Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author. Raised in rural, working-class New York, Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novel them (1969) won the National Book Award, and her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000) were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. With a reputation for prolificity, Oates has been one of the leading American novelists since the 1960s.
Oates has also written under the pseudonyms Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Easton Press Joyce Carol Oates books
Them - signed modern classic - 2002A Widow's Story - signed first edition - 2011
Franklin Library Joyce Carol Oates books
Them - signed limited edition - 1979Bellefleur - limited first edition ( not signed ) - 1980
Mysteries of Winterthurn - signed first edition - 1984
Marya: A life - signed first edition - 1986
You must remember this - signed first edition - 1987
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang - signed first edition - 1993
Will you always Love me? - signed first edition - 1996
Broke Heart Blues - signed first edition - 1999
Blonde - signed first edition - 2000
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Author Joyce Carol Oates
Oates was born in Lockport, New York to Carolina Oates, a homemaker, and Frederic Oates, a tool and die designer. She was raised Catholic, but is now an atheist. Oates grew up in the working-class farming community of Millersport, New York, and characterized hers as "a happy, close-knit and unextraordinary family for our time, place and economic status". Her paternal grandmother, Blanche, lived with the family and was "very close" to Joyce. After Blanche's death, Joyce learned that Blanche's father had killed himself and Blanche had subsequently concealed her Jewish heritage; Oates eventually drew on aspects of her grandmother's life in writing the 2007 novel The Gravedigger's Daughter. A brother, Fred Junior, was born in 1943, and a sister, Lynn Ann, who is severely autistic, was born in 1956.At the beginning of her education, Oates attended the same one-room school her mother attended as a child. She became interested in reading at an early age, and remembers Blanche's gift of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as "the great treasure of my childhood, and the most profound literary influence of my life. This was love at first sight!" In her early teens, she devoured the writing of William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway, Charlotte Brontë, and Emily Brontë, whose "influences remain very deep". Oates began writing at the age of 14, when Blanche gave her a typewriter. Oates later transferred to several bigger, suburban schools, and graduated from Williamsville South High School in 1956, where she worked for her high school newspaper. She was the first in her family to complete high school.
Oates won a scholarship to attend Syracuse University, where she joined Phi Mu, a financially draining experience she later regretted. Oates found Syracuse "a very exciting place academically and intellectually", and trained herself by "writing novel after novel and always throwing them out when I completed them." It was not until this point that Oates began reading the work of D. H. Lawrence, Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Mann, and Franz Kafka, though, she noted, "these influences are still quite strong, pervasive." At the age of nineteen, she won the "college short story" contest sponsored by Mademoiselle. Oates graduated Syracuse as valedictorian in 1960, and received her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1961.
Writer
Oates's novel them (1969) received the National Book Award in 1970. Since then she has published an average of two books a year. Frequent topics in her work include rural poverty, sexual abuse, class tensions, desire for power, female childhood and adolescence, and occasionally the supernatural. Violence is a constant in her work, even leading Oates to have written an essay in response to the question, "Why Is Your Writing So Violent?" She is a fan of poet and novelist Sylvia Plath, describing Plath's sole novel The Bell Jar as a "near perfect work of art"; but though Oates has often been compared to Plath, she disavows Plath's romanticism about suicide and among her characters, she favors cunning, hardy survivors, both women and men. Oates' concern with violence and other traditionally masculine topics has won her the respect of such male authors as Norman Mailer. In the early 1980s, Oates began writing stories in the gothic and horror genres; in her foray into these genres, Oates said she was "deeply influenced" by Kafka and felt "a writerly kinship" with James Joyce. She gained much attention for her book-length essay On Boxing (1987).
In 1996, Oates published We Were the Mulvaneys, a novel following the disintegration of an American family, which became a best-seller after being selected by Oprah's Book Club in 2001. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Oates wrote several books, mostly mystery novels, under the pen names "Rosamond Smith" and "Lauren Kelly."
Style and themes
From her first novel With Shuddering Fall in 1964, up to Kindred Passions in 1987, Oates built up a literary corpus that mixes Gothic estrangement with high social observation. Her works contain the typical elements of this type of tale: unconscious forces, seduction, incest, violence, and rape, sometimes to the point of sensationalism. She has written in a variety of genres, eras and landscapes—thus, she has works settled in a Faulkner-like Eden County, an imaginary area of upstate New York; in academia; in the Detroit slums and the Pennsylvania backwoods. But her works are not mere renderings of unusual experiences in far away places, both in space and time: novels such as A Bloodsmoor Romance, The Mysteries of Wintherthurn and Kindred Passions contain strong feminist overtones and use of the Gothic device to explore the ambiguities of gender and the sexual bases of fantasy.
Prolificacy
Oates writes in longhand, working from "8 till 1 every day, then again for two or three hours in the evening." Her subsequent prolificacy has become one of her best-known attributes; The New York Times wrote in 1989 that Oates's "name is synonymous with productivity", and in 2004, The Guardian noted that "Nearly every review of an Oates book, it seems, begins with a list [of the number of books she has published]". Critics have frequently criticized Oates for the level of her output.
In a journal entry written in the 1970s, Oates sarcastically addressed her critics, writing, "So many books! so many! Obviously JCO has a full career behind her, if one chooses to look at it that way; many more titles and she might as well... what?...give up all hopes for a 'reputation' but I work hard, and long, and as the hours roll by I seem to create more than I anticipate; more, certainly, than the literary world allows for a 'serious' writer. Yet I have more stories to tell, and more novels". In The New York Review of Books in 2007, Michael Dirda suggested that disparaging criticism of Oates "derives from reviewer's angst: How does one judge a new book by Oates when one is not familiar with most of the backlist? Where does one start?"
Several publications have published lists of what they deem the best Joyce Carol Oates books, designed to help introduce readers to the author's daunting oeuvre. In a 2003 article titled "Joyce Carol Oates for dummies", The Rocky Mountain News recommended starting with her early short stories and the novels A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967), them (1969), Wonderland (1971), Black Water (1992), and Blonde (2000). In 2006, The Times listed them, On Boxing (1987), Black Water, and High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories, 1966-2006 (2006) as "The Pick of Joyce Carol Oates". In 2007, Entertainment Weekly listed their Oates "favorites" as Wonderland, Black Water, Blonde, I'll Take You There (2002), and The Falls (2004). In 2003, Oates herself said that she thinks she will be remembered for, and would most want a first-time Oates reader to read, them and Blonde, though she added that "I could as easily have chosen a number of titles."
Teaching career
Oates taught in Beaumont, Texas for a year before moving to Detroit in 1962, where she began teaching at the University of Detroit. Influenced by the Vietnam war, the 1967 Detroit race riots, and a job offer, in 1968 Oates moved with her husband to teaching positions at the University of Windsor, Canada. In 1978, she moved to Princeton and began teaching at Princeton University.
In 1995, Princeton undergraduate Jonathan Safran Foer took an introductory writing course with Oates, who took an interest in Foer's writing, telling him that he had "that most important of writerly qualities, energy". Foer later recalled that "she was the first person to ever make me think I should try to write in any sort of serious way. And my life really changed after that." Oates served as the advisor to Foer's senior thesis, an early version of his novel Everything Is Illuminated, which was published to wide acclaim in 1999.
Joyce Carol Oates books in order
With Shuddering Fall (1964)
A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967)
Expensive People (1968)
them (1969)
Wonderland (1971)
Do with Me What You Will (1973)
The Assassins: A Book of Hours (1975)
Childwold (1976)
Son of the Morning (1978)
Cybele (1979)
Unholy Loves (1979)
Bellefleur (1980)
Angel of Light (1981)
A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
Mysteries of Winterthurn (1984)
Solstice (1985)
Marya: A Life (1986)
You Must Remember This (1987)
American Appetites (1989)
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990)
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993)
What I Lived For (1994)
Zombie (1995)
We Were the Mulvaneys (1996)
Man Crazy (1997)
My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
Broke Heart Blues (1999)
Blonde (2000)
Middle Age: A Romance (2001)
I'll Take You There (2002)
The Tattooed Girl (2003)
The Falls (2004)
Missing Mom (2005)
Black Girl / White Girl (2006)
The Gravedigger's Daughter (2007)
My Sister, My Love (2008)
Little Bird of Heaven (2009)
Mudwoman (2012)
The Accursed (2013)
Daddy Love (2013)
Carthage (2014)
The Sacrifice (2015)
Jack of Spades: A Tale of Suspense (2015)
The Man Without a Shadow (2016)
A Book of American Martyrs (2017)
Hazards of Time Travel (2018)
My Life as a Rat (2019)
Pursuit (2019)
Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. (2020)
Breathe (2021)
Babysitter (2022)
48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister (2023)
Butcher: A Novel (2024)
Fox (2025)
Novellas
The Triumph of the Spider Monkey (1976)
I Lock My Door Upon Myself (1990)
The Rise of Life on Earth (1991)
Black Water (1992)
First Love: A Gothic Tale (1996)
Beasts (2002)
Rape: A Love Story (2003)
The Corn Maiden : A Love Story (2005)
A Fair Maiden (2010)
Patricide (2012)
The Rescuer (2012)
Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense (2020)
Short story collections
By the North Gate (1963)
Upon the Sweeping Flood And Other Stories (1966)
The Wheel of Love And Other Stories (1970)
How I Contemplated The World From The Detroit House Of Correction
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Marriages and Infidelities (1972)
The Goddess and Other Women (1974)
The Hungry Ghosts: Seven Allusive Comedies (1974)
The Poisoned Kiss And Other Stories from the Portuguese (1975)
The Seduction & Other Stories (1975)
Crossing the Border: Fifteen Tales (1976)
Night-Side (1977)
All the Good People I've Left Behind (1979)
A Sentimental Education: Stories (1980)
Last Days: Stories (1984)
Wild Saturday (1984)
Raven's Wing: Stories (1986)
The Assignation: Stories (1989)
Oates In Exile (1990)
Heat And Other Stories (1991)
Where Is Here? (1992)
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories (1993)
Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (1994)
I, the Juror (1995)
Demon and other tales (1996)
Will You Always Love Me? And Other Stories (1996)
The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque (1998)
Faithless: Tales of Transgression (2001)
I Am No One You Know: Stories (2004)
The Female of the Species: Tales of Mystery and Suspense (2006)
High Lonesome: New & Selected Stories, 1966-2006 (2006)
The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense (2007)
The Temple (1996)
Wild Nights! (2008)
Life After High School
Dear Husband, (2009)
Sourland: Stories (2010)
Give Me Your Heart: Tales of Mystery and Suspense (2011)
Black Dahlia & White Rose (2012)
Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong (2013)
High Crime Area: Tales of Darkness and Dread (2014)
Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014)
The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror (2016)
DIS MEM BER and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense (2017)
Beautiful Days: Stories (2018)
Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense (2018)
The Ruins of Contracoeur and Other Presences (2021)
The (Other) You (2021)
Night, Neon: Tales of Mystery and Suspense (2021)
Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense (2022)
Zero-Sum: Stories (2023)
Flint Kill Creek: Stories of Mystery and Suspense (2024)
The Frenzy (2026)
Drama
Sunday Dinner (1965)
The Sweet Enemy (1970)
Ontological Proof of My Existence (1970)
Miracle Play (1974)
The Triumph of the Spider Monkey (1979)
Three Plays (1980)
Black (1989)
American Holiday (1990)
How Do You Like Your Meat? (1990)
Friday Night (1990)
The Secret Mirror (1991)
In Darkest America (1991)
I Stand Before You Naked (1991)
Twelve Plays (1991)
Greensleeves (1991)
The Key (1991)
The Ballad of Love Canal (1991)
Under/Ground (1991)
Here I am
Duet
Good to know you
Poor Bibi
Here She Is! (1995)
Negative (1995)
Homesick (1995)
The Perfectionist and Other Plays (1995)
The Adoption (1996)
No next of kin
Black Water (1997)
New Plays (1998)
When I Was a Little Girl and My Mother Didn't Love Me (1998)
Dr. Magic (2002)
Dr. Magic: Six One Act Plays (2004)
The Passion of Henry David Thoreau
Wild Nights! (2009)
Grandpa Clemens & Angelfish 1906 (2009)
Essays
The Edge of Impossibility: Tragic Forms in Literature (1972)
The Hostile Sun: The Poetry of D.H. Lawrence (1974)
New Heaven, New Earth: The Visionary Experience in Literature (1974)
Contraries: Essays (1981)
The Profane Art: Essays & Reviews (1983)
On Boxing (1987)
(Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities (1988)
George Bellows: American Artist (1995)
"They Just Went Away" 1995
Where I've Been, And Where I'm Going: Essays, Reviews, and Prose (1999)
The Faith of A Writer: Life, Craft, Art (2003)
Uncensored: Views & (Re)views (2005)
The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982 (2007)
In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters (2009)
In Rough Country (2010)
A Widow's Story: A Memoir (2011)
Joyce Carol Oates creates Evangeline Fife, who interviews Robert Frost: Lovely, Dark, Deep (2013) published in "Dead Interviews"
After Black Rock True Crimes. The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 17. pp. 96–97.
The Lost Landscape: A Writer's Coming of Age (2015)
Nighthawk: Recollections of a Lost Time (2015)
The Lost Sister: An Elegy (2015)
Soul at the White Heat: Inspiration, Obsession, and the Writing Life (2016)
Poetry
Women In Love and Other Poems (1968)
Anonymous Sins & Other Poems (1969)
Love and Its Derangements (1970)
Angel Fire (1973)
The Fabulous Beasts (1975)
Women Whose Lives Are Food, Men Whose Lives Are Money (1978)
Invisible Woman: New and Selected Poems, 1970-1982 (1982)
The Time Traveler (1989)
Tenderness (1996)
American Melancholy: Poems (2021)
Young adult fiction
Big Mouth & Ugly Girl (2002)
Small Avalanches and Other Stories (2003)
Freaky Green Eyes (2003)
Sexy (2005)
After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away (2006)
Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You (2012)
Children's fiction
Come Meet Muffin! (1998)
Where Is Little Reynard? (2003)
Naughty Chérie! (2008)
The New Kitten (2019)
Novels as Rosamond Smith
Lives of the Twins (1987) (U.K. title: Kindred Passions)
Soul/Mate (1989)
Nemesis (1990)
Snake Eyes (1992)
You Can't Catch Me (1995)
Double Delight (1997)
Starr Bright Will Be With you Soon (1999)
The Barrens (2001)
Novels as Lauren Kelly
Take Me, Take Me With You (2003)
The Stolen Heart (2005)
Blood Mask (2006)
Source and additional information: Joyce Carol Oates