The word “prolific†is often found near Joyce Carol Oates’ name; she’s published more than 70 books since her debut almost 40 years ago. Versatility is another Oates trademark: she writes novels, plays, poetry, essays, and literary reviews.
One genre Oates particularly admires is children’s literature, she told an enraptured audience at the Southern Vermont Arts Center on July 16. In these books, we’re taken into dark, complex, even frightening worlds but, she said, we always make it out.
The world that really shook her as a young reader, or “warped me forever,†she said smiling, was Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
â€I’ve always seen the world from that perspective — like Alice — that there are many bizarre and tragic and ugly things in the world but if you turn them a little bit, they become somewhat comic and maybe a little more grotesque and mordant — not quite so tragic.â€
At her talk in Manchester, Oates described with considerable humor some of her interests and a bit about her creative process. She also read several poems, including one called Undefeated Heavyweight 20 Years Old. Introducing this poem she wrote in 1986 about up and coming star Mike Tyson, Oates discussed the origins and nature of her deep fascination with boxing.
Raised in Lockport, N.Y., about 20 miles north of Buffalo, she was exposed to boxing at an early age by her father.
“I grew up a long time ago, so we’re talking about another era, with sort of mists and dinosaurs and creatures lumbering through the mists and television sets that were black and white and kind of small. And there were Friday night fights and Wednesday night fights . . . â€
Going to boxing matches with her father at 9 or 10 years of age was “really a very profound initiation experience for a young girl,†she said, and the fights she saw “lodged very deeply in me.â€
“If I’d come to it much later as an adult woman and a feminist, then I would see it as a kind of anthropological or sociological way, or even a psychological or psychopathological way — all these ways that we look at things,†she told her amused audience, “But when you’re young and your daddy’s taking you somewhere . . .you haven’t got that barrier of language, that scrim of concepts that we use to sort of screen ourselves from experiences,†she said.
Oates said she’s attracted to boxing “as a kind of emblematic phenomenon,†and sees it as a display of humanity. The sport, she explained, is about failure and enormous struggle: “Nobody really walks away from a good, a well-matched boxing match without getting hurt,†she noted. Boxing has metaphorical and essential qualities as well — the men seem almost anonymous and, with little clothing to mask their identities, they fight in an almost primeval state, she said.
She explored this deeply rooted interest in two books in the mid 80s: On Boxing, a lengthy essay, and a novel set in the 1950s that features a former professional boxer. Before writing You Must Remember This, Oates did extensive research into boxing, and into the culture and politics of the decade in which she grew up.
For longer works, ones she calls her ambitious novels, Oates said she spends a lot of time researching historical details that are woven into the narrative.
“I have an enormous respect for the world of reality and the world of history. I feel that as a writer, I can use my imagination to create characters . . . but the world that they move into is, in most respects, an authentic world,†she said.
After the publication of On Boxing in 1986, she received an offer from Life magazine to cover Mike Tyson, a 19-year old fighter who would make boxing history a year later. In spite of her trepidation — she’d never been to Las Vegas, much less covered a fight — she sat ringside at the smoky match. Prior to the fight, she spent some time with Tyson while he trained.
The two-part poem Undefeated Heavyweight 20 Years Old deals with Tyson and with the racial and symbolic significance of a young man using his body, almost recklessly, as a tool for getting out of the ghetto. I think part of Tyson’s great anger, she said, stems from his feeling that people like him are used by the white establishment for entertainment and then discarded.
She added that in the nearly 20 years since she wrote the poem, it’s taken on sorrowful dimensions because of what’s happened with Tyson’s career. He’s a mythic figure, she noted, who has evolved into something antithetical to what he was.
As a larger than life celebrity, Tyson’s experience, excepting the role played by race, is a little like those of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. I hope he doesn’t come to their tragic ends — though he seems to be on a similar trajectory, she said.
“I think all three of them were somewhat immature . . . literally not educated to deal with the world of finance and the world of celebrity.†She added that Tyson, Monroe and Presley share an iconic significance in the eyes of the world; “. . . while they themselves are very incomplete and imperfect, people are flashing upon them their own fantasies,†Oates said.
Oates also read a few poems inspired by the art of Gloria Vanderbilt, whose “Dream Boxes†are on display at the SVAC until July 30. The boxes are like arrested poetry, she said. There’s a sense that these things were once in motion but, encased in plexiglass, there’s an embalming, almost posthumous quality to them, she said.
The poem Smile was inspired by a dream box of the same name in the author’s home. Similarly, a poem about JonBenet Ramsay prompted Vanderbilt to create a dream box. I found JonBenet Ramsay, the murdered child beauty queen, so tragic, said Oates.
“I had more grisly poems but I’ll close with two martial, kind of suburban poems,†she said. Referring to her latest novel, Middle Age: A Romance, she added, “Maybe that’s the world I’m in.â€
This novel came on the heels of Blonde, an ambitious novel about Norma Jean Baker/Marilyn Monroe that Oates called “an American tragedy.â€
“For me, writing Middle Age: A Romance was getting back to an absolute reality of people who are real, who still have romantic yearnings but they don’t have the delusions of youth and they don’t have the tragic endings,†she said.
The novel deals with middle-aged characters in a fairly affluent suburb, something like the area outside Princeton where I live, she said. It’s similar to Manchester, she noted, though we don’t have these beautiful birch trees and hills.
To set up a poem in this suburban vein, Great Blue Heron: December Morning, Oates described a little bit of her own domestic life. Her husband of 40 years, Raymond J. Smith, is a “born gardener†who loves the soil, she said.
“I’m kind of at my desk, doing intellectual things. He’s the voice of reality, the voice of nature.â€
She described how her husband was thrilled to stock the pond in their backyard with Oriental carp, turtles, and snails...
â€For a while the Fed Ex was sort of bringing these very squishy things that would leave a wet spot on the front door. The thing would be maybe moving a little bit in eagerness to get into the pond,†she said.
Great Blue Heron describes a morning when the long-married couple shared a romantic moment looking out over the pond. They saw a beautiful bird with an orange beak; the result, they realized, of a fish he’d plucked out of the water. It’s a celebration of those domestic moments, and of the optimism that must be kept alive.
“See, people like me feel if you put in a garden, it will die immediately; if you put in seeds, they will rot. That’s how I feel, I mean, I know it . . . but people like my husband — who I think there are more of . . . and we need you — people like you, you go out and rake the garden and they come up and they’re beautiful . . . it keeps the world going . . â€
The evening closed with what Oates called her reward: questions from the audience. When asked how ideas for novels come into her head, Oates said they were born out of situations she imagines, or metaphysical problems.
She described how she came to write Blonde. Looking through a magazine, she saw a 1946 photo of a 17-year old girl with brown shoulder length hair and a heart shaped locket around her neck. It was Norma Jean Baker.
“It just hit me, it just went through me like a knife, I thought she looks so much like my own mother a little bit, and she looks so much like some girls I went to junior high school with. She had the sweetest, yearning smile,†said Oates.
How did Norma Jean Baker — a girl who grew up impoverished with a schizophrenic mother and no father — become Marilyn Monroe? What happened in the seven years between that photograph and 1953, when Marilyn Monroe the icon was born? These questions drove her to write Blonde, said Oates.
A member of the audience observed that it takes courage to write and asked what keeps her writing. It’s hard for me to answer that, she said. â€I started writing when I was so young that I didn’t have any sense of any logical strategy. Basically I was writing before I could write..â€
She likened it to young children, 2 or 3 years old, who have lots of energy and tell the most involved stories. It’s complete babble but to that child, it seems to mean something. We were all like that, she observed, though for some of us that creative impulse was squashed.
For her, writing grows from a desire to have that thrilling sensation — a joy not unlike that of dancing. “I personally think that dancing is the happiest thing that one can do,†Oates said.
“Instead of dancing and twirling around the house for the next year, and wasting all that energy, I think I’ll sit down and I’ll do some research and I’ll write a novel that will have this shape — because I always shape my thing out ahead of time.â€
So it’s as if I harness? shackle? exploit? Oates searched for the right word. It’s as if I channel that energy when I write, she said.
As she wrapped up her talk and prepared to sign copies of Middle Age: A Romance, Oates said, “Such good questions here, I know I’m in a really civilized part of the country.â€
Becca Maclaren photo
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Berkshire County Homes Celebrating Holiday Cheer
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
There's holiday cheer throughout the Berkshires this winter.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
We asked the homeowners questions on their decorations and why they like to light up their houses.
In Great Barrington, Matt Pevzner has decorated his house with many lights and even has a Facebook page dedicated to making sure others can see the holiday joy.
Located at 93 Brush Hill Road, there's more than 61,000 lights strewn across the yard decorating trees and reindeer and even a polar bear.
The Pevzner family started decorating in September by testing their hundreds of boxes of lights. He builds all of his own decorations like the star 10-foot star that shines done from 80-feet up, 10 10-foot trees, nine 5-foot trees, and even the sleigh, and more that he also uses a lift to make sure are perfect each year.
"I always decorated but I went big during COVID. I felt that people needed something positive and to bring joy and happiness to everyone," he wrote. "I strive to bring as much joy and happiness as I can during the holidays. I love it when I get a message about how much people enjoy it. I've received cards thanking me how much they enjoyed it and made them smile. That means a lot."
Pevzner starts thinking about next year's display immediately after they take it down after New Year's. He gets his ideas by asking on his Facebook page for people's favorite decorations. The Pevzner family encourages you to take a drive and see their decorations, which are lighted every night from 5 to 10.
In North Adams, the Wilson family decorates their house with fun inflatables and even a big Santa waving to those who pass by.
The Wilsons start decorating before Thanksgiving and started decorating once their daughter was born and have grown their decorations each year as she has grown. They love to decorate as they used to drive around to look at decorations when they were younger and hope to spread the same joy.
"I have always loved driving around looking at Christmas lights and decorations. It's incredible what people can achieve these days with their displays," they wrote.
The Wilsons' invite you to come and look at their display at 432 Church St. that's lit from 4:30 to 10:30 every night, though if it's really windy, the inflatables might not be up as the weather will be too harsh.
In Pittsfield, Travis and Shannon Dozier decorated their house for the first time this Christmas as they recently purchased their home on Faucett Lane. The two started decorating in November, and hope to bring joy to the community.
"If we put a smile on one child's face driving by, then our mission was accomplished," they said.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
click for more
