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
What this quote means
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.
Themes
TragedyArtHuman ExperienceEmotionExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of storytelling in literature.
More from Joyce Carol Oates
All quotes βI 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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
. . . 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.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Similar quotes
I think telling stories is like pushing something. Pushing against uncreation itself, maybe.
Stephen KingRead
I'd like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.
John ColtraneRead
One of the questions that has most bothered me in my reflections on culture is the question of kitsch. Just what is it? When did it begin? And why?
Roger ScrutonRead
In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.
Jeannette WallsRead
You have to distinguish between things that seemed odd when they were new but are now quite familiar, such as Ibsen and Wagner, and things that seemed crazy when they were new and seem crazy now, like 'Finnegans Wake' and Picasso.
Philip LarkinRead
Surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.
Jhumpa LahiriRead