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Loading... The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982 (original 2007; edition 2008)by Joyce Carol Oates
Work InformationThe Journal of Joyce Carol Oates 1973-1982 by Joyce Carol Oates (2007)
   None No current Talk conversations about this book. 3   Caroline_McElwee | Apr 23, 2008 | 
 In this selection, drawn from “more than 4,000 single-spaced typewritten pages,” according to the editor, Greg Johnson, she rarely attempts to be aphoristic, and when she does the results are seldom memorable: “Feb. 28, 1980. ... I oscillate between thinking I am crazy, and thinking I am not crazy enough. ... March 8, 1980. ... To embrace one’s fate — as if it were ‘destiny.’ ... April 18, 1980. ... Things we desire to share, and to share immediately: ecstasy, sorrow, renown.” In a brief introduction, Oates discloses that she has barely read Johnson’s selections, since “to revisit the past in this way is somehow so excruciating, I haven’t the words to guess why.”... Admirers of Oates’s books will be intrigued to discover the author’s occasional comments on the consciousness of her characters (the early memories of Jesse in “Wonderland,” for example, are “closer to him ... than anything he has experienced as an adult”), as well as her thoughts on the creative process: “The characters form slowly, emerge slowly, slowly, one must only allow them their natural growth” (this of “Childwold”). They will regard with awe the productivity of a writer who, having nearly completed an 800-page novel in November 1981 — “The Crosswicks Horror,” still unpublished — is capable of generating 10 short stories, two essays and at least two poems over the next three and a half months, while “Crosswicks” is undergoing revision and a new novel, “Mysteries of Winterthurn,” is in embryo.
The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates, edited by Greg Johnson, offers a rare glimpse into the private thoughts of this extraordinary writer, focusing on excerpts written during one of the most productive decades of Oates's long career. Far more than just a daily account of a writer's writing life, these intimate, unrevised pages candidly explore her friendship with other writers, including John Updike, Donald Barthelme, Susan Sontag, Gail Godwin, and Philip Roth. It presents a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young woman, fully engaged with her world and her culture, on her way to becoming one of the most respected, honored, discussed, and controversial figures in American letters. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.56)
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Wikipedia in English
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I loved her passion for the novels as she was writing. There seems to come a point midway when almost the book becomes her lover and she revels in his attentions and hers to him.
There are explorations about the two JCO's or rather JCO (the writer/public person) and Joyce Smith - the who she is person, and reading this from the 'inside' as it is happening to someone gives a different perspective.
Some interesting thought about her health and her body image.
It is also enjoyable hearing about her relationship with her husband and the contentedness they have found in each other, and yet, writing such a relationship would be impossible because it involved no conflict, and a novel required conflict. or it would bore the reader. I'm not sure that it can't be done, and I am sure JCO has achieved it, but I suppose it can't be the only thing done perhaps.
Two-thirds through there is perhaps an element of repetition as although each novel is different, Oates on the whole has found her most satisfying method of writing and so they rhythm for each novel follows a similar pattern. That said, I am already missing her quiet voice. (