the faith of a writer

8/14/2019 The Faith of a Writer

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The

Faith of a Writer

LIFE , C R AFT , A RT

An Imprint of H arperCollins Publish ers Joyce Carol Oates


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THEP AITH OF A WRITER. Cop yright 2003 b y The Ont ario Review, Inc. Allrightsreserved . Printed in the Un ited State s of A merica . No p art of thi s bookmaybe used or reproduced in any manner whatsoe ver with out wr itten permis -

sionexceptin the caseof b rief quot ations embodied in critical arti cles andreviews. For informat ion addre ss HarperColl ins Publi shers Inc. ,

10Ea st 53rd S treet , New York , NY 10022 .

HarperCollinsb ooks may bepu rchased for education al, business , or salespromot ionalu se. For inform ation pl ease wr ite: Special Market s Department,Harpe-CollinsPub lishers Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York , NY 10022.

FIRST ECCO PA PERBA CK ED ITION 2004

Desigmd by Claire Vacca ro

T h e Library of Co ngress has catalogued the hardcover editio n asfo llows :

Oates,Joyce Ca rol, 1938-The faith of a writ er: life, craf t, art j Joyce Carol Oates.-1st ed.

p. em.ISBN 0-06 -056553 -5 (alk. paper )

1. Oates, Joyce C arol, 1938 - 2. Oate s, Joyce Carol, 1938 -Authorship . 3. Aut hors, American-20th centu ry-Biograph y.4. Fiction -Auth orshi p. 5. Auth orship. 1. Title .

PS3565.A8Z46 7 2003813'.54-


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TO

A YO UN G WRITER

W ite your heart ou t.Neve r b e as h a m e d of yo ur subj ec t, an d o f yo ur

pass io n f or yo u r s u b ject.

Yo u r " for bidd en" passions are lik e ly to be t h e fue l for

y our w riti n g. L ike our great American dramat is t Eugene

O 'Nei ll ragi n g thro u gh his life aga in st a long -d eceased

father; like our great Americ a n prose st y list Ernest Heming -

wa y raging through hi s life against hi s mother; like S y lvia

Plath and Anne Se x ton struggling throug h thei r li v es with

the seduc tive A n gel o f Deat h , temp ting them to the ecstasy

of se lf-murder . T h e instinct for viol e n t se lf-laceration in Dos-

to y e v sky,and for the sadis tic punis h me n t of "disbe lie v ers" i n

F lannery O'Co n nor. The fear of go ing m a d in Edgar A ll an

Poe an d comm ittin g an irrevoca bl e, u n sp eak ab le act+ -m u r-


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THE FA ITH OF A WRITER

d e rin g a n e ld e r o r a w ife, h a n ging a nd puttin g o ut th e eyes

of o n e's " b e love d " p et cat . Your strugg le wi th yo u r bu ried

se lf, or se lves, y ields your art; th ese emo ti o n s a re t h e fue l

th a t dr ives yo u r writi n g and m a k es p ossi bl e h ours, d ays,

weeks, m o nth s a n d years of w h a t wi ll a pp ear to ot h ers at a-

,

d ista nc e, as "work .." Witho u t t h ese i ll- un derstood dr ives yo u

mig h t be a sup e rf icia ll y happie r p erso n , a nd a m ore in vo lve d

c itize n of your co mmu n it y, b ut i t i sn 't l ik e ly t h at yo u w ill

c rea te an y thin g of s ub sta nce .

W h a t a d vi c e c a n an o ld er wr it e r pr es ume t o offe r t o a

yo unge r? Onl y w h at h e o r sh e might w ish t o h ave b e en told

y ear s a g o . D o n 't b e di sco u rag e d! Don't c as t s id e long gl a nce s ,

a nd c o mp a re yo ur se lf to ot h ers a m o ng yo u r p eers ! (Wr it ing i sn o t a ra c e . No o n e rea ll y "wi n s." T he sa ti sfact io n i s in th e

ef fo rt , a nd rar e ly in th e conse qu e nt rewards, if th ere are a n y.)

A nd aga in , write your -heart out.

R ea d wide ly,and wit h o u t apo logy. R ead w h a t you wa n t to

read, no t w h a t someone te lls you you s h oul d r ead. (As Ham-

let re m ar k s, "I k n ow not 'should .' ") Imm erse yourse lf i n a

w ri ter yo u l ove, and read everyt h ing h e or s h e has writ te n ,

in cl u d in g t h e very ea rli est work . Es p e ci a ll y the very ea rl iestwork. Befo re th e great wr iter b eca m e g rea t, or eve n good,

h e/s h e was gro p in g for a way, f umb li n g to acq u ire a voice ,

p er h a p s ju s t lik e yo u.

W rit e fo r yo u r ow n t im e, if not for y our ow n ge n e ra ti o n '

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TO A YO UNG WR ITER

exc lu s ively.Yo u c an' t wr it e for " p os te rit y"- it d oes n 't ex is t .

Yo u ca n 't wri te for a d eparted world . You m ay b e a ddr ess in g,

unconscio u sly, a n a u d ience that d oes n' t e x is t; yo u may b e try-

ing to p lease so m eone w h o won' t b e pl ease d , and w h o isn' t

wort h p leasi ng .

(B u t if yo u fee l u na bl e to "wri te yo ur h eart o u t"-i n hi b -

ite d , e mb ar rasse d , fearfu l of hurting or offe ndin g t h e fee lin gs

of o the rs -yo u may wa n t to t ry a pr act ical so luti o n a n d w rit e

un d e r a p se udon y m. T h ere 's so m e thin g wo nd erf ull y lib e ra t-

ing , eve n childlik e, a b o ut a "pe n -n am e " : a fic ti ti o u s n a m e

give n to the in st rwn e nt w ith w hi c h yo u wr it e, an d n o t

at ta ch e d t o you. If yo u r c ircum s tanc es chang e, yo u co uld

always c lai m y our wr itin g se lf. Yo u co uld a lways a b a nd o nyo u r w ritin g se lf, and c u lti va te a n o th e r. E a rly publi ca tion c a n

be a dubi o u s bl ess in g : we a ll kn ow w riters who wo u ld give

a n y thin g to h ave not p u b li sh ed the ir fi rs t book, a nd go a b o u t

tryi n g to b uy up a ll ex is ti ng cop ies. Too late !)

(Of co ur se, if yo u wa n t a professiona l life th a t in vo lves

teaching, le c tur es, readi n gs-yo u wi ll have to ack n ow ledge a

pub li c wr it in g n a m e . But o nl y one. )

Don' t expect to be t reated justly b y th e wo rld, D o n 't even

expec t to b e tre ate d me rcif u lly.

L ife is li ve d h ea d -o n , li ke a ro ll e r c o a s te r ri d e : "a rt " is

coo ll y se lec tive, a nd c an b e crea ted onl y in r et ros p e ct . B ut

do n 't li ve lif e in or d er to wr it e ab o ut it s in ce th e " life" s o li ve d

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T H E FA ITH O F A WR IT ER

wi ll be artif icia l and pointless. Better to invent wholly an alter -

nate life . Far better!

Most of us fall in love with works of art, many times dur -

ing the course of our lifetimes. Giveyours e lf up in admiration,

even in adoration , of another's art . ( How Degas worshipped

Manet! How Melville loved Ha w thorne! And how many

young, yearning, brimming -with -emotion poets has Wa lt

Whitman sired! ) If y ou find an exciting , arresting, disturbing

voice or vision, immerse yours e lf in it . You will learn from it .

In my life I've fallen in love with (and never wholly fallen out

oflove from ) writers as di v erseas L ew is Carroll , Emil y Bronte ,

Kafka, Poe, M e lv i ll e , Emily Dickinson, Will iam Fau lkner,

Charlotte Bronte, Dosto y evsky ... In reading the new edi -

t ion of Mark Twain 's Hu ck leberry Finn not long ago , I d is-

covered I'd memorized entire passages of this novel . In

rereading the now v irtuall y unread Studs Lanigan trilog y, b y

James T . Farrell, I disco v ered I'd memorized entire passages .

There are poems of Emily Dickinson I probably know more

intimat e ly than Emil y Dickin son herself knew them; the y are

imprinted in m y memor y in a wa y the y w ould not ha v e been

impr in ted in hers. There are poems of Wi ll iam Butler Yeats,

Walt Whitman , Robert Frost, D . H . La w rence that l e a v e me

chilled with excitement decades after I'd first discovered

them.

Don' t be ashamed of being an ideali s t, of being romantic

T O A YO U NG W RIT ER

and " y earning." If you yearn for people who won' t recipro -

cate your interest in them, y ou should know that y our y earn-

ing for them isprobably the most valuab le thing about them.

So long as it's u nrequited.

Don't too quickly prejudge classics. Or contemporaries .

Choose a book to read, now and then, against the grain of

y our taste, or what you believe is your taste . It is a man' s

w orld; a woman whose sensibilit y has been stoked by femi -

nism wi ll find much to annoy and offend, b ut perhaps

there's much to l e arn , and to be inspired b y , if only in know-

ing what it is to be an outsider gazing in. Such great works

as Homer's Od y sseyand Ovid's Metamorphoses)read from the

perspective of the twenty-first century , the one pr imitive in

its genius, the other unnervingl y "modern, " strike male and

femal e readers in very different ways . A woman sho u ld

a cknowledge her hurt , her anger and her hope of " just ice" ;

ev en a hope for revenge might be a good thing, in her work

if not in her l ife.

Language is an ic y- cool medium, on the page. Unlike per-

formers and athl e tes, we get to re-imagine, revise and rewrite

compl e te ly if we wish. Before our work is set in p rin t) as in

stone) we maintain our power over it. The first draft may be

s tumbling and exhausting, but the next draft or drafts will be

soaring and exhi larat ing. Only have fai th : the first sentence

can 't be written until the last sentence has been written. Onl y

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THE FA ITH OF A WRTT ER

then do you know where you've been going, and wh ere

you've been.

The novel is the a ffliction for w hich onl y the nov el IS

the cure.

And o ne final time: Write your hear t out .RUNNING

A D WRITING

Running! If there's a ny activity hap pier, more ex hilarat-

ing, more nourishing to the imagina tion, I can' t thinkwhat it might be . In running , the mind flies with the body ; the

mysterious efflore scence of language seem s to pulse in the

brain , in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arm s.

Ideall y, the r unner -who 's-a-writer i s running through the

land- an d cityscapes of her fictio n, like a ghost in a r ea l setting .

There m ust be so me analogue between r unning and

dream ing. The dreaming mind i s usually bodi less, has pec uliar

powers of locomotion and, in m y experience at least , often

runs or glides or " fli es" along th e ground , or in the air . (Lea v-

ing a side the blunt, de flating theor y that dre ams are merel y

compen satory: you fl y in sleep becau se in life you crawl,

barely; you're soaring abo ve others in sl eep becaus e in life oth -

ers soar a bove you.) Poss ibly these fairy-t ale feats of locor no-

the faith of a writer

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