Because the meaning of a story does not lie on its surface, visible and self-defining, does not mean that meaning does not exist. Indeed, the ambiguity of meaning, its inner private quality, may well be part of the writer's vision. Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes From Joyce Carol Oates I can't say I was a very successful sorority girl. Joyce Carol Oates sororitygirlsuccessful You need so much energy and encouragement to write that if someone says something negative, some of that energy goes. Joyce Carol Oates encouragementenergywriting Art originates in play - in improvisation, experiment, and fantasy; it remains forever, in its deepest instincts, playful and spontaneous, an exercise of the imagination analogous to the exercising of the physical body to no purpose other than ecstatic release. Joyce Carol Oates playexerciseart A good, sympathetic review is always a wonderful surprise. Joyce Carol Oates reviewssurprisewonderful Paradox: how do we know what we have failed to see because we have no language to express it, thus we cannot know that we have failed to see it. Joyce Carol Oates paradoxlanguageknows For what is delusion but the prelude to hurt. And what is hurt but the prelude to rage. Joyce Carol Oates preluderagehurt Betrayal is the deepest wound. Betrayal is what remains of love, when love has gone. Joyce Carol Oates remainsbetrayalgone Dear girl! Life is addictive. Yet we must live. Joyce Carol Oates deargirllife-is The domestic lives we live - which may be accidental, or not entirely of our making - help to make possible our writing lives; our imaginations are freed, or stimulated, by the very prospect of companionship, quiet, a predictable and consoling routine. Joyce Carol Oates routineimaginationwriting Her problem wasn't she was a dumb blonde, it was she wasn't a blonde and she wasn't dumb. Joyce Carol Oates blondedumbproblem Sometimes people surprise us. People we believe we know. Joyce Carol Oates sometimesbelievepeople Memory blurs, that's the point. If memory didn't blur you wouldn't have the fool's courage to do things again, again, again, that tear you apart. Joyce Carol Oates fooltearsmemories I'm sure all that you've heard is just the usual gossip, invented to injure feelings rather than illuminate truth. Joyce Carol Oates gossipusualfeelings I'm nobody's daughter now. I'm through with that. Joyce Carol Oates daughter Yet I will make you all love me and I will punish myself to spite your love. Joyce Carol Oates spite If my favorite, most comfortable place is by our fireplace in cold weather, expedient places are on an airplane, in a waiting room or even waiting in line; frequently these days, while on the phone having been 'put on hold.' Joyce Carol Oates waiting-roomsairplanephones If a book I've committed myself to review turns out to be 'disappointing' I make an effort to present it objectively to the reader, including a good number of excerpts from the text, so that the reader might form his or her own opinion independent of my own. Joyce Carol Oates independentnumbersbook The historical Woodrow Wilson suffered from numerous complaints which we might today label as psychosomatic. Yet, Wilson did have a stroke as a relatively young man of 39 and seemed always to be ill. He was 'high-strung' - intensely neurotic - yet a charismatic personality nonetheless. Joyce Carol Oates historicalpersonalitymen I've always been interested in writing about people, including young children who are not able to speak for themselves. As in my novel 'Black Water,' I provide a voice for someone who has died and can't speak for herself. Joyce Carol Oates voicewritingchildren I wrote a novel called "Blonde," which is about Norma Jean Baker, who becomes Marilyn Monroe, which I called a fictitious biography. That uses the material as if it were myth - that Marilyn Monroe is like this mythical figure in our culture. Joyce Carol Oates bakersblondeculture
