Lee Millazzo, ed., Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates ( Jackson: University Press
of Mississippi, 1989).
Compiles the major interviews given by Oates from 1973 to 1989. Oates dis-
cusses revision, major literary influences, and writing methods.
Robert Phillips, “Joyce Carol Oates: The Art of Fiction No. 72,” Paris Review
(Fall–Winter, 1978) http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/
prmMID/3441 [accessed 19 February 2010].
Excerpts from an extended conversation on Oates’s writing process and craft. The
complete interview is available for download.
Deborah Solomon, “A Woman’s Work,” New York Times Magazine, 12 April
2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/magazine/12wwln-q4-t.html
[accessed 19 February 2010].
Brief interview that includes Oates’s thoughts on productivity, religious views,
Southern Gothic, her autistic sister, her late husband, and the possibility of a
memoir.
“Writing and Weaving the Emotional Thread” (20 May 1997), Academy
of Achievement http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/oat0int-1
[accessed 19 February 2010].
An extensive interview that focuses on Oates’s early life, writing process, views on
the American dream, and career highlights. The article also includes previously
unpublished photographs and audio clips.
Biography
Greg Johnson, Invisible Writer: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates (New York: Dut-
ton, 1998).
Well-reviewed biography covering Oates’s personal life and career from birth
to its time of publication, with her cooperation and that of her friends and
family.
Criticism
Gavin Cologne-Brookes, Dark Eyes on America: The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005).
Comprehensive examination of Oates’s practical study of American social and
personal problems within her novels.
A. R. Coulthard, “Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You
Been?’ as Pure Realism,” Studies in Short Fiction, 26, 4 (1989): 505–510.
Argues against the idea of supernatural evil in “Where Are You Going, Where
Have You Been?”
Joanne V. Creighton, Joyce Carol Oates: Novels of the Middle Years (New York:
Twayne, 1992).
Extensive examination of fifteen novels, including discussion of thematic interests
and narrative style.