ABSTRACT In the course of reviewing Joyce Carol Oates: Letters to a Biographer, edited by Greg Johnson, this article comments on Joyce Carol Oates’s reputation and achievements as an American writer, her treatment of gender norms over the course of her career, and the various topics covered in the Letters. The article discusses the short stories “At the Seminary” and “Faithless” and the novels What I Lived For and Blonde. It discusses the various personae of Joyce Carol Oates: daughter, wife, friend, genius, and woman.
Ellen G. Friedman (Fri,) studied this question.