2008 Woodie Awards
Accomplished author speaks at seminar
Acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates shares how her upbringing birthed artistic inspiration
Christina Heiser, Managing Editor
Issue date: 4/16/08Section: Features
Much of author Joyce Carol Oates' intense understanding of human nature comes from her upbringing in upstate New York.
Oates was raised in a small town called Lockport and is the daughter of a factory worker. She was the first person in her family to graduate high school- a notable feat, considering she attended a one-room elementary school in her small hometown.
"Everything was always a struggle," she said of her humble beginnings in Lockport. She described her family as "working poor," and it was exactly this upbringing that allowed Oates to develop, as she called, "a natural sympathy" for people.
In fact, Oates, who has been writing intensely since she attended Syracuse University in the 1950s, believes that the "aim of art is to evoke sympathy." This is because, as she noted, "writers bear witness to those who aren't able to speak for themselves."
It was these personal experiences, along with readings from her poetry and short stories, that Oates shared with an audience of more than 40 St. John's students, faculty members, and alumni at the 4th Semi-Annual St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Speaker Series.
Over the course of her long career, Oates has written everything from novels to poetry to literary criticisms. She has received countless accolades - the first in 1959, while she was still in college.
Her short story, "In the Old World," won her Mademoiselle magazine's fiction contest. She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times - in 1993 for Black Water, in 1995 for What I Lived For, and in 2001 for Blonde. Her novel, We Were the Mulvaneys, was even selected for Oprah's highly popular Book Club in 2001.
Dr. Stephen Sicari, chair of the English Department at St. John's, introduced Oates, saying that she uses "powerfully precise language [and] artfully designed plots" in her writing.
Oates began her lecture by reading a few of her poems. One of the pieces she read was entitled "The Dollar Sign." Oates said that this poem has a "percussive, masculine, aggressive voice."
Oates was raised in a small town called Lockport and is the daughter of a factory worker. She was the first person in her family to graduate high school- a notable feat, considering she attended a one-room elementary school in her small hometown.
"Everything was always a struggle," she said of her humble beginnings in Lockport. She described her family as "working poor," and it was exactly this upbringing that allowed Oates to develop, as she called, "a natural sympathy" for people.
In fact, Oates, who has been writing intensely since she attended Syracuse University in the 1950s, believes that the "aim of art is to evoke sympathy." This is because, as she noted, "writers bear witness to those who aren't able to speak for themselves."
It was these personal experiences, along with readings from her poetry and short stories, that Oates shared with an audience of more than 40 St. John's students, faculty members, and alumni at the 4th Semi-Annual St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Speaker Series.
Over the course of her long career, Oates has written everything from novels to poetry to literary criticisms. She has received countless accolades - the first in 1959, while she was still in college.
Her short story, "In the Old World," won her Mademoiselle magazine's fiction contest. She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times - in 1993 for Black Water, in 1995 for What I Lived For, and in 2001 for Blonde. Her novel, We Were the Mulvaneys, was even selected for Oprah's highly popular Book Club in 2001.
Dr. Stephen Sicari, chair of the English Department at St. John's, introduced Oates, saying that she uses "powerfully precise language [and] artfully designed plots" in her writing.
Oates began her lecture by reading a few of her poems. One of the pieces she read was entitled "The Dollar Sign." Oates said that this poem has a "percussive, masculine, aggressive voice."
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