About this item
Highlights
- A tribute to the brilliant craftsmanship of one of our most distinguished writers, providing valuable insight into her inspiration and her method Joyce Carol Oates is widely regarded as one of America's greatest contemporary literary figures.
- Author(s): Joyce Carol Oates
- 176 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Literary Figures
Description
Book Synopsis
A tribute to the brilliant craftsmanship of one of our most distinguished writers, providing valuable insight into her inspiration and her method
Joyce Carol Oates is widely regarded as one of America's greatest contemporary literary figures. Having written in a number of genres -- prose, poetry, personal and critical essays, as well as plays -- she is an artist ideally suited to answer essential questions about what makes a story striking, a novel come alive, a writer an artist as well as a craftsman.
In The Faith of a Writer, Oates discusses the subjects most important to the narrative craft, touching on topics such as inspiration, memory, self-criticism, and "the unique power of the unconscious." On a more personal note, she speaks of childhood inspirations, offers advice to young writers, and discusses the wildly varying states of mind of a writer at work. Oates also pays homage to those she calls her "significant predecessors" and discusses the importance of reading in the life of a writer.
Oates claims, "Inspiration and energy and even genius are rarely enough to make 'art': for prose fiction is also a craft, and craft must be learned, whether by accident or design." In fourteen succinct chapters, The Faith of a Writer provides valuable lessons on how language, ideas, and experience are assembled to create art.
Review Quotes
"Who better than Joyce Carol Oates...to explicate the craft of writing?" -- New York Times Book Review
"In her newest and most confiding essay collection...Oates is commanding in her knowledge and deeply moving in her candor." -- Booklist
"Oate's thoughts on writing are sometimes as quirky and mysterious as the author herself, and yet, they make a lot of sense, taken as a whole." -- Madison Magazine
"It's always rewarding to tap the inner workings of a successful writer, especially one as undogmatic as Oates. This is the type of book any writer might want to return to again and again." -- Deseret News
"Young writers especially may find words of wisdom here." -- Publishers Weekly
"Crammed with...first-rate nuggets of insight." -- Nashville Tennessean