. 15.
Library Journal, August 1996, p. 113; August, 1999, Nancy Patterson Shires, review of Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going, p. 89; August, 2000, Mary Jones, review of The Best American Essays of the Century, p. 102; April 1, 2001, Caroline Mann, review of The Barrens, p. 133; July, 2001, Rebecca Bollen, review of Faithless, p. 74; August, 2001, Josh Cohen, review of Middle Age, p. 164; September 15, 2001, Rochelle Ratner, review of We Were the Mulvaneys, p. 130; October 1, 2001, review of Beasts, p. 143; September 15, 2002, Rachel Collins, review of I'll Take You There, p. 93.
Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1981; February 18, 1986; October 13, 1986; November 7, 1986; August 7, 1987; January 31, 1988; July 21, 1988; December 9, 1988; April 16, 1990l April 15, 2003, Josh Cohen, review of The Tattooed Girl, p. 126; October 1, 2003, Marianne Orme, review of The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art, p. 75; January, 2004, Josh Cohen, review of Rape, p. 159; February 1, 2004, Joshua Cohen, review of I Am No One You Know, p. 126; March 1, 2004, Rochelle Ratner, review of The Tattooed Girl, p. 126.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 12, 1980; September 19, 1982; January 8, 1984; September 30, 1984; January 6, 1985; March 1, 1987; August 16, 1987; January 15, 1989; May 10, 1992; August 22, 1993; October 22, 1995, p. 6; January 26, 2003, Stanley Crouch, "Picking up Where Faulkner Left Off," p. 3.
Nation, July 2, 1990, pp. 27-29.
New Leader, January-February, 2002, Brooke Allen, review of Beasts, p. 28.
New Statesman, January 27, 2003, Vicky Hutchings, review of I'll Take You There, p. 55; January 19, 2004, Helena Echlin, review of The Tattooed Girl, p. 55.
Newsweek, September 29, 1969; March 23, 1970; August 17, 1981; September 20, 1982; February 6, 1984; January 21, 1985; March 24, 1986; March 9, 1987; August 17, 1987; April 10, 2000, David Gates, "Goodbye, Norma Jeane," p. 76.
New Yorker, December 6, 1969; October 15, 1973; October 5, 1981; September 27, 1982; February 27, 1984.
New York Review of Books, December 17, 1964; January 2, 1969; October 21, 1971; January 24, 1974; October 21, 1982; August 16, 1990; December 21, 1995, p. 32; September 15, 1996, p. 11; September 21, 1997, p. 10.
New York Times, September 5, 1967; December 7, 1968; October 1, 1969; October 16, 1971; June 12, 1972; October 15, 1973; July 20, 1980; August 6, 1981; September 18, 1982; February 10, 1984; January 10, 1985; February 20, 1986; February 10, 1987; March 2, 1987; March 4, 1987; August 10, 1987; April 23, 1988; December 21, 1988; March 30, 1990; August 29, 2003, Michiko Kakutani, "Child of Hell Is Plague on His House."
New York Times Book Review, November 10, 1963; October 25, 1964; September 10, 1967; November 3, 1968; September 28, 1969; October 25, 1970; October 24, 1971; July 9, 1972; April 1, 1973; October 14, 1973; August 31, 1975; November 26, 1978; April 29, 1979; July 15, 1979; October 7, 1979; July 20, 1980; January 4, 1981; March 29, 1981; August 16, 1981; July 11, 1982; September 5, 1982; February 12, 1984; August 5, 1984; January 20, 1985; August 11, 1985; March 2, 1986; October 5, 1986; March 15, 1987; August 16, 1987; January 3, 1988; October 2, 1988; January 1, 1989; January 15, 1989; June 4, 1989, p. 16; May 10, 1992; August 15, 1993; February 13, 1994, p. 34; October 16, 1994, p. 7; October 8, 1995, p. 13; March 10, 1996, p. 7; March 7, 1999, Margot Livesey, "Jellyfish for Dinner Again?," p. 29; September 16, 2001, Claire Dederer, "AARP Recruits," p. 7; January 6, 2002, Amy Benfer, review of Beasts, p. 16; May 19, 2002, Lois Metzger, review of Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, p. 32; July 13, 2003, Sophie Harrison, "Now I Have Saved Her," p. 15.
Observer (London, England), August 27, 1989.
Publishers Weekly, June 24, 1996, p. 44; August 5, 1996, p. 430; April 20, 1998, review of My Heart Laid Bare, p. 45; May 17, 1999, review of Broke Heart Blues, p. 55; June 28, 1999, review of Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going, p. 68; February 14, 2000, review of Blonde, p. 171, "PW Talks with Joyce Carol Oates," p. 172; June 5, 2000, review of Blonde, p. 61; January 29, 2001, review of Faithless, p. 65; March 26, 2001, review of The Barrens, p. 60; August 13, 2001, review of Middle Age, p. 284; October 22, 2001, review of Beasts, p. 43; April 22, 2002, review of Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, p. 71; August 26, 2002, Rachel Collins, review of I'll Take You There, p. 93; February 10, 2003, review of Small Avalanches, and Other Stories, p. 189; April 21, 2003, review of The Tattooed Girl, p. 36; September 15, 2003, Kate Pavao, interview with Oates, p. 65, and review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 66; November 24, 2003, review of Rape, p. 41; February 2, 2004, review of I Am No One You Know, p. 57.
Saturday Review, October 26, 1963; November 28, 1964; August 5, 1967; October 26, 1968; November 22, 1969; October 24, 1970; June 10, 1972; November 4, 1972; August, 1981; March-April, 1985.
School Library Journal, July, 2003, Allison Follos, review of Small Avalanches and Other Stories, p. 134; September, 2003, Amy Lilien-Harper, review of Where Is Little Reynard?, p. 186; October, 2003, Fransisca Goldsmith, review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 174; September, 2004, Jane P. Fenn, review of Freaky Green Eyes, p. 79.
Time, January 3, 1964; November 1, 1968; October 26, 1970; August 25, 1980; August 17,1981; October 4, 1982; February 23, 1987; August 31, 1987; January 9, 1989; April 17, 2000, Paul Gray, "The Anatomy of an Icon," p. 82.
Times Literary Supplement, June 4, 1970; January 11, 1974; September 12, 1980; March 20, 1981; January 29, 1982; January 28, 1983; July 20, 1984; March 22, 1985; October 18, 1985; January 16, 1987; December 18, 1987; February 14, 1988; September 15, 1989; August 13, 1993, p. 19.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), March 1, 1987; July 19, 1987; April 18, 1988; December 18, 1988; April 15, 1990; March 10, 1996; November 5, 1996, pp. 3, 5.
Washington Post Book World, February 22, 1981; August 16, 1981; September 30, 1984; January 6, 1985; February 23, 1986; November 30, 1986; March 8, 1987; January 8, 1989; April 8, 1990.
World Literature Today, autumn, 1996, pp. 959-960; winter, 2001, Rita D. Jacobs, review of Blonde, p. 115; summer, 2003, James Knudson, review of Faithless, p. 92.
Writer, October, 2001, "Joyce Carol Oates," p. 66; January, 2004, Chuck Leddy, review of The Faith of a Writer, p. 45.
Writer's Digest, February, 2001, Katie Struckel, "Find Identity with Joyce Carol Oates," p. 22.
ONLINE
BookPage.com, http://www.bookpage.com/ (September 1, 2003), James Neal Webb, review of Small Avalanches and Other Stories. *
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