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
Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embrace your reading preferences without worrying about societal expectations.
This quote by Joyce Carol Oates emphasizes the importance of individual choice in reading. It encourages people to explore literature that resonates with them personally rather than conforming to external pressures or prescribed recommendations, promoting a more authentic and fulfilling reading experience.
Themes
ReadingEducationLiteratureIndividualityChoice
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion about personal favorites.
More from Joyce Carol Oates
All quotes βI 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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
. . . 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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
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All I hope, selfishly, is that there will be real books until the day I draw my last breath.
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