Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn't have the personality of a politician. We don't see the world that simply.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the complexity of life and how artists perceive the world differently from politicians.
Joyce Carol Oates emphasizes that both life and people are not straightforward; they encompass a multitude of nuances and complexities. Writers, as artists, possess a unique perspective that diverges from that of political figures, who often present a simplified view of realities to the public. This differentiation suggests that art captures the multifaceted essence of human experience, while politics may reduce it to binary choices.
In practice
In a discussion on the role of artists in society during a webinar.
Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
There are certain sounds that I've found work well in nearly any context. Their function is not so much musical as spatial: they define the edges of the territory of the music.
Anything can become a musical sound. The wind on telegraph wires is a great sound; get it into your machine and play it and it becomes interesting.
I cannot absorb living in a world where I have an Oscar for best actress and Denzel doesn't have one for best actor.
The creative adult is the child who has survived.
At every premiere, I stand in the back, I never sit, worrying. And then maybe I hear them laugh or whatever, and the muscles unclench a little. But always, I feel like it's a fluke, that I'll never be able to do it again.
I'm looking at a dead event and trying to give it new life. In a sense, I'm a taxidermist.
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