Is it true that everybody reads Joyce Carol Oates?

Question

That's what musician Ryan Adams said. What books/poems/stories should I read by her?

I feel left out.

sorry I guess I didn't make myself clear enough.

Is it true that people who are "writers," "songwriters", "musicans", "poets," or people who are very much into that area of life read Joyce Carol Oates?

Ok, since this seems to be interesting to some people, this is where he said it
at about 3:30 of this Windows Media Player NPR file

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6071185&ft=1&f=2

oh yeah, he lists another writer that "everybody reads", after Oates, but I can't figure out what he's saying, if anyone could tell me who that is, it is much appreciated

Answer 1

Not true.

Not everybody reads Joyce Carol Oates.

;-)

Answer 2

So I just had to try and find where he said 'everyone reads Joyce Carol Oates. What I found was deliciously ironic, in light of what the other respondents say about here. In a review for the album Jacksonville City Nights, Rudy Foolish writes:
'After this latest half-assed attempt by Ryan Adams, at times brilliant and other times atrociously bad, he may very well be named the Joyce Carol Oates of country alternative. Mr. Adams, let's face it, is a polluter, an extremely talented artist who is miring his most masterful accomplishments in tracks that are but creative waste. There is something to be said for an artist who knows when to discriminate and keeps his throw-away tracks locked in a trunk somewhere to be released on a b-side box set once he's dead and gone. Not so with Mr. Adams, who seems to be lacking this discriminatory mechanism in his brain.'

Answer 3

No, not everybody reads Joyce Carol Oates, but a lot do, after her book, We were the Mulvaneys, was on Oprah's Book Club. I think the other writer he says is Susan Sontag. Both are pretty well known authors.

Answer 4

Nope. She was a professor at the university from which I graduated, and was considered a kind of hotshot famous author, so I attempted to read a few of her things. Really pretty bad, I thought, though of course there are those who love her stuff. What irritated me the most, though (and the reason I won't read anything else she writes) was an essay she wrote (it's in a lit crit collection of hers entitled *The Profane Art*) in which she totally shreds the life and thought of Simone Weil. Weil was a French philosopher and mystic who died in 1943 (I think that's the date), and whose writings are--unlike Oates'--incredibly moving, profoundly literary, deeply learned and just generally inspiring. And Oates' silly essay on Weil merely exposes the whiny, presumptious, artificial and superficial attitude that seeps into everything of Oates' I've ever read. So skip Oates. And read Simone Weil--especially Weil's essay on the Iliad, entitled "Iliad, Poem of Force."

Answer 5

while it's not true that "everybody" reads Oates, they should at least give it a shot. she's originally from around where i live, although she now teaches at Princeton, and her evocation of my part of the country is pretty depressingly accurate. Not always pleasant, not always sensible, but never boring. she does have a habit of pretentious wankery run wildly amok, but it must be impossible to edit somebody that prodigious. Try "The Falls" , "We were the mulvaneys" or just check the library, she's written a lot of books. WARNING: rape and insect, for some reason, are thematically pretty consistent and graphically rendered. she has a book called "Rape: a love story", for example. not for simple minded grisham/king fans.

Answer 6

Never heard of Joyce Carol Oates so you shouldn't feel left out.

Answer 7

I am a professional writer (playwright) and I have never read Joyce Carol Oates. The titles put me off.

Answer 8

No. I tried, and found her tedious. I didn't like any of her characters, probably because they did not "come alive." I don't like reading books that don't make me forget I'm reading a book. You would be better off with Anne Tyler, Barbara Kingsolver, John Irving, or even, in a pinch, Elizabeth Berg. Find a new source of recommendation for reading material.

Answer 9

No, it is not true. I have never read anything written by Joyce Carol Oates. Ryan Adams must exaggerate in his statements.

Answer 10

Oh my god, she is one of the most prolific writers in America today. Check her out, any of her books are EXCELLENT. She also writes in a bunch of different genres and is outstanding at short stories. i cant believe all these people who have never heard of her!!! Try her out!