This is my life now. Absurd, but unpredictable. Not absurd because unpredictable but unpredictable because absurd. If I have lost the meaning of my life, I might still find small treasured things among the spilled and pilfered trash.
Joyce Carol OatesArt is about freedom of expression, and should not be molded to fit any propaganda or lofty ideal.
Joyce Carol OatesAmerica is a very religious nation. Not a mono-religious nation because there are many different strands of belief, but there's something about this nation that inspires people, or perhaps draws people, who are strongly idealistic.
Joyce Carol OatesAnd so you must grant to God what is God and not try to think of what you have lost, for that way is madness.
Joyce Carol OatesI believe that art is the highest expression of the human spirit. I believe that we yearn to transcend the merely finite and ephemeral; to participate in something mysterious and communal called 'culture' - and that this yearning is as strong in our species as the yearning to reproduce the species.
Joyce Carol Oates