Friday, September 17, 2004

Joyce Carol Oates

I saw Joyce Carol Oates speak at the New School the other day. She read the first three (very short) chapters of her most recent work: The Falls. All three were written in third-person limited, each from a different character's perspective. Oates's writing is very vivid and staunchly follows the cardinal "appeal to all five senses" rule.

She also described how she basically writes in her head on her daily run, then goes home and pounds it out on her keyboard. She was a very inspiring speaker and I encourage anyone to go see her if you can, or pick up one of her dozens and dozens of books. I must confess that I have not read a single one, but I heard that Blonde, a fictionalized account of Marilyn Monroe's life, is very good. Zombie also caught my interest. I believe it is about a serial killer. Oates also teaches at Princeton University, so you could even pick up a class with her if you are in the area.