Joyce Carol Oates’s Life, Career, and Notable Novels

Joyce Carol Oates is the National Book Award-winning author of more than sixty novels and thousands of short stories. She has spent over five decades as one of the craft’s premier storytellers.

Born in Lockport, New York in 1938, Joyce began writing at the age of 14. She was the first in her family to graduate from high school and furthered her education at Syracuse University where she graduated in 1960 as valedictorian. Later, she received her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Joyce counts Franz Kafka and James Joyce among the writers who have influenced her work. In addition to novels and short story collections, Joyce has written plays, novellas, poetry, and nonfiction. She has taught creative writing at Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Joyce Carol Oates is a distinguished literary talent who has written numerous award-winning works of literature. Here are some fast facts to know about the writer:

• Her career took off when she was in her twenties. Born in 1938, Joyce published her first collection of short stories, titled By the North Gate, in 1963. A year later, she completed her first novel, With Shuddering Fall (1964). In 1974, she founded the literary magazine The Ontario Review with her husband Raymond Smith, which led to her founding the independent publishing company Ontario Review Books.
• She is very prolific. To date, Joyce has written over sixty novels, including Bellefleur (1980), You Must Remember This (1987), Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993), Zombie (1995), Carthage (2014), and A Book of American Martyrs (2017). This is in addition to at least thirty short story collections, along with a number of plays, poems, novellas, book reviews, and essays across multiple genres, including gothic fiction. Joyce also wrote a memoir, A Widow’s Story (2011), following the unexpected death of her husband Raymond. At moments in her career, she has written under the pseudonyms “Rosamond Smith” and “Lauren Kelly.”
• She is also an educator. Joyce has taught at Princeton University in New Jersey, the University of Detroit in Michigan, the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, and the University of California, Berkeley.
• She is the recipient of a National Book Award. Joyce won the US National Book Award for her novel them (1969) in 1970, an honor for which she has been nominated multiple times. Five of her works have been Pulitzer Prize finalists. She has also received the Norman Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement, two O. Henry Awards, a National Humanities Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction.

Joyce Carol Oates has written dozens of books that span a diverse range of themes and subject matters. Some of Joyce’s most notable works include:

1. 1. A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967): This book follows a farmer’s daughter, Clara Walpole, and the men who shape her life. The work tackles class, gender, and themes around coming of age. This novel was a finalist for the 1968 annual US National Book Award for Fiction.
2. 2. them (1969): Stylized with its title in all lowercase letters, this novel is part of Joyce’s Wonderland series, which explores the struggles of US American life through the eyes of three separate characters. This story received the US National Book Award for Fiction in 1970.
3. 3. Wonderland (1971): The fourth and final book in Joyce’s Wonderland series, this novel follows the life of Jesse Vogel from his Great Depression-era childhood through his marriage and career. This book was a finalist for the US National Book Award for Fiction.
   
4. 4. Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (1990): This story focuses on two friends, a young white girl and young Black boy, who commit a murder in self-defense. It was nominated for best work of fiction in the 1990 National Book Awards.
5. 5. Black Water (1992): This book draws inspiration from the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969 in which Senator Ted Kennedy left a party on Martha’s Vineyard with a young woman and, subsequently, drove both himself and the young woman over a bridge. He swam away alive, but the 28-year-old woman did not. This book was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
6. 6. We Were the Mulvaneys (1996): This novel follows the story of a seemingly perfect family whose lives are upended after the daughter, Marianne, is sexually assaulted by the son of her father’s friend. The incident affects each family member individually and ends up pushing them away from one another into their own separate lives. This book became a national bestseller after becoming an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2001.
7. 7. Blonde (2000): This historical fiction novel about the life of Marilyn Monroe is one of Joyce’s longest texts. A national bestseller, it was a finalist for both a Pulitzer Prize and a US National Book Award.
8. 8. The Falls (2004): This story follows a woman whose husband perished on their honeymoon. It landed on The New York Times bestsellers list and was the winner of the 2005 Prix Femina étranger, a distinguished French literary prize determined by an all-female jury.
9. 9. The Gravedigger's Daughter (2007): This tale centers around protagonist Rebecca Tignor, whose life is plagued by violence and tragedy. The story is inspired by Joyce’s real-life grandmother, whose father was also a gravedigger who had violent tendencies toward his wife and daughter. The novel debuted at number seventeen on The New York Times bestsellers list.

In addition to novels, essays, and poems, Joyce Carol Oates has written a number of notable collections of short stories, including:

1. 1. High Lonesome: New & Selected Short Stories (1966–2006): This is the largest collection of Joyce’s short stories and includes the titles “Objects in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear” and “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The latter story follows a young, selfish girl named Connie who encounters a sinister, devil-like man named Arnold Friend; it was included in The Best American Short Stories (1967), and Prize Stories: The O’Henry Awards (1968).
2. 2. Black Dahlia & White Rose: Stories (2012): This collection of eleven short stories imagines a friendship between eventual murder victim Elizabeth Short—famously known as “The Black Dahlia”—and her roommate, Norma Jeane Baker, whom the world knew as Marilyn Monroe. The collection won the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection and was nominated for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award that same year.
3. 3. Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014): These stories explore themes of darkness and happiness, covering a variety of subjects such as abortion, infidelity, cancer, and suicide. This series of stories was nominated as a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Joyce Carol Oates has had a long and celebrated career as an author, resulting in a wealth of knowledge to share with her writing students. Here are just five highlights from her class:

1. 1. Giving your story stakes: As Joyce says, each character needs to have some vested interest—often because the narrator has a particular stake in them—so that the actions that transpire are noteworthy. “If [the narrator] doesn’t care,” says Joyce, “maybe the reader doesn’t care either.” Take Joyce’s class to discover how the author makes it clear what’s on the line for her main characters.
2. 2. Journaling to develop self-expression: “Keeping a journal sharpens our senses,” Joyce says. “It's like an exercise in writing. If you're describing a scene, you are practicing the act of writing—which is very important—and thinking in language. Otherwise, you just sort of go through the day with stray thoughts floating around in your head of no particular distinction. But if you're writing things down and really thinking about something and observing, that gives a certain sharpness to your powers of observation.” In her class, the author discusses journaling as a tried-and-true method for self-expression and developing your voice.
3. 3. Setting a small stage: Where possible, the author recommends economizing characters to keep a tidier stage and a smaller scope for the action. This might involve combining two or more characters into one. But hold on to whatever you cut since you never know when it might be a fit elsewhere, Joyce advises. “Writers are like cooks,” she explains. “They keep everything in the refrigerator and put it all in the casserole. What doesn’t go in for dinner tonight, well, it’s gonna show up next Sunday.” Joyce’s class includes a specific example of scaling down a story’s stage.
4. 4. Turning rejection into opportunity: You want your best work out in the world, so don’t force yourself to publish too soon. Look at each rejection as an opportunity to view the piece with “colder and crueler eyes,” to borrow a phrase from Joyce. “If I had time, I would tell you about all the writers—from James Joyce on to people you don’t know—who were very lucky that their first novels were rejected,” Joyce says. Rejection is a chance to make sure you believe in the draft before sharing it with readers. In Joyce’s class, she shares how she has used rejections as opportunities to revise.
5. 5. Using the craft as a means of discovery: “One of the main things to remember,” Joyce says, “is that writing should be pleasurable, it should be fun, it should be exploratory. You should be writing about things that surprise you.” The author encourages students in her classes to explore the deeper themes in the stories they read as well as the ones they write.

To learn more about crafting compelling narratives, consider the following classes:

1. 1. Amy Tan on fiction, memory, and imagination: The bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club shares her approach to voice, story, and the craft of bringing narratives to life from beginning to end. Watch Amy’s class to learn how to use emotional memory and real-life events to write fiction.
2. 2. Margaret Atwood on creative writing: The author of The Handmaid’s Tale crafts vivid prose and hooks readers with her timeless approach to storytelling. Watch Margaret’s class to discover the Man Booker Prize-winning author’s creative process and thoughts on what makes for a strong plot.
3. 3. Salman Rushdie on storytelling and writing: The Booker Prize winner teaches you his techniques for crafting believable characters, vivid worlds, and spellbinding stories. Watch Salman’s class to uncover the shortcuts and lessons he’s learned through decades of writing.

Drafting, revising, and sharing your work is a nuanced process—just ask author Joyce Carol Oates. Learn how she determines the right language and structure to use for her stories when you sign up for the MasterClass Annual Membership.