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
I consider tragedy the highest form of art.
Interpretation
Tragedy reflects the deepest human experiences and emotions, making it a profound artistic expression.
Joyce Carol Oates suggests that tragedy, despite its pain and suffering, captures the complexities of human existence more poignantly than any other art form. This perspective elevates tragic narratives to a critical role in understanding and exploring the human condition, asserting that through tragedy, artists convey truths that resonate with our shared experiences of grief, loss, and endurance.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of storytelling in literature.
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.
I 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.
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.
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.
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
. . . 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.
The arts can enrich all of us in this nation as individuals. The arts can enrich all of our communities and the country. And the arts can connect us to each other like nothing else can.
I think we're going to enter a phase where there's less interest in the CGI and there's a demand for story again. I think we've dropped the ball a little bit on stories for the sake of the amazing toys that we've played with.
A lot of children don't have a developed aesthetic. I did. I made early choices in life, even about cloth; I liked flannel and not polyester.
I hope that I can make good music out of whatever genre I go into. Just to prove to myself that I can.
Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.
Silver and ermine and red faces full of port wine.
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