Joyce Carol Oates makes them laugh, makes them squirm, in Boston
Joyce Carol Oates had an audience of hundreds roaring with laughter, and later, squirming in their seats, at the Boston Book Festival last Saturday.
Oates, the festival鈥檚 keynote speaker, read aloud from her most recent collection of short stories, 鈥淪ourland,鈥� then answered questions from event host Faith Salie, a comedian and former NPR interviewer.
The famed author was a bit of a comedian herself. In her introduction, Oates reacted to a cheering audience with surprise, calling the applause 鈥渧ery thrilling and startling and unexpected鈥� after spending so much time with her 鈥渦nimpressed鈥� pet cat.
She mentioned the feline again later, when discussing the great volume of her work: 鈥淚 write so much because my cat sits on my lap. She purrs so I don鈥檛 want to get up. She鈥檚 so much more calming than my husband.鈥�
Her responses to tough questions from Salie about religion, violence, and politics, were not nearly as light-hearted. When asked if she believed in God, Oates turned the question around and 鈥� seeming a bit piqued 鈥� asked her interviewer, 鈥淒o you believe in God?鈥�
When asked if she had experienced violence 鈥� an obvious theme in many of her stories 鈥� in her own life, Oates deferred the question and said curtly, 鈥淲riters don鈥檛 write about violence, writers write about people.鈥� When pressed, she responded, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 write about myself.鈥�
When Salie joked that Oates should run for office, the author replied, 鈥淚 could never run for office, because I鈥檓 not going to make up things ... words that people think other people want to hear.鈥�
At the end of the talk, Oates described her goals as a writer, and at the same time explained her somewhat brusque answers.
鈥淚 try to present people with the complexity that we all have. That鈥檚 why I was a little awkward about the questions before, because [Salie] asked very blunt questions and she doesn鈥檛 have context,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 like to present people as complex human beings, in all their ambiguity. A person can behave in a way that seems violent, but in context, maybe it was an expression of confusion.鈥�
Nora Dunne is a Monitor contributor.
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