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Joyce Carol Oates

ジョイス・キャロル・オーツ

Joisu Kyaroru Ootsu

Pen Names: Rosamond Smith（Pen name used for some suspense novels）, Lauren Kelly（Pen name used for some works）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1938-06-16 （Lockport, New York, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Raised Catholic; has identified as atheist
Residence History
Millersport, New York → Lockport, New York → Detroit, Michigan → Windsor, Ontario, Canada → Princeton, New Jersey → Berkeley, California → New Brunswick (Rutgers University)

Career

Occupations
novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, literary critic, professor, editor
Active Years
1963-
Affiliations
Princeton University (Roger S. Berlind Professor Emerita in the Humanities), The Ontario Review (founder, associate editor), John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (board of trustees, former)
Memberships
American Philosophical Society (elected member, 2016), Phi Beta Kappa, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (former trustee)
Influenced By
Lewis Carroll, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Fyodor Dostoevsky, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Henry David Thoreau, Franz Kafka, D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann, Flannery O'Connor, Sylvia Plath, James Joyce (has expressed a writerly kinship)
Influenced
Jonathan Safran Foer (took a writing course with Oates), Garth Risk Hallberg (has recommended Oates's work as essential)
Nominations
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — Black Water (1993) (finalist), Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — What I Lived For (1995) (finalist), Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — Blonde (2001) (finalist), Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2015) (finalist)

Education

Syracuse University
College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English
Degree: B.A.（summa cum laude）
Period: 1956–1960
Year of Graduation: 1960
Country: United States
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa; graduated valedictorian
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Graduate School / English
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1960–1961
Year of Graduation: 1961
Country: United States
Received M.A.
Rice University
Doctoral program / English
Period: 在籍期間不明（博士課程中に離脱）
Country: United States
Left doctoral studies to become a full-time writer

Awards

National Book Award for Fiction
1970
Work: Them
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
O. Henry Award
1967
Work: In the Region of Ice
Organization: PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories
Result: 受賞
National Humanities Medal
2010
Organization: United States Congress / National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受賞
Jerusalem Prize (Lifetime Achievement)
2019
Category: 生涯業績
Organization: Jerusalem Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Stone Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement
2012
Category: 生涯業績
Organization: Oregon State University
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Garden of Earthly Delights

1967 Novel (literary fiction)

An early novel exploring alienation and social dynamics in America through the lives of young protagonists.

alienationclassurban-rural contrast

Them

1969 Novel (social fiction)

Set in Detroit, it deals with crime, drugs, and racial and class conflicts; won the 1970 National Book Award.

urban violencepovertyfamily disintegration

Black Water

1992 Novella

A novella focused on a woman's psychology around a celebrity and a political event; a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

power and violencemedia and personafemale experience

Blonde

2000 Historical fiction / fictionalized biography

A fictionalized biography of Marilyn Monroe; was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

fame vs private lifeidentityexploitation of women

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

1966 Short story

A seminal short story about an adolescent girl and a disturbing intruder; adapted as the film Smooth Talk (1985).

coming-of-age crisissexual threatboundaries and transition
Adaptations
  • [Film] Smooth Talk / Joyce Chopra (1985)

Bibliography

  • By the North Gate (short story collection, 1963)
  • With Shuddering Fall (novel, 1964)
  • A Garden of Earthly Delights (novel, 1967)
  • Them (novel, 1969)
  • We Were the Mulvaneys (novel, 1996)
  • Blonde (novel, 2000)

Adaptations

  • Smooth Talk (1985 film, adapted from the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?")
  • We Were the Mulvaneys (2002 TV movie)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Realistic, psychologically intense proseProlific outputOccasional gothic/horror elements
Recurring Motifs
violencefamily breakdownclass and povertyadolescent crisispower and oppression

Legacy

Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most prolific and influential American writers from the late 20th to early 21st century. A National Book Award winner and multiple-award recipient, she has been a frequent Pulitzer finalist and a perennial name in discussions about major literary prizes. Her work, often dealing with violence, family and class, has had significant impact on both criticism and general readership.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society
  • Phi Beta Kappa

Archives

  • Papers of Joyce Carol Oates at Syracuse University

In Popular Culture

  • We Were the Mulvaneys was selected by Oprah's Book Club and became a bestseller
  • The short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" was adapted into the film Smooth Talk

Quotes

  • “I think of religion as a kind of psychological manifestation of deep powers, deep imaginative, mysterious powers which are always with us.”
    Source: Interview in Commonweal (1969)

Trivia

  • Since publishing her first book in 1963 she has been extremely prolific (at times cited as having published around 58 novels among many other works).
  • Has published some works under the pen names Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
  • Taught for decades at Princeton University and holds emerita status.
  • Her papers, including unpublished material, are held at Syracuse University.