One of the large consolations for experiencing anything unpleasant is the knowledge that one can communicate it. Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes From Joyce Carol Oates I don't feel I write fast. I write in longhand and do so much revision. On the page, it's so old-fashioned. I could write a whole novel on scrap paper, scribbles and things. I keep looking at it and something develops. For me, using a word processor would mean staring at a screen for too many hours. Joyce Carol Oates paper writing mean I compose most of my tweets with care, as if they were aphorisms - they are not usually dashed-off. Sometimes I'm surprised by the high, poetic quality of Twitter - it lends itself to a surreal sort of self-expression. Joyce Carol Oates quality expression self I am not conscious of working especially hard, or of 'working' at all. Writing and teaching have always been, for me, so richly rewarding that I don't think of them as work in the usual sense of the word. Joyce Carol Oates teaching writing thinking That's how a thing starts out real then ends up just an idea. Joyce Carol Oates real ends ideas If I'm writing, I'll say something metaphorical or approximate, whereas scientists are very precise. Joyce Carol Oates metaphorical scientist writing ...[I am] utterly entranced, at times, with the mere fact that there are other people, and that they experience themselves as the primary center of consciousness just as I do. That fact alone...Well, that fact alone is staggering. Joyce Carol Oates consciousness facts people How lawyers make work for one another! You're all priests, worshipping the same god. No wonder you adore one another. Joyce Carol Oates lawyer priests wonder There is no PAST anybody can get to, to alter things or even to know what those things were but there is definitely a future, we are already in it. Joyce Carol Oates knows past We are stimulated to emotional response, not by works that confirm our sense of the world, but by works that challenge it. Joyce Carol Oates emotional challenges world Boxing has become America's tragic theater. Joyce Carol Oates boxing sports america I can't imagine a mental life, a spiritual existence, not inextricably bound up with language of a formal, mediated nature. Telling stories, choosing an appropriate language with which to tell the story: This seems to me quintessentially human, one of the great adventures of our species. Joyce Carol Oates spiritual writing adventure Criticism is, for me, like essay writing, a wonderful way of relaxation; it doesn't require a heightened and mediated voice, like prose fiction, but rather a calm, rational, even conversational voice. Joyce Carol Oates voice writing relaxation As soon as I moved to Princeton in 1978, I became fascinated by local history, much of it Revolutionary War-era; and I became fascinated by the presidency of Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University. Joyce Carol Oates princeton-university eras war To be true to life, a novel must have an ending that is inevitable given the specific personalities of the characters involved. The novelist must not impose an ending upon them. Joyce Carol Oates true-life personality character As a teacher at Princeton, I'm surrounded by people who work hard so I just make good use of my time. And I don't really think of it as work - writing a novel, in one sense, is a problem-solving exercise. Joyce Carol Oates hard-work writing teacher Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves. Joyce Carol Oates glasses made house When I wrote 'We Were The Mulvaneys,' I was just old enough to look back upon my own family life and the lies of certain individuals close to me, with the detachment of time. I wanted to tell the truth about secrets: How much pain they give, yet how much relief, even happiness we may feel when at last the motive for secrecy has passed. Joyce Carol Oates pain giving lying As a child. I grew up on a small farm, so I did a lot of drawings of animals, chickens and people. At the bottom of every page, I'd put a strange scribble. I was emulating adult handwriting, though I didn't actually know how to write. Joyce Carol Oates writing animal children Not to be alone. To be spared the possibility of knowing oneself, in aloneness. Joyce Carol Oates knowing-oneself possibility knowing Obviously the imagination is fueled by emotions beyond the control of the conscious mind. Joyce Carol Oates emotion imagination mind
