OATES, JOYCE CAROL

born June 16, 1938, Lockport, N.Y., U.S. American novelist, short-story writer, and essayist noted for her vast literary output in a variety of styles and genres. Particularly effective are her depictions of violence and evil in modern society. Oates studied English at Syracuse University (B.A., 1960) and the University of Wisconsin (M.A., 1961). She contributed short stories to a number of magazines and reviews, including the Prairie Schooner, Literary Review, Southwest Review, and Epoch and in 1963 published her first collection of short stories, By the North Gate. Her first novel, With Shuddering Fall, appeared in 1964 and was followed by a second short-story collection, Upon the Sweeping Flood (1965). She wrote prolifically thereafter, averaging about two books per year. Her notable fiction works include A Garden of Earthly Delights (1967), them (1969; winner of a National Book Award), Do with Me What You Will (1973), Black Water (1992), Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (1993), Zombie (1995), and Broke Heart Blues (1999). Oates also wrote mysteries (under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith), plays, essays, poetry, and literary criticism. Essays, reviews, and other prose pieces are included in Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going (1999). She taught English at the University of Detroit (Michigan) from 1961 to 1967 and at the University of Windsor, in Canada, from 1967 to 1978. From 1978 she taught at Princeton University. With her husband, Raymond J. Smith, she published The Ontario Review, a literary magazine. Oates's novels encompass a variety of historical settings and literary genres. She typically portrays American individuals whose intensely experienced and obsessive lives end in bloodshed and self-destruction owing to larger forces beyond their control. Her books blend a realistic treatment of everyday life with horrific and even sensational depictions of violence. Additional reading Oates's life and work are discussed in Eileen Teper Bender, Joyce Carol Oates, Artist in Residence (1987); Joanne V. Creighton, Joyce Carol Oates (1979), and Joyce Carol Oates: Novels of the Middle Years (1992); Greg Johnson, Understanding Joyce Carol Oates (1987), Joyce Carol Oates: A Study of the Short Fiction (1994), and Invisible Writer: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates (1998); and Brenda Daly, Lavish Self-Divisions: The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates (1996).